Return Mail Processing Services

Manage Undeliverable Mail Processing and Meet Move Update Compliance

Is your return mail piling up? Are you dedicating valuable resources to continually go through stacks of mailpieces? There’s a better way to handle your undeliverable as addressed mail. The good news is that your mounting returned mail can become a thing of the past and you can eliminate additional postage fees while maintaining USPS Move Update compliance. Simply choose a undeliverable mail processing solution that addresses all undeliverable as addressed mail.

Managing returned or undeliverable as addressed (UAA) mail can be a significant hassle and expense for businesses. Trays of UAA mail can pile up in mailrooms, resulting in wasted postage costs, labor hours spent manually processing each piece, and lost opportunities to communicate with customers. FSSI’s return mail processing service, eReturn, helps businesses effectively manage all UAA mail by providing an electronic data file with address information and reasons for non-delivery. This allows companies to easily update customer databases in real-time, coordinate follow-up communications to obtain consent for updates, and even instruct the USPS to securely destroy UAA mail.

By outsourcing UAA mail processing, eReturn Mail eliminates the need to physically handle returned mail, reduces operational costs, improves address database accuracy, and helps businesses stay compliant with USPS Move Update requirements.

What is Undeliverable as Addressed Mail?

Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) means that the postal mail could not be delivered to the intended recipient at the address written on the mailpiece. This typically occurs due to one of the following reasons:

• The addressee has moved and did not submit a change of address form with the USPS, so there is no forwarding address on file.
• The address on the mailpiece is incomplete, incorrect, or illegible, lacking crucial details like the street number, street name, city, state, or ZIP code.
• The address is for a vacant residence or business that is not currently occupied.
• The intended recipient is deceased or unknown at that address.
• There is no mailbox or mail receptacle at the address to receive deliveries.
• The recipient refused to accept the mailpiece or pay any necessary postage.

This can adversely affect businesses that deliver a high volume of mail, such as those in the financial services, insurance, healthcare and utility industries. By utilizing returned mail management and making the necessary changes to your address databases, you can ensure more mail reaches the hands of its intended recipients and cut operational expenses while strengthening customer relationships.

The High Cost of Managing UAA Mail

According to the U.S. Postal Service, over 6.1 billion pieces of mail were undeliverable as addressed in 2017, accounting for 4.56% of total outbound mail volume. Handling this enormous amount of UAA mail cost the USPS approximately $1.3 billion that year. For businesses, the costs are even higher – an estimated $20 billion annually to handle UAA mail. Each piece of returned mail can cost a company up to $25 in ancillary expenses related to correcting mistakes and remailing. This includes:

• Return postage fees paid to the USPS
• Labor costs for manually processing and sorting UAA mail ($10-$15 per hour)
• Researching and updating address databases ($0.50-$1 per piece)
• Reprint and remailing costs for statements, marketing materials, etc.

Beyond the direct financial impact, UAA mail disrupts customer communications and reducing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Important bills, statements, and notices go undelivered, resulting in delayed payments, lost revenue, and compliance risks for regulated industries. Promotional mailings never reach their intended audiences, wasting marketing spend and opportunities.

Returned Mail Handling Services

With eReturn Mail™, an undeliverable mail service from FSSI, you can electronically manage all undeliverable-as-addressed mail and update your customer address database. As a result, you’ll get rid of the trays of undeliverable mail taking up space in your mailroom. Eliminate or drastically reduce all of your undeliverable mail and say goodbye to staff having to manually enter it all into your system.

Keep Your Customer Address Database Up-to-Date and Reduce Physical Returned Mail

eReturn Mail is an electronic return mail processing solution that provides a digital file of all “Change of Address” (COA) and “Undeliverable as Addressed” (UAA) information for physically returned mailpieces, covering all scenarios of returned mail, and decreasing occurrences of nixies in the process.

