NCOALink

NCOALink® Processing

Identify change-of-address records before your next mailing.

According to the United States Postal Service (USPS) over 40 million Americans change their address every year. This creates huge obstacles when trying to maintain an up-to-date mailing list. The NCOALink product makes change-of-address information available to mailers to help reduce undeliverable mailpieces before mail enters the mailstream.

NCOALink is designed to reduce undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail by correcting input addresses prior to mailing. Since 1986, Move Update predecessors such as ACS™ Service, National Change of Address (NCOA) and the FASTforward® system have saved mailers millions of dollars that otherwise would have been wasted in materials and postage. NCOALink continues this trend and, like its predecessors, provides the following benefits to mailers:

  • Reduces undeliverable mail by providing the most current address information for matches made to the NCOALink file
  • Prevents re-mailings after address corrections are received because the address correction is applied prior to the mailing
  • Reduces mailer costs by reducing the number of undeliverable mailpieces by using most current address information
  • Provides the opportunity for faster product/service marketing through accurate mail delivery

In addition to change-of-address information, NCOALink also utilizes Return Codes to provide explanation of match and non-match status. Return Codes which indicate that a match was obtained are accompanied by a new address or undeliverable status. Return Codes which indicate a match was not obtained provide the reason a match could not be made to the NCOALink file. The analysis of Return Codes can help you determine the deliverability of specific address records.

Mailing lists that are processed through NCOALink meet the USPS Move Update processing requirement for a period of 95 days from the date of processing. This requirement applies to all First-Class Mail® and all Standard Mail®. If you mail on a regular basis we recommend establishing a processing schedule to ensure that your mailing list is in compliance with the USPS requirement. If you have questions about how this requirement may affect you please call us at 800-477-3224.

Output from NCOALink includes:

  • CASS standardization of your input address
  • ZIP + 4
  • Carrier Route
  • DPV status and DPV footnotes
  • LACSLink
  • SuiteLink
  • NCOALink Return Code
  • New mailing address, if a match was made with a new forwarding address from NCOALink
  • Move effective date (month and year)
  • Move type (Individual, Family, Business)
  • Your original input record

As a Full Service Provider licensee from the USPS Peachtree Data receives approximately 160 million records, representing all permanent change-of-address records filed over the past 48 months. This data is updated weekly from the USPS. We use this data to perform NCOALink processing on your mailing list. Other providers choose to only license the limited NCOALink product, and therefore only have access to approximately 60 million records representing moves over the past 18 months. Only a Full Service provider like Peachtree Data is able to identify and correct the most change-of-address records on your file.

© Copyright 1994-2008 Peachtree Data, Inc. All rights reserved.
Peachtree Data is a non-exclusive Full Service Provider Licensee of the United States Postal Service®. The following trademarks and registrations are owned by the United States Postal Service: CASS, First-Class, DSF2, LACSLink, NCOALink, SuiteLink, USPS, U.S. Postal Service, United States Postal Service, United States Post Office, ZIP, ZIP + 4, ZIP Code.

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