New NCOA Postal Requirements

Are You Ready For A Move Update? In an effort to reduce "undeliverable-as-addressed" mail, the US Postal Service (USPS) requires that all presorted (bulk) Standard(STD), non-Profit(NP) and First Class Mail meet new Move Update requirements as of November 23rd, 2008.  This means that approved address change methods must be applied to your mailing list 95 days or less prior to the date of a bulk mailing.  The two most commonly used are the endorsement method and the NCOA method.  This requirement does not affect single piece, full postage letters or flats.
 
To qualify for the endorsement method, you should take action with an earlier mailing to the same list and add a USPS Address Change Service endorsement (instruction to the postal service) to your mail piece. An example is "Return Service Requested." In this case undeliverable mail will be returned to you with either a new address or a reason for non-delivery. There will be a postage charge equivalent to first class postage for STD and NP.  You must update your data base file with the new address and delete the address block if the person has moved without leaving a forwarding address.  As long as this mailing and the returned data base changes are accomplished within 95 days of your NEXT mailing, your NEXT mailing using the same data base would meet the standard.
 
The second method is to access the USPS National Change of Address (NCOA) data base. This data base is updated weekly and keeps track of address changes for 48 months from the move date, including multiple address changes within that period.  Access to the NCOA data base is available through most mail service organizations, such as WhipSmart Graphics and Mailing, and the results are immediate.  You receive a listing of each new address and the date of move, or an indication if no forwarding address was provided.  Here again, you must update your data base with the new address or delete the address block if the recipient has moved without leaving a forwarding address.
 
Accessing the NCOA has three advantages over the endorsement method.
 
1.  The endorsement method only searches back 18 months for new addresses, while   NCOA searches back 48 months.
 
2.  The NCOA method can be used up to the day of mailing and will contain the most current information, while with the endorsement method you will be using older information from an earlier mailing
 
3.  You will save postage and mail preparation costs by using the most current address information.
 
These changes are required for first class mailings at this time. The Post Office is allowing some leniency for "standard" and "non-profit" mailings, since Move Update is a new requirement for those categories of mail.  The leniency period will end in May 2009.