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Overview | Information package | Registration
instructions
NCOALink® INFORMATION PACKAGE
NCOALink®
INFORMATION PACKAGE
Effective
November 23, 2008 the Postal Service® increased its effort to
improve the percentage of deliverable mail by revising the Move Update
standards. The Move Update standards provide ways for mailers to reduce the
number of mail pieces that
require forwarding or return by the periodic matching of a mailer’s address
records with customer-filed change-of-address orders.
The final rule
published Sept. 28, 2007, included the following changes related to Move
Update processing:
Increase
the minimum frequency of Move Update processing from 185 calendar days to
95 days prior to the date of mailing. Extend the revised Move Update
standards to include all Standard Mail® (letters, flats, parcels
and Not Flat-Machinables), as well as automation-rate
and presort-rate First-Class Mail®.
What is the NCOALink® technology:
The NCOALink®
technology was developed as an available option to meet the First-Class
Mail® Move Update
requirement in Classification Reform announced in 1996.
Precisely is a non-exclusive Licensee of the
USPS® (United States Postal Service®)
to provide Full Service NCOALink®
processing.
It is important to note that
not all Service Providers can offer the same level of service. Data quantity
differs based on license level. Full Service Providers receive the full 48
month data set while End User Service Providers typically receive a 18 month data set.
All data fulfillments to Service Providers are provided weekly under direct
license from the USPS®.
The full NCOALink®
file is a consolidated file of move information that on average contains
approximately 160 million permanent changes-of-address (COAs) filed with
the United States Postal Service® (USPS®). These COAs are retained on
the file for a four-year period from the move-effective date and the file
is updated weekly. The data set provided to Full Service Providers contains
approximately 60 million COAs covering the most recent 48 months.
Before being added to the NCOALink® file, the Old address
supplied by the Postal customer must be ZIP + 4® coded. The New
addresses must be ZIP + 4® coded and validated using the
USPS’ proprietary database of actual delivery points. (NOTE: The delivery
point database does not include NAMES or COA information.) Each delivery
point confirmed New address is included on the NCOALinkTM
file. If unable to validate the New address, the NCOALink®
process will indicate that a move exists but will not provide the
undeliverable New address.
New address information is provided
only when a match to the input name and address is attained. The typical
profile of the New address information contained on the NCOALink® file is as follows:
80.92% Forwardable moves containing delivery point confirmed New
addresses – New address provided
1.18% Moves
containing unconfirmed New addresses – New address not
provided
13.80% Moved, left no
address
3.92% PO Box Closed
0.18% Foreign moves
When possible, postal
customers who move multiple times within the NCOALink®
time period are “linked” or “chained” to ensure that the latest address is
furnished when an NCOALink®
match is attained. This is not always possible if subsequent COAs are not
filed in exactly the same manner as a COA filed previously (e.g., name
spelling differences or conflicting secondary information).
The provision of change of
address information is controlled by strict name and address matching
logic. NCOALink® processing
will only provide new address information when queried with a specific
algorithm of the name and input address from a mailers address list which
matches the information on the NCOALink®
Product. Data contained in and information returned by NCOALink®
is determined by the name and move type (Business, Individual, or Family)
indicated on a Postal customer’s Change of Address form.
The data contained within the
NCOALink® Product is
comprised of approximately 40% family moves, 54% individual moves, and 6%
business moves.
All matches made to the NCOALink® file require a ZIP + 4®
coded, parsed input address. For name
matching, Standard Processing
Mode requires inquiries in the following order:
Business: Match on business
name.
Individual: Match on first name,
middle name, surname and title required.
Gender is
checked and nickname possibilities are considered.
Family: Match on surname
only.
Under no circumstances shall
there be a “Family” match only option.
The NCOALink®
customer may choose to omit all “Family” match inquiries and allow only
“Individual” and “Business” matches to be acceptable. This processing mode
is known as BI Processing Mode.
The NCOALink®
customer may also choose to omit “Business” match inquiries when processing
individual names for mailing lists that contain no business addresses under
Individual Processing Mode.
The NCOALink®
customer may choose to process for only “Business” matches when processing
a “Business-to-Business” mailing list which contains no personal
(Individual or Family) addresses under Business Processing Mode.
All nickname possibilities
are derived from a standard USPS® nickname list. In considering alternate
presentations of an input name, only reasonable derivatives of the original
input name are acceptable. If an input name and address do not match to NCOALink® and alternative queries
are attempted, any variations which obtain NCOALink®
matches will be provided to the NCOALink®
customer for analysis.
When a match or a near match
of an input name and address to NCOALink®
is identified, a standard NCOALink®
return code is provided indicating the type of match made or reason
that a match could not be made.
