"Address Change Service (ACS)"
Address Change Service (ACS) is an automated process, offered by the United States Postal Service® (USPS), which provides change-of-address (COA) information to participating mailers who maintain computerized mailing lists. The information is captured in the Computerized Forwarding System (CFS) and sent to mailers on electronic media, reducing the volume of manual change-of-address notices.
ACS helps meet the needs of business mailers by providing a cost-effective, efficient means of obtaining accurate COA information. ACS saves mailers time and money by:
- Reducing the amount of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mailpieces
- Reducing the need to manually key address changes
- Eliminating other labor-intensive steps involved in address change operations–address change service is available to mailers of First-Class Mail®, Periodicals Mail, Standard Mail, and Package Services
To participate in ACS, mailers must modify their mailing label format to include a mailer identification (participant) code assigned by the National Customer Support Center (NCSC).
As ACS-modified mailpieces are processed via the USPS nationwide network of CFS sites, electronic COA notifications are generated, when possible.
Mailers participating in ACS receive the following benefits:
- Timely COA information provided on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis
- COA information that relates specifically to their address files
- In many cases, the ability to make changes directly from electronic media rather than the costly manual process, which is prone to transcription errors
Address change problems encountered by mailers in the past, such as poor-quality photocopies, postal labels placed over the old address, and crossed-out addresses, are substantially reduced for ACS participants.
The ACS process involves the daily transmission of COA information from CFS sites to the NCSC, where the changes are consolidated into a file on a mailer-by-mailer basis. These records are organized by mailer identification codes and distributed to the participant mailer. Depending on a mail piece’s class and endorsement, mailers may also receive information on addresses that are undeliverable for reasons other than a customer move
The major benefits of ACS include the additional savings realized by receiving address change information electronically. This reduces the costs associated with manual processing and provides the opportunity for mailers to maintain up-to-date addresses for customers who have moved.