List Already Accurate - Mailer Move Update Process Certification requires a mailer to provide 100 percent of an electronic version of an address list to the Postal Service who will match the list against the Postal Service change-of-address information for an initial charge of $1.00 per thousand records with a minimum charge of $100.00.

     Legal Restraint - Is available for mailers who document that they are legally restrained from using COA information from sources other than directly from their customers.

     Address Management is making progress toward the goal of providing a 100 percent accurate Address Management System (AMS) database, by pursuing an aggressive policy of ongoing quality reviews and by developing technological and procedural improvements to ensure better communication between delivery and field AMS sites. These steps have resulted in improvements to the quality of the AMS database. AMS now provides more timely delivery point address information for use in all automated mail processing, barcoding, and sorting operations. It also is the source of all address information products required by the commercial industry to prepare automation compatible mailings.

     In 2000, the Postal Service initiated the National AMS Street Review Program, moving responsibility for AMS data quality measurements from the areas to Headquarters and ensuring that the measurements are applied evenly across the nation. The team reviewed over 1,840 individual carrier routes in 2003.

     Improving address quality reduces the amount of UAA mail and improves the effectiveness of automated mail-processing operations. The Postal Service makes available to mailers products and services that assist them in attaining and maintaining, 100

percent deliverable address lists. Mailers who use the resources detailed below are able to produce more deliverable mailpieces and gain access to worksharing discounts.

     The Address Element Correction (AEC) service was designed to correct addresses that could not be matched to the Postal Service's national ZIP+4 code file using Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) certified address-matching software. AEC corrects deficient addresses and identifies those that do not exist. Already, millions of addresses in mailers' files have been examined and corrected, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

     AEC uses a variety of computer logic resolution processes to correct as many addresses as possible. It also produces a diagnostic report about the mailer's list management practices. The current electronic service resolves, on average, 29 percent of the previously unmatched addresses. More than 23 million addresses were processed in 2003 with 6.9 million addresses corrected.

     To ensure the accuracy of barcodes applied by mailers, the Postal Service evaluates the ability of customers' hardware and software to produce properly constructed barcodes that meet Postal Service automation requirements. There are many printers that are certified as producing barcodes that meet the required physical characteristics. The National Customer Support Center (NCSC) in Memphis, TN, maintains a list of POSTNET barcode certification vendors.

     CASS improves the accuracy of the carrier route, five-digit ZIP Code, ZIP+4 code, and delivery point codes that appear on mailpieces. The program is a quality control measure that ensures that software vendors provide accurate, updated information and software to customers who purchase this information to process their mailing lists. CASS software is available to all mailers, service bureaus, and software vendors who want to evaluate their address-matching