Bulk Address Verification Tool
Introduction
PostGrid's Bulk Address Verification tool allows you to verify and standardize addresses to ensure deliverability and eliminate duplicates. It also appends missing information and corrects invalid data where possible.
To use our bulk verification tool, sign up for the address verification platform here, where you can clean up to 100 addresses for free.
Getting Started
After you have signed up and logged into our platform, you can head over to the dashboard to access the bulk verification tool.
Prepare Your File
You can prepare your file for upload by ensuring that it has no completely empty lines and for best results,
make sure to include a column with the country of the address (preferably the country code, e.g. US for United States, CA for Canada).
You can download a sample file here.
Note that you can have any number of additional columns in your data. These will be left as-is in the output.
Upload Your File
Once your file is ready, you can head over to the bulk verification tool and click on upload.
If your file contains international addresses (outside of the US & Canada), you can check the international address checkbox to ensure they are processed correctly. Note that different rates apply for international verification.
If you wish to opt for the NCOA (National Change of Address) service for US-based addresses, please click on the corresponding checkbox for NCOA. To run your file through NCOA, it should contain a minimum of 100 addresses and a maximum of 10,000 addresses. Each file will cost an additional $50 USD, in addition to the bulk address verification charge.
Map Columns to Fields
Once you have uploaded your file, you can click on 'Next' to map the columns in your CSV file to fields that PostGrid understands.
In the case of the sample file, our "Address" column corresponds to "Address Line 1", "Address 2" corresponds to "Address Line 2", etc. This varies depending on your CSV file, but for the best results, you should map as many fields as possible. After mapping all the fields, you can preview the mapping by scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Suppose your addresses were not broken down into multiple columns. For example, rather than a Address/City/State column you just had an Address column. In that case, you would just map "Address Line 1" and leave the rest of the mappings blank. PostGrid will automatically recognize the different parts of the address in that case.
Confirm Your Upload
Once you have mapped your fields, you can click 'Confirm Field Mappings' to proceed to the final step.
Here, you will be presented with a summary of your available versus used lookups, along with the total cost of processing. Note that the first 100 addresses are free, and we only charge for additional addresses beyond that. The more addresses you have, the lower the pricing.
You can also contact us to discuss pricing for more than 100K addresses.
Click on ‘Confirm’ to complete your upload. Your file will begin processing immediately.
The processing time varies from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the number of addresses. You will receive an email once it's completed.
If the file fails to process for any reason, you will not be charged.
View Details
You can view a summary of the processing by clicking on 'View Details'.
This summary shows how many addresses were correct as-is (verified), how many we were able to correct to make deliverable (corrected), and how many could not be fixed or matched to an address in any postal database (failed).
Download The Result
Once the file is processed, you can download the output file. You can see that the output file retains the columns in the input file, but updates the rows after processing the addresses.
In this case, we can see that it corrected both of the addresses we provided in accordance with postal standards. We can see that by looking at the (new) PG_STATUS column that was added. There are also additional columns like PG_CORRECTIONS which provide information about what was incorrect about the original address.
Understanding the additional information
When you run address verification, you receive additional details that could be helpful.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| PG_STATUS | - verified: an address is deliverable as-is - corrected: PostGrid fixed the address - failed: The address could not be verified |
| PG_US_ZIP_PLUS_4 | 4-digit USPS ZIP+4 code |
| PG_US_URBANIZATION | The urbanization of your address. |
| PG_STREETNAME | Name of the street where the address is located |
| PG_STREETTYPE | Type of the street (DR, ST, BLVD, AVE, PKWY, RD, etc.) |
| PG_STREETDIRECTION | The direction of the street (N, S, E, W, etc) |
