Address Accuracy
People move. Your list should move with them.
Keep your mailing list up to date when people move so you never lose contact — every change returned to you, documented.
Roughly one in ten American households moves every year. Each move breaks a record on your list — and if nobody catches it, the mail keeps going to the old address until you write the customer off as unreachable.
Your mail house keeps the corrections
Here's the part most list owners never hear: when your mail house runs NCOA on your mailing to qualify for postage discounts, the address corrections get used for that one mailing — and never make it back to your master file. Your list quietly goes stale while the postage discount papers over the problem.
The clock matters. NCOALink covers moves from the last 48 months. Every correction that isn't captured in that window becomes a customer you've lost permanently — you hold the old address, and there's no longer any path to the new one.
NCOALink processing with Peachtree works differently: every change comes back to you. Your master list gets better with every run, and the moves stay caught before the window closes.
What you get back
Your file returns with the original records intact, standardized addresses with ZIP+4 coding, new addresses for every matched move with full delivery-point coding, the effective date of each move, and a plain return code on every record so you can see exactly what happened — matched, moved, or left alone. A processing summary rounds it up so you can see your list's health at a glance.
Why the Full Service license matters
The USPS licenses NCOALink access in tiers. Limited Service Providers receive an 18-month slice of move data. Peachtree Data is a non-exclusive USPS Full Service Provider licensee — we match against the complete 48-month dataset, updated weekly. On a list that's gone a few years without attention, that difference is measured in customers you keep versus customers you lose.
The technical details, for the detail-minded
Everything below is how NCOALink processing actually works under the hood. You don't need any of it to get started — that's what the conversation is for — but if you like to see the machinery, it's all here.
The five processing modes — how strictly we match
The USPS® defines five matching modes, and choosing the right one depends on what your data contains and how it's used:
- Standard (S) — the full sequence: business name match first, then individual (first name, middle name, surname, and title, with a gender check), then family (surname only). Family-only matching is not performed on street addresses with secondary numbers.
- Business and Individual (C) — omits all family matches; only individual and business matches are made.
- Individual (I) — omits business matches, for data that contains no business addresses.
- Business (B) — business matches only, for business-to-business data.
- Residential (R) — omits business matches; individual and family matches only.
Not sure which fits? That's exactly the kind of thing we work out with you before processing begins.
Every return code, explained
Every record comes back with a return code that tells you exactly what happened. Here is the complete list:
| Code | What it means |
|---|---|
| A | Match — new address returned from the NCOALink master file |
| 00 | No matching record found in the NCOALink file |
| 01 | Match found — foreign move (new address outside USPS delivery area) |
| 02 | Match found — moved, left no forwarding address (MLNA) |
| 03 | Match found — PO box closed, no forwarding order (BCNO) |
| 04 | Can't match — street address with secondary number, Standard/family mode |
| 05 | Match found — new 11-digit delivery point is ambiguous |
| 06 | Can't match — conflicting middle names or initials on file |
| 07 | Can't match — conflicting genders on file |
| 08 | Can't match — other conflicting instructions between master records |
| 09 | Can't match — high-rise default address (individual match required) |
| 10 | Can't match — rural-route default address (individual match required) |
| 11 | Can't match — change-of-address name insufficient for individual matching |
| 12 | Can't match — middle name conflict |
| 13 | Can't match — gender conflict |
| 14 | Match found — new address couldn't be converted at run time |
| 15 | Can't match — insufficient individual name |
| 16 | Can't match — secondary number discrepancy |
| 17 | Can't match — other insufficient name |
| 18 | Can't match — General Delivery address (individual match required) |
| 19 | Match found — new address not ZIP+4 coded, unconfirmable, or a temporary move |
| 20 | Can't match — conflicting directions after re-chaining |
| 66 | Daily delete — a pending change of address, no forwarding yet |
| 91 | Match — secondary number dropped from the NCOALink record |
| 92 | Match — secondary number dropped from your input address |
Codes 02 and 03 deserve special attention: those customers moved without telling the USPS where. No service can recover them from postal data — which is where PCOA picks up.
The PAF — the form the USPS requires before we start
The Processing Acknowledgement Form is a USPS® requirement for every NCOALink job, from every licensee — it exists to ensure NCOALink data is used only for mailing purposes. Everyone associated with handling the data signs it themselves: the list owner, plus any brokers or list administrators involved with the mailing. What the USPS doesn't allow is signing on someone else's behalf — a broker can't sign for a list owner. Each party signs their own.
A word of caution worth having: some NCOALink providers are casual about collecting a signed PAF. That's not a convenience — it's a USPS compliance requirement, and a provider who shrugs at this one is telling you something about how they treat the rest of their obligations, your data included. We collect it every time, no exceptions. It takes a few minutes, we walk you through it, and it covers you for a year of processing with us.
Read our full guide to the PAF — who signs, how to fill it out, and the form to download.
What's on your output file
Your returned data includes, for every record: your original input name and address, untouched; the standardized input address with ZIP+4 and delivery point coding; for matched records, the standardized new address with its full 11-digit delivery point barcode; the move effective date and move type; urbanization details where they apply; carrier route information for updated addresses; DPV®, LACSLink®, and SuiteLink® results if requested; and a processing summary report with the match statistics for the whole job.
How it works
Send us your file
Transfer your list through our secure, encrypted channels — we'll walk you through it, and you'll complete the USPS-required Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF) before anything runs.
We match against the full 48-month NCOALink dataset
As a USPS Full Service Provider licensee, we match your records against every permanent change of address filed in the last 48 months — not the 18-month window limited providers get. The data updates weekly.
You choose how strictly we match
Five matching modes — from individual-level to business or whole-household — so the update logic fits how your list is actually used.
Every change comes back to you, documented
Updated addresses with ZIP+4 and delivery-point coding, move effective dates, and a return code for every record explaining what happened. Your master list improves — not just one mailing.
Your Data, Protected
You're trusting us with your file. Here's how we treat it.
Encrypted transfer, controlled access, documented handling, and scheduled destruction — we'll show you every step.
Related services
Talk to us about your data.
No pressure, no runaround — just answers. Call us, or send a note and we'll get back to you within one business day.