If your business or non-profit organization is slow right now, as most of us are, it may be a good time to clean up your mailing list. Over the years we have found common errors cropping up in lists. This is especially true in organizations that may have multiple people, including volunteers, input information into a database. Below are some common errors and how to fix them. Happy cleaning!

Using “NO.” or “N.” for Number (use #, STE, APT or UNIT instead)
The Post Office and mailing software designates “NO.” or “N.” as NORTH, not number. When you input NO. for number, the address will come up as undeliverable. It’s best to use: #, STE, APT or UNIT to be sure that the mailing software reads the address correctly.

Putting the apartment or suite number, without a designation
Sometimes we’ll see something like “323 Maple Drive 3,” where 3 is the unit number or apartment number. USPS requires a designation like “#, Apt, Ste, Unit, etc.” Leaving just the number could cause the software to return the address as undeliverable

Using “SP” instead of “SPC”
Some apartment or condo complexes use “Space” instead of “Apartment” or “Unit.” The correct abbreviation is “SPC.” Using “SP” will cause the address to be undeliverable.

Not keeping the fields separate
It’s very important to have the information in each field separately. A typical list will have:
Name Address City State Zip, it’s important that only the street address appear in the address field. If there is city, state and zip in the address field, then the software will not be able to parse the address and it will come up as undeliverable.  It is OK to put City, State and Zip in one field, as our mailing software will be able to parse that out and separate them correctly, but in general each piece of information should be in its own field.

Putting something other than the address in the address field
When there are more than one address fields, for instance Address and Address 2, the primary street address must go in the first address field – “Address.” Sometimes we see things like “C/O” or the business name or the building complex name or the suite number in the primary address field. The software looks for the address in the primary address field – “Address” – and if it doesn’t find the street address or the PO box, then the address will come up as undeliverable.  The Address 2 field should only contain Apartment Number, Suite Number, etc.

Things like “Building #, Name of the Condo Complex, Mail Stop,” etc. should not be in the Address 2 field. These are all internal mail designations that might be for a hospital, university or very large business. They are superfluous for the post office, which only requires a mailing address and apartment or suite #.

Using a street address instead of a mailing address
We see this a lot for Universities, Colleges, Hospitals, etc. The street address is where the institution is physically located, but probably not where they get their mail. If you Google the institution, you can often find the mailing address, which is what we have to do if the street address turns up undeliverable.