eternallythankful
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posted on August 8, 2001 06:15:45 PM new
Can someone please tell me how to handle an "Address Not Found" message when trying to print a postage label? This is the first time that I have run into this. Do you e-mail the buyer to verify that there are no misspellings in the address? Ship it anyway? I have tried Endicia's Help section, but have not found any real help there. The Help section states:
You either have a serious misspelling or a street address that does not exist. In some rare cases, the Postal Service may not have assigned a ZIP+4to the address. Check your spelling and street address (did you include a street number?) and try again.
As far as I can tell the address looks OK. What should I do now?
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ExecutiveGirl
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posted on August 8, 2001 06:18:27 PM new
Some addresses aren't in the system. All you can do is bring it to the PO and pay at the counter and have them put a stamp/label on it.
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eternallythankful
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posted on August 8, 2001 06:25:57 PM new
Thanks for your help ExecutiveGirl...I really appreciate it!
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dman3
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posted on August 8, 2001 06:33:56 PM new
Some times a buyer will send the local way of addressing items which can vary and be different then the actual address..
Like my address has a 911 box No. that starts the address if you dont start the address wit hte box number when someone trys to print postage it would come up as an invalid address but to send mail locally genrally the box number is not used or needed it get were it is going just with the name and street address....
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
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tomwiii
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posted on August 8, 2001 06:43:11 PM new
I dare ya to say that 3 times real fast! 
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tomwiii
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posted on August 8, 2001 06:48:04 PM new
But seriously folks (hey! if you're Searious & I'm Roebuck, who's minding the store?!) -- here's what good ole Uncle M-P does:
1) Try a different combo...ie, if the address the buyer sends says "RR1 Box 543 Podunk, etc" I'll try Box 543 RR1 and, believe it or not, it sometimes matches!
2) I look in the white pages on the net for the buyer's address - you'd be amazed how they be 1 digit off or 1 letter off!
3) email them & ask: I love it when they reply: "Oh yeah! My REAL address is..."
Geeez! Now I have to be Carnack!
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eternallythankful
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posted on August 8, 2001 07:12:07 PM new
Thanks everyone for your help...I appreciate it. I'll keep your suggestions in mind for the future. I did e-mail the buyer, and she verified that it is the correct address. It's just a standard house number and street address, so it must be the zip+4 situation. Looks like I'll have to go to the PO after all...darn, I have really been enjoying the freedom from that!  Hmmm, I wonder if I can use the Endicia DC on this package? Does anyone know?
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avaloncourt
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posted on August 8, 2001 07:30:19 PM new
It's interesting what some people provide as an address and what the postal service recognizes as the address. I have had people send me an address and when I plug it into the verifier it gets changed to the point that it's unrecognizable as the original. I used to get worried about it and email the buyer about it. I'd get a reply something like... Oh, yeah, the post office did that 10 years ago but we never changed it.
Harry Whitehouse, the President of Endicia left a URL for us a little while ago which helps track down those addresses which won't verify. Plug in the ZIP and Street name (with and without the Street or Avenue) and see what streets are assigned for that city. It also shows you what they consider to be valid numbering for that street. See if the number falls in the list.
The web page for that verifier is:
https://www.endicia.com/endicia-usa/ziplookup/findaddress.cfm
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eternallythankful
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posted on August 8, 2001 07:47:01 PM new
Hey that's great Avaloncourt - many thanks! I plugged in the address on this site and at first came up with a blank page. I took the Avenue designation off of the street name, and found 2 matches. I found the same street name, but with an "s" at the end. Tried this with the label again with an added "s" and it came up as a match! I am surprised that the buyer didn't catch this when I asked her to verify the spelling.
Guess it goes back to dman3's and tomwii's advice that "Some times a buyer will send the local way of addressing items which can vary and be different then the actual address" and to try a different combo.
You all solved my problem and saved me a trip to the PO...Thanks!
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avaloncourt
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posted on August 8, 2001 07:58:41 PM new
No problem at all. That page really helps to verify problem addresses. Sometimes you really have to get creative to figure out what the address really is because there's so much wrong with it. Sometimes I even resort to some of the mapping sites to see if the street even exists.
I'm glad that helped you out. It saves some headaches.
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psyllie
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posted on August 8, 2001 09:51:19 PM new
One other thing can sometimes help--if you are running AdSubtract it can interfere with the verification if you have the symbol # (as in 100 Main Street Floor #2).
You can usually get around that by dropping the # or replacing it with Ste or Apt, or by temporarily disabling the AdSubtract filtering.
I had problems initially with downloading Endicia's program because AdSubtract places a proxy server address in your system. Once that was removed, the program downloaded fine and runs fine with AdSubtract back in place--except for that little # glitch.
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granee
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posted on August 8, 2001 10:13:09 PM new
When an address won't verify, you can try going to http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/adserv/ and put it in the address server there (it will give the 'official' USPS spelling/placement for U.S. addresses). If it still won't come up, click the "USPS HOME" button there, then on the USPS homepage click the "Find Zip Codes" button and try to get the 'official' address there. If THAT doesn't work, you'll have to write the address label by hand and put on postage from another source (stamps or Post Office meter label).
I find that about 1 out of every 20 or 25 domestic addresses won't verify, though they're correct addresses. They're usually either rural addresses or brand new addresses.
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paintpower
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posted on August 9, 2001 04:21:22 AM new
I had one like that when I first started using Endicia in July. Address was County Road 82. Wouldn't verify. Wrote buyer. She swore she lived on County Road 82 and had lived there for 30 years. Prior address was RR something so we tried that. Didn't work. Finally used the link provided earlier in this thread to check the street and road names for that post office and found out she lived on Road 82. They had dropped the County. Changed it and it verified like a champ. I wonder how many of us really don't know our correct postal service address?
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avaloncourt
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posted on August 9, 2001 08:12:08 AM new
We're fortunate in this area. Four years ago this county issued 911 addresses to straighten out problems with locating houses. They reissued addresses to make sure that no two addresses are the same anywhere in the county. The county then mailed sheets of paper with the old address and the new address. There are still many people who insist that since they had the old address for 30 years they will not change. Those are the people whose number on their mailbox doesn't match anything around them. Some of the old Rural Routes got a bit weird though.
A friend has a business and was very upset over the change. The address he received was like 12345 Main Street, Smalltown, PA 11111. The problem was that the reissuance of the addresses for his area used the existing postal rural route delivery system to determine the new address and not anything similar to the name of the road he lived on. That wouldn't be so bad but he lives 10 miles from "Smalltown" and now it appears that his business is located on the main street of that town. He is nowhere near that town and not even in line with Main Street. If people saw advertising for his business and decided to drive there, his actual location would make no sense and they would never find him. This situation hurt him so bad that he ended up going out of business.
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marlenedz
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posted on August 9, 2001 08:30:36 AM new
>>I wonder how many of us really don't know our correct postal service address?>>
I don't either. The township papers show my street as two words but the PO has it as one word. One street sign has it as one word and the other street sign has it as two. Some neighbors use two words and others use 1 word. I've asked several times, but no one knows the answer.
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sun818
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posted on August 9, 2001 10:08:08 AM new
I would go with the post office version. After all, they are delivering the package and you want it to get there without confusion right?
* ~ * ~ * ~ *
http://techgems.net
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avaloncourt
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posted on August 9, 2001 06:12:29 PM new
You can always call the office of address standardization. They're located wherever there is a postal business center (Usually with the large sorting facilities). They're the ones who actually make up the official addresses and assign the numbers. The post office definitely makes mistakes at times on the addresses and these offices are supposed to be the office of quality assurance for the postal address.
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