"Address Cleansing"
Address cleansing is the conversion of street addresses to a standard format established by the United States Postal Service® (USPS). The USPS defines a standardized address as one that is fully spelled out, abbreviated using the USPS standard abbreviations (examples listed below), or as shown in the current USPS ZIP+4 File.
The most common standard address abbreviations are:
| Address Component | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| APARTMENT | APT |
| BUILDING | BLDG |
| FLOOR | FL |
| SUITE | STE |
| UNIT | UNIT |
| ROOM | RM |
| DEPARTMENT | DEPT |
In address cleansing, these standard abbreviations are utilized, typos are corrected, and ZIP codes are converted to the 9-digit format. Address cleansing is most often performed in conjunction with address matching, a process that validates an address against one of the 57 million addresses in the USPS database.
Accurate and complete addresses, through address cleansing, helps to ensure the timely delivery of mail.