Postal Notices and Failures to Deliver

Benjamin ODonnell

Our nonprofit mails out a newsletter on a quarterly basis with people marked with a specific checkbox in our eTapestry database making up the vast majority. Right before we pull the mailing list we run the NCOA Address Finder service.

Lately (especially this year), the number of Form 3547D's that we've been getting has gone up quite a bit, along with what we're paying in fees. While some of these notices are for things like address changes or vacant, most are marked “not deliverable as addressed” or “attempted-not known”. I keep track of these in the related account's journal, and there are many cases in which someone has been getting our newsletter fine for years, we get one of these, and then they'll seemingly receive several more with no issue before we get another notice. It makes it very hard to tell if the issue is on our end or the post office's end.

Are other people been having these sorts of issues? Our director wants us to potentially look into something to supplement NCOA, but if this is a broader issue caused by the USPS's challenges that probably wouldn't be too much help.

Michelle ODonnell

@Benjamin ODonnell Hi, I'm replying so I can follow the response. Thank you for posting it! Michelle

Moira Udinski

@Benjamin ODonnell Hi Benjamin. We have been seeing the same issue with our mailings and thank you letters/receipts. We will receive one back with the same messages and we know for a fact the donor still lives at the address. It's been frustrating, not to mention the cost of resending. We also have noticed an increase this past year or two.

Karen Tuecke

@Benjamin ODonnell we too have been having this issue. I have found that if we have the NCOA done by the post office and not directly in eTapestry, we go through the addresses before they are changed. If the address has not changed, then we do not change it… if it has or the person is deceased, we manually update it. It takes a bit longer, but in the long run, it has saved us money… mailings are not returned.

Benjamin ODonnell

@Karen Tuecke How do you have the post office do your NCOA processing? I'm looking at their website and all they I can find is licensing information to use the database for tens of thousands of dollars.