Return Mail Processing System for Address Data Hygiene
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost and inefficiency of processing undeliverable mail, which accounts for approximately $21 billion in expenses for the USPS due to incorrect addresses and lack of data hygiene, as many individuals do not update their addresses when moving or passing away, leading to a significant portion of mail being returned as undeliverable.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for return mail processing that creates a database of standardized addresses, updates it based on returned mail, and applies business rules to correct or delete undeliverable addresses, utilizing USPS data feeds and NIXIE labels to improve data hygiene and reduce costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual processing of returned mail is used, then data entry accuracy can be maintained, but processing time and labor costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical data entry with an automated optical character recognition (OCR) system that captures images of returned mail and automatically extracts address information. This substitution of mechanical manual work with automated optical recognition technology resolves the contradiction by maintaining accuracy through systematic image processing while dramatically reducing processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary OCR processing system that acts as a mediator between the physical returned mail and the digital database. This intermediary automatically extracts and validates address information from mail images, eliminating the need for manual data entry while ensuring data accuracy through automated validation rules.
2Loss of information
If physical returned mail is processed manually, then complete address information can be captured, but processing costs and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual inspection and data extraction with automated OCR image recognition technology that captures complete address information from returned mail. The system processes multiple mail pieces simultaneously through automated image capture and recognition, maintaining information completeness while dramatically improving processing efficiency and volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates digital copies of returned mail through image capture and uses these copies for automated processing. The OCR system extracts information from these digital replicas without requiring manual handling of physical mail, thereby preserving complete address information while enabling high-speed automated processing.
3Reliability
If pre-mailing address sorting is used, then mis-addressed mail can be identified, but only 33% of UAA mail is detected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where returned undeliverable mail is captured, imaged, and processed through OCR to extract updated address information. This feedback loop feeds corrected addresses back into the mailing database, enabling the system to learn from undelivered mail and improve future delivery accuracy, thereby detecting and correcting the 67% of UAA mail that pre-mailing sorting misses.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary processing of returned mail by capturing images and extracting address information before the mail is destroyed or discarded. This preliminary action preserves valuable address correction data that can be used to update the mailing database, preventing future undeliverable mail and improving overall delivery reliability.
4Productivity
If electronic data feed from USPS is used, then notification of returned mail is received, but the data cannot be correlated with mailing entity's database
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary OCR-based processing system that bridges the gap between USPS electronic data feeds and the mailing entity's database. The system captures images of returned mail, extracts address information through OCR, and correlates this extracted data with the entity's mailing database using the physical mail as a linking intermediary, thereby enabling data correlation that the electronic feed alone cannot provide.
Data Source
AI summary
A novel and advantageous system and method for return mail processing is provided. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a novel and advantageous system and method for return mail processing and improving data hygiene. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a novel and advantageous system and method for return mail processing that creates a database of addresses and continually or periodically updates the database using post-return revisions. In further embodiments, the system and method may apply business rules for making the revisions and/or for using addresses from the database. Further, the system and method may generate a scorecard of the addresses in the database that may be used in conjunction with business rules.