What Is Undeliverable as Addressed Mail? 

It is a letter or parcel that is unable to be delivered to its intended recipient using the given address. Undeliverable as addressed mail is either sent back to the sender or sent to the dead mail office.

This method allows the sender to reprocess the mail and send it again or ensures the mail undergoes processing in the dead mail office.

 What Happens in the Dead Mail Office

If a piece of mail cannot reach the recipient and the sender's address is missing, it sent to the dead mail office. It is the department within a post office that deals with undelivered letters. 

The undelivered mail undergoes an inspection, and if there is a return address, it is resealed and delivered back to the sender. If no sender address is available, then it is destroyed to protect privacy. Any valuable items within the mail left for auction.

The Causes of Undelivered Mail

Two major reasons could lead to undelivered packages; (1) address issues and (2) postage charge issues.

 A postage charge is a payment you make as a charge for sending mail through the postal service. Most mailing businesses pay for this charge; hence, it is not much of an issue when it comes to undelivered mail.

Mistakes in the address of a recipient can cause major issues and delay the delivery of the mail. Here are a few examples of address issues that can bring about undeliverable as addressed mail:

1. Sending the mail to a nonexistent or ineligible address

When you send mail to an address that doesn’t exist or is not readable, it automatically becomes undelivered mail.

If you didn’t include a return address that mail is as good as gone. Using the wrong formatting as well as misspelling street names can also cause mail not to be delivered to its destination.

2. Sending mail to a disputed address

Sometimes one or more persons may be in dispute over the right to a certain address. As long as the issue is unresolved, then the postal service cannot deliver mail to that address.

3.Sending mail to a deceased or imprisoned person

When mail arrives at an address of a deceased or imprisoned person, someone should be on the receiving end to collect it.

If this cannot happen, then it is classified under dead mail that goes back to the post office. It is then returned to the sender or destroyed depending on the circumstances.

4. Sending mail to a vacant address or an address where a person has moved out

When mail is sent to an address that is not registered to anyone, the package is automatically added to undeliverable as addressed mail. The same applies when mail goes to an address where the owner has moved.

The latter is the most common of the two. People often moved to a new place and forget to file a for a forwarding address. As a result, they are bound to miss any mail sent to their old address.

The Cost of Mail Sent to The Wrong Address

Using a mailing business to reach out to existing and potential customers has been a trend for a long time. This strategy still is the case, even with the invention of the internet. Mail provides a direct personal connection between traders and consumers.

One of the worst things that can happen when you use mail campaigns in your business is having undeliverable as addressed mail. These delivery issues arise due to problems in the ship-to address the letter is going to.

Promotional information does not reach its intended target, and you miss the chance to attract would-be buyers.

The message either reaches when it’s too late or fails to arrive. The business also has to incur another cost of reprocessing, repackaging and resending the mail to the appropriate address.

This process may not sound like an expensive endeavor, but remember, you have to pay the post-service return charges for the undelivered mail. These costs vary depending on the priority class of the letter or parcel.

First-class mail, which is preferred by most mailers has a higher cost compared to the others. Customers pay more because the letter or parcel is given utmost priority during the mailing process.

When you have several or even hundreds of undelivered mail, it will cause a significant dent in your finances.

The Cost of Undelivered Mail is Getting Higher

If you still think that the cost of dead mail is still low, then you must be dead wrong. The fees for returning mail to the sender have increased over the last few years. This fee increase is brought about by small address mistakes which reflect in the full cost of processing.

As more and more simple address errors occur such as formatting and misspelling issues, the more the operating expense increases. It thus leads to a net increase in the price charged for mail returns to senders.

How to Avoid These Costs, In Simple, Straightforward Ways

To save on expenses and reach your intended recipients on time, you need to be very careful to cut down the rate of mail sent to the wrong address.

Here are some of the best ways you can use to avoid the problem of having undeliverable as addressed mail:

Use a move update system

This system allows for automatic changes in the address of recipients within your mailing list who have moved and changed their addresses.

Mailers who use this move update system can get discounts on postage charges by the United States Postal Service.

Remove or reduce number of deceased or imprisoned recipients

It is rare to get a mail response from a person who is dead or in prison.

 It is better to remove them from your mailing list when sending out information. This change may not improve your income, but it will help to reduce costs associated with postage charges.

 Make use of the Delivery Point Validation

This system confirms that an address you plan to send mail to is active and registered as it should be.

This system can be used in the United States Postal Service to identify vacant addresses, deceased or imprisoned individual addresses and confirm the identity of the address holder.

This Delivery Point Validation system will help in reducing the number of undeliverable as addressed mail and help in reducing the postage expenses.

Final Remarks

To reach clients and consumers through mail on time and engage them at a personal level, you need to improve on your mailing campaign proficiency. Create market-driven content that will appeal to your target client.

Use all approved tactics to ensure that your message gets to your recipient as fast as possible. Make sure that your mailing list is up-to-date, and your business will run smoothly.