| PG_PREDIRECTION | The pre-direction of the street (before the street name, US addresses only). |
| PG_POSTDIRECTION | The post-direction of the street (after the street name, US addresses only). |
| PG_STREETNUMBER | Street number (e.g. the 20 in 20 Bay St) |
| PG_SUITEID | The unit number/name |
| PG_SUITEKEY | 'St', '#' etc. |
| PG_BOXID | PO Box ID |
| PG_DELIVERYINSTALLATIONAREANAME | Delivery installation area name |
| PG_DELIVERYINSTALLATIONTYPE | Delivery installation type |
| PG_DELIVERYINSTALLATIONQUALIFIER | Delivery installation qualifier |
| PG_RURALROUTENUMBER | Rural route number |
| PG_RURALROUTETYPE | Rural route type |
| PG_EXTRAINFO | Any extra information relevant to the address |
| PG_COUNTY | County in the United States (US address only) |
| PG_COUNTYNUM | FIPS code for county (US address only) |
| PG_USCENSUSCMSA | US Census consolidated metropolitan statistical area |
| PG_USCENSUSBLOCKNUMBER | US Census block number |
| PG_USCENSUSTRACTNUMBER | US Census tract number |
| PG_USCENSUSFIPS | US county-level FIPS |
| PG_USCENSUSMA | US Census metropolitan area |
| PG_USCENSUSMSA | US Census metropolitan statistical area |
| PG_USCENSUSPMSA | US Census primary metropolitan statistical area |
| PG_USAREACODE | US area code |
| PG_USHASDAYLIGHTSAVINGS | True if address location recognizes DST |
| PG_USTIMEZONE | Time zone for the US address area |
| PG_USCONGRESSIONALDISTRICTNUMBER | US congressional district number |
| PG_USSTATELEGISLATIVELOWER | Lower legislative district for the US address |
| PG_USSTATELEGISLATIVEUPPER | Upper legislative district for the US address |
| PG_USMAILINGSCARRIERROUTE | 4-character code assigned to mail delivery route within a 5 digit zip code |
| PG_USMAILINGSCHECKDIGIT | PostNet barcode digit |
| PG_USMAILINGSDEFAULTFLAG | True if US address matches a high-rise default or rural route default in the USPS data |
| PG_USMAILINGSDELIVERYPOINT | Unique USPS identifier for the delivery point |
| PG_USMAILINGSDPVCONFIRMATIONINDICATOR | See USPS DPV section below. |
| PG_USMAILINGSDPVCRMAINDICATOR | See USPS DPV section below. |
| PG_USMAILINGSDPVFOOTNOTE1 | See USPS DPV section below. |
| PG_USMAILINGSDPVFOOTNOTE2 | See USPS DPV section below. |
| PG_USMAILINGSDPVFOOTNOTE3 | See USPS DPV section below. |
| PG_USMAILINGSELOTASCDESC | A for ascending, D for descending |
| PG_USMAILINGSELOTSEQUENCENUMBER | eLOT sequence number |
| PG_USMAILINGSEWSFLAG | Y if address is in early warning system database |
| PG_USMAILINGSLACSFLAG | Y if address converted by LACS |
| PG_USMAILINGSLACSRETURNCODE | Corresponds to USPS LACSLink return code |
| PG_RESIDENTIAL | TRUE if the address is vacant according to the USPS (US address only), FALSE otherwise |
| PG_VACANT | TRUE if the address is residential (US address only), FALSE otherwise |
| PG_CORRECTIONS | Gives more information about the verification status |
USPS DPV
PostGrid performs USPS delivery point verification (DPV) on US addresses. The relevant fields are returned in the address details starting with PG_USMAILINGSDPVCONFIRMATIONINDICATOR .
PG_USMAILINGSDPVCONFIRMATIONINDICATOR
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| Empty | Address not found in database |
| N | Address is not DPV-confirmed |
| Y | Address is DPV-confirmed |
| D | Primary number (e.g. street number) confirmed, secondary missing |
| S | Primary confirmed, secondary present, but not confirmed |
PG_USMAILINGSDPVCRMAINDICATOR
Y if this is a commercial mail receiving agency, N otherwise
PG_USMAILINGSDPVFOOTNOTE1
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| AA | Address matched to zip4 |
| A1 | Address not matched |
PG_USMAILINGSDPVFOOTNOTE2
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| BB | All components of the address matched to DPV |
| CC | Primary number matched, secondary present but not matched |
| N1 | Primary matched, secondary missing |
| M1 | Primary missing |
| M3 | Primary number invalid |
| U1 | Address matched to unique ZIP code |
| F1 | Address matched to unique ZIP code |
| G1 | General delivery address |
| P1 | PO Box, rural route, or HC box number is missing |
| P3 | Invalid PO Box, rural route, or HC box number |
PG_USMAILINGSDPVFOOTNOTE3
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| RR | Matched to CMRA with secondary present |
| R1 | Matched to CMRA but missing secondary number |
PG_USMAILINGSRECORDTYPECODE
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| F | Firm or business |
| G | General delivery |
| P | P.O. box |
| H | High-rise |
| S | Street |
| R | Rural route/highway |
PG_USMAILINGSSUITELINKRETURNCODE
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| 00 | No match in SuiteLink data |
| A | Match found in SuiteLink data |
| Empty | Not presented to SuiteLink |
Updated about 2 months ago