Here’s How eReturn Mail Works:

• Using a proprietary program, FSSI matches USPS data with our database so there is no manual actions on your side
• Through FSSI’s Unique Piece Tracking (UPT), we provide you with data on all mail that was returned in a convenient electronic file
• We format the data so you can quickly and easily manage customer addresses and make real-time updates
• When database updates are not feasible without consent, you can quickly identify and contact customers to get updated information
• Satisfies Move Update compliance by streamlining the review process and address cleansing practices to help keep your customer data up-to-date
• With Secure Destruction, you can instruct the USPS to destroy all UAA mail and forward all COA mail to your customers
• Physical mail stacking up in a company’s mailroom can be eliminated or significantly reduced

Save Time and Money and Re-Capture Lost Business Opportunities

Our undeliverable return mail services enables you to save time and money spent on managing UAA mail processing and helps keep your communications moving forward as planned. Re-capture lost financial and business opportunities and reap the benefits of not having to manage as many returned pieces of mail. With fewer missed bills and notices, and more positive customer experiences, it can be a reality.

The Operational Benefits of Outsourcing Return Mail Processing

• Effectively manage all undeliverable mail: Receive both COA and UAA information for physical mail pieces. Utilize the data to electronically manage all undeliverable mail.
• Easily update customer address database:  Make real-time revisions to your customer address database based on information in the electronic data file, which is formatted for quick and easy updates. Address cleansing can be a great way to save money on wasted postage costs.
• Automate outreach for consent:  When the database cannot be updated without permission, easily identify customers as UAA or COA. We will set up a process to send a letter to get consent for any database modifications.
• Stop sending to undeliverable addresses: Reduce unnecessary costs for mail that you know can’t be delivered. Enlist the customer service team to follow up and get the correct recipient information.

The Cost Benefits of Outsourcing Return Mail Management:

• Eliminate postage assessments: If COA-specific mail exceeds 0.5% in one month, additional postage assessments will be incurred. (Here are other tips to reduce postage costs.)
• Decrease internal business costs: Eliminate the time and labor costs associated with managing large quantities of returned mail and the extra postage fees assessed on nixies.
• Stay USPS Move Update compliant: Conform with USPS Move Update when COA information is used to update the customer database.  We can also get the consent needed to make updates, within the 95-day time requirement. Eliminate or reduce additional Move Update fees and penalties.
• Reduce or eliminate physical handling of mail: With USPS Secure Destruction, instruct the USPS to destroy UAA mail and forward COA mail to customers.
• Re-capture lost financial opportunities: Eliminate missed bills or notices, which can affect revenue and overall customer experience.  Keep communications moving as planned.

Why Partner with FSSI for Undeliverable Mail Processing?

Problem: The NCOA system fails to capture all undeliverable-as-addressed mail, focusing only on changes of address registered with the USPS. Even if you manage to update your customer database using NCOA information, you’ll still receive other “Undeliverable as Addressed” mailpieces. If COA-specific mail exceeds 0.5% in a given month, you’ll incur additional postage assessments. Additionally, customer addresses must be updated within 95 days of the mail date to comply with Move Update standards.

Solution: Our address cleansing services address ALL undeliverable mail. Utilizing electronic data from FSSI, you can instantly update your customer address database. Correspondence can be coordinated to obtain consent for updates. We manage all return mail data digitally, with the capability to handle any scenario. Secure destruction eliminates physical returned mail, eliminating the need to manage/process nixies.

Let Us Handle Your Undeliverable-As-Addressed Mail

Your business or institution needs an all-in-one return mail automation solution that allows you to manage it electronically effortlessly—from address management and cleansing to updating your customer address database. With eReturn Mail, staying current with physically-returned USPS mail becomes a non-issue. Take proactive steps today to reduce piles of UAA and COA mail and efficiently manage return mail handling.

Returned mail and address database cleansing are costly and problematic issues for many businesses. If you are looking to reduce the cost and volume of undeliverable mail and make sure more documents reach the hands of your customers (instead of returning to your mailroom), we can help.

Contact us online or call us at (714) 436-3300 to schedule a no-obligation consultation. This innovative return mail processing solution will immediately change the way you manage and update your customer address database and handle returned mailpieces.