Incomplete Addresses
by Mark Yanonne

Between 8 and 10 percent of all of the mailing addresses in the millions of databases are un-encodable. Here are a few solutions to avoid incomplete addresses. When seeking someone's address over the phone, always ask for a complete mailing address, otherwise, you're more likely to receive an un-encodable "35th and Madison," as a reply. When receiving a street address over the phone, increase the chances of getting a valid address by prompting for directionals (N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW) suffixes (AVE, RD, BLVD, LN, DR, etc.), and suite numbers (STE, APT, LOT, UNIT, etc.). Always verify the spelling of the street names and city names.  High employee turnover and non-inquiring minds increase the chances of vital address components being omitted. Watch for incomplete and invalid addresses.

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