The standard output of a USPS® NCOALink®
process is:
a) Each original
unaltered input name and address as it was presented.
b) The standardized
input address appended with the correct ZIP + 4®/DPC,
other postal values and any other intelligence flags or footnotes
that result from the CASS™ processing segment.
c) For each mailing
address for which there is a match to the NCOALink®
Product, a
standardized new address
with 11-digit Delivery Point Barcode (DPBC) and standard return codes.
d) When a match is
made, the following elements must be returned: the move effective date, the
specific name and address utilized in the query that obtained the match,
and the move type. The move type is determined by the Interface based on
the specific name inquiry utilized to obtain the match.
e) For each mailing
address for which there is not a match to the NCOALink®
Product, the Interface shall return all elements as appropriate under items
a and b as well as any standard return codes as may be appropriate.
f) The urbanization
name information, when applicable.
g) The carrier route
information for new (updated) addresses.
h) Processing summary
report containing information to identify the specific list and the
statistics resulting from the NCOALink®
process performed on the list.
An NCOALink®
customer with questions about the specific results returned from an NCOALink® process must first
contact the processor for explanation and resolution.
Prior to the processing of NCOALink® data, every customer
must have completed and returned to their NCOALink®
Licensee the “NCOALink®
PROCESSING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM” provided to them by their Licensee or
Agent.
Proper Uses of the NCOALinkTM technology:
The United States
Postal Service® (USPS®) NCOALink® technology
may only be used to provide address information that will be used to
correct mailing lists for the purpose of preparing mail for the acceptance
and delivery by the USPS®. Information obtained or derived using the NCOALink® technology shall NOT be
used by the Licensee for the purpose of creating or maintaining “new
movers” lists for the benefit of itself or others.
No proprietary
Licensee list that contains both old and corresponding new address records
(if updated by use of the NCOALink®
technology) shall be rented, sold, or otherwise provided or disclosed, in
whole or in part, to Licensee customers or other third parties.
The Move Update
standard, effective November 23, 2008, requires presorted or automation
rate First-Class Mail®
and Standard Mail® to be updated
(exposed to address correction) within 6 months or 95 days preceding the
date of mailing using a USPS® approved address Move Update method.
Advertising for the NCOALink® technology shall be
done by the Licensee only after the Postal ServiceTM
has approved all advertising contents and formats. All advertising shall be submitted to the
NCOALink® Project Manager
at the USPS® National Customer
Support
Center. For the latest USPS® requirements
regarding advertising and other requirements, review the NCOALinkTM® Full Service Provider
License Agreement document that is available on https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing-and-shipping-services/NCOALink. At the time of creation of this document,
the advertising rules were as follows:
Licensee agrees
that each piece of Advertising related to Services provided under this
Agreement
· Shall
display the words “[Licensee] is a non-exclusive Full Service Provider
Licensee of the United States Postal Service” once, but not more than once;
· Will
direct that all payment for Licensee’s Service shall be made payable to
Licensee;
· Shall clearly
state that the price for Licensee’s Services “are not established,
controlled or approved by the United States Postal Service;”
· If the
Advertising contains commercial advertising for Licensee’s other services
or for its products or for others, a statement that such advertising is neither
approved nor endorsed by the United States Postal Service®.
· Each
piece of Licensee’s Advertising for Services licensed under this Agreement,
or otherwise referencing such Services, that displays a USPS®
Trademark shall be accompanied by an acknowledgement of USPS’s ownership of
that Trademark in the following form: “The following trademarks are owned
by the United States Postal Service®: [insert all
USPS Trademarks used in the product, packaging, product literature, or
advertising at issue here].
· Licensee
agrees not to employ in its advertising or in-person marketing any language
or other representation or sales technique from which a prospective
purchaser might infer that Licensee or its agent is an employee or
representative of USPS®.
· To ensure
that prospective purchasers are not misled by any aspect of the advertising
and method of sale used by Licensee to sell Licensee’s Services, to ensure
that the relationship between the Licensee and USPS® is
correctly represented, to ensure that USPS® Trademarks are
displayed correctly, and for other similar purposes, the Licensee shall
submit to USPS®, well prior to any use, (“use” includes, but is
not Full to, display or distribution) samples of each proposed method of
sale and each proposed piece of advertising, promotional material, product
literature, packaging, and any other proposed use of any USPS®
Trademarks.
· Licensee shall
not publish or distribute any advertising, promotional materials, product literature,
or packaging for or concerning Licensee’s Services until after it has
received approval from USPS®. USPS® shall grant or
withhold approval solely at its discretion.
