Address Can’t Validate (Reasons USPS Won’t Recognize an Address)

Address validation is a tricky horse to tame. There are many reasons why an address will not validate properly, and the entire process can be incredibly frustrating. There are many things that need to be checked in order to illuminate the various possible causes for the address returning as invalid.

There are a couple of key things to look for when trying to solve the problem of addresses that can’t validate. 

How to Validate a Mailing Address

The first step in validating a mailing address is to make sure that the address format being entered is standardized. Address standardization includes correcting any incorrect formatting issues, including incorrect house numbers, street names, city, state, and ZIP Codes. A common occurrence during the address standardization process is improperly formatted road-type abbreviations (St, Rd, Dr, Pkwy, etc.) Having the incorrect road type will cause some issues during the delivery process and the successful validation of an address.

Once all of the correct information is entered, address validation software will check the address against multiple address databases and will attempt to “standardize” the address.

Example of Address Standardization

For example, ‘street’ is sometimes not changed to ‘ST’.
AccuMail will change “street” to “ST” and if there are no conflicts AccuMail can also change “DR” to “ST”. The address  610 E Main Dr, Santa Maria CA 93454 will get corrected to 610 E Main St since there is no Main Drive in Santa Maria. So it matched 610, east, main, santa maria, and 93454. With those correct components, AccuMail can determine with confidence that the address exists and that “drive” was a mistake and corrects it to “St”. 

Reasons Your Address Won’t Validate

As stated above, there are many reasons why an address returns as invalid to the sender. However, we believe that these three reasons listed below are the most common instances of address invalidation.

Reason 1 – Incorrect Information

Reason number one is the most common cause of an invalid address being returned during the address validation process. When incorrect address information is input into a system, it is almost certainly going to give an undesired result or trigger an error. Because addresses are very specific in the information that they require, information being input that is incorrect – such as an invalid zip code – can often return an invalid address.

Reason 2 – Missing Information

The second reason addresses fell validation is due to missing information. This is a very common occurrence with multi-tenant buildings like apartments or office spaces. Most of these building types have one primary street address, such as 123 Main St., and several internal dwellings or sections. 

For example, an apartment located at 123 Main St. might be apartment A. Sending mail to 123 Main St. that’s actually destined to “123 Main St. Apt A” will likely result in undelivered mail or an address to return as invalid. But because this address is valid, it’s like the address would be valid but, due to missing information, will result in a missing mail or package claim.

Reason 3 – Address Doesn’t Exist

Reason three can actually be caused by a combination of incorrect or missing information as well as physical location factors such as condemnation or demolition. While location databases are actively updated with the newest information available, it is possible that an address could slide through the cracks or simply need to be updated with the city or regional authority.

Address Validation in an Instant

Address validation is so important. We’re so confident that we can provide the best solution to your business’s address validation needs that we have created a free single address lookup tool to demonstrate the power of our software. Check it out here, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any further questions!