Move Update standards help mailers reduce the number of mailpieces that require forwarding or return by periodically matching mailers’ address records with customer-filed change-of-address orders. There are various USPS-approved address updating processes, including NCOA, ACS, FASTforward, and Ancillary Service Endorsement. Lane Press recommends NCOA as the most effective and cost-efficient method, and we offer the service to our customers.

The most significant change as of Nov. 23 is that the minimum frequency at which mailers will need to run a Move Update will increase from 185 calendar days to 95 days prior to the date of mailing. For example, a mailing entered on Nov. 23 must bear addresses that were updated no earlier than Aug. 20.

For Lane Press customers, this means quarterly or less frequent publications will require address updating for every issue, while monthly publications will require address updating every 3 issues versus what currently amounts to every 6 issues. However, given the high non-compliance penalty (explained below) and the currently moderate cost of running an NCOA through Lane Press, we recommend that our Standard A customers have their mail files processed through NCOA for every issue. Note that USPS Periodicals Class includes address return information as part of its service.

Publishers mailing by First Class or Standard Mail mail who do not perform Move Updates according to the new rules risk losing their automation rates. The Postal Service proposes charging seven cents per piece for every piece in the entire mailing—not just the undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) pieces—if a mailer is determined not to have met the Move Update requirement. The seven-cents rate equals the difference between the First-Class presort rate and single-piece First-Class rate, which is where First-Class Mail falls when it does not comply with Move Update.   

The USPS has said they will randomly audit to ensure that mailers are running Move Updates at the required minimum frequency. To demonstrate compliance, permit holders will be required to maintain a “Certification of Move Update Compliance .” There will be an initial grace period (not yet specified) during which the Postal Service will provide feedback and allow mailers to rework their mailings to fix addresses before penalties are assessed.

The Postal Service is revising these standards in order to save money spent processing UAA mail, which is mail that must be forwarded, returned to sender, or treated as waste because the recipient information or address is incomplete, incorrect, or out of date. The handling and processing of UAA mail costs the Postal Service over $1 billion annually. The Postal Service hopes to reduce this mail by 50 percent by 2010 through standards such as Move Update.

Please contact your Lane Press Customer Service Representative if you have any questions, would like a price quote on NCOA address updating, or would like to increase the frequency of your current NCOA processing. 

(Published September 2008)