Miscellaneous Information:
The prerequisite Processing
Acknowledgement Form (PAF) must be fully executed prior to any NCOALink® service being
provided. Also, all mailing lists
provided for processing must contain a minimum of 100 unique names and
addresses.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. As a small volume mailer with up-to-date addresses
provided by my clients, why do I have to use an approved update method?
A. If a customer has moved since providing their mailing
address, obtaining the correct address will result in service improvements
and it will not take extra days to reach the customer. It is always better for customers to see
improved service that can result in cost reductions in terms of forwarded
volumes and will improve the quality of lists that are used for other
classes of mail.
Q. A prospective customer of the NCOALink®
service wants to enclose a discount coupon with a letter telling their
established customers who have moved that they may use the coupon for all
their purchases in an upcoming visit.
Is this intended use permissible?
A. Yes, but only if the list is of customers with whom the
institution has an established and on-going business relationship.
Q. A prospective customer purchases a software package that
represents the white/yellow pages of a telephone directory. The NCOALink®
customer wants to extract all the names and addresses in their local area
and then input into the NCOALink®
process. The names and addresses
identified as moves will be targeted for a mailing. Is this a permissible use of the NCOALink® process?
A. No.
The white/yellow pages is a general list of names and addresses and cannot
be considered a business’s mailing list.
Unless the institution has an established and on-going business
relationship with each person, they can not use the service to create a new
movers list.
Q. After processing through NCOALink®,
for the records flagged with new addresses, can the old addresses be used
to produce a ‘new movers’ list?
A. No.
Q. If a mailer adds a new name to their mailing list as a result
of being furnished by a customer, does the Move Update requirement apply
when a First-Class piece is mailed to the address furnished?
A. The newly added name and address can ride with the list
until the next update cycle. The
update cycle must be no longer that 6 months.
Q. If a customer is preparing a mailing and the addresses
were provided by the addressees MORE than 6 months prior to the date of
mailing, will an on-piece endorsement for address correction at the time of
mailing satisfy the Move Update requirement?
A. No, some other method must have been used within 6 months
prior to the date of mailing, or the piece may be processed through an
MLOCR using FASTforward®
at the time of the mailing.
Q. Can an NCOALink®
Licensee perform lookup services on a one-at-a-time basis for such
customers as process servers, law enforcement agencies, or bill
collectors? Why or Why not?
A. All NCOALink®
services must be to a bonafide name and address
mailing list and will be accomplished in a “batch file processing”
mode. Files must also contain a
minimum of 100 unique names and addresses.
Q. Does the USPS® require Licensees to submit
advertising in advance of publication for approval?
A. Yes.
Q. What does the data contained within the NCOALink® change-of-address
database represent?
A. Permanent address changes only, for no less than the 18
or 48 months proceeding period (18 months for a Full Service Provider, 48
months for a Full Service Provider).
Q. How often is the NCOALink®
database updated?
A. Weekly
Q. What does the Processing Acknowledgement Form
(PAF) signify?
A. Acknowledgement that the customer has received and
reviewed the Information Package and understands the purpose of NCOALink®. Also signifies that the customer is
assigned a unique ID.
Q. The restrictions surrounding the Postal ServiceTM use of change-of-address data stem
from what specific legislation?
A. Privacy Act of 1974.
Subsection (a)(5), 5 US Code 552a and 39 CFR 266-268, Subsection
(m)(1), Subsection(c), Subsection (e)(9) and (e)(10), and Subsection (I)(1)
Q. If a Licensee is not aware of an unauthorized use of NCOALink® data by one of its
customers, is the Licensee held accountable? Why or why not?
A. No. The Licensee
performed due diligence and provided a NCOALink® Information Package and
a signed NCOALink®
Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF) is kept on file.
Q. What is the difference between a Broker / Agent
Processing and a List Administrator?
A. Per the definition from the USPS®, a Broker / Agent
Processing is a third party who provides an interface between the end-user
and the licensee of the NCOALink®
Technology. The broker / agent receives the updated address files from the licensee and
returns the updated address files to the end-user.
In the case of a list administrator, the end-user
outsources its address list management operations to another company. A list administrator differs from a
broker / agent in that unlike a broker / agent, no return of updated
address files is provided back to the original company. A list administrator retains and
maintains the original company’s address file(s).
Precisely is a non-exclusive
Full Service Provider and Interface Distributor of the United States Postal
Service®. The following trademarks are owned by the United States Postal
Service: NCOALink®,
First-Class Mail, CASS Certified, ZIP Code, ZIP + 4, Postal Service, USPS
and United States
Postal Service.
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