USPS Publication 28
In USPS Postal Addressing Standards (Publication 28 or, affectionately, "Pub28"), the USPS presents a few general guidelines for maintaining and managing address lists. Proper management of mailing lists will help ensure that addresses in your database are accurate and complete. SmartyStreets offers customers solutions that will assist with address data management. We recommend updating addresses in your list using our LiveAddress services in order to meet these maintenance recommendations:
- Addresses should be updated in the address list after they have been matched against the address information files.
- Organizations should establish list management procedures for their address databases.
- New addresses should go through a standardization and verification process before being added to the master address list.
- Review the output of the addresses on mailpieces, inserts, or labels to ensure that the address is machine-readable and able to be processed on optical character readers (OCRs).
- Print complete address information on mailpieces and eliminate extra information.
If your curiosity has been piqued as a result of this explanation (or you're still having trouble falling asleep) you can read the full text of the publication 28 on the USPS website or in PDF format.