subject: Address Verification With Courier Software [print this page] There are tools in courier dispatch software which are meant to improve operations within a courier company. There are also tools within new software that are designed for the use by the clients of that company. One of the most useful of those tools is address verification and validation software.
One of the most common reasons that packages get lost or delivered to the wrong address is because the company that is shipping a product has labeled an address incorrectly on a package. This happens in a number of ways. Companies that allow hand written labels often find that bad penmanship can cause an address impossible to read. Companies that require typed shipping labels will often find a typo that sends a delivery to the wrong side of a street instantly.
This costs the client money, and loses the courier profits, and benefits no one. So, courier software manufacturers have been creating tools for clients to use to help to reduce the number of errors that are created in this fashion. These tools, like address verification, can both be used when requesting a shipment online, or when using the software to print off a shipping label for your shipment.
What address verification does is check an address to make sure that it is actually a valid US address. Every US address has to match up properly between the street address and the Zip code. This system can check and see if there is a conflict, which will often be created if someone has entered a typo when trying to enter an address.
Also, this software can sometimes complete an incorrect address. This is a good time saving feature for someone that might have a street address but be lacking a zip code. If the street address is correct, the software should be able to just instantly look up the appropriate zip code to match the address, completing the shipping information.
This is a feature that most courier companies should be looking for in their software. Even if the feature only reduces an error in shipping now and then, it is still worth it. Even if a customer is at fault for a package being delivered to the wrong address, they aren't likely to accept that responsibility, and will usually think it is the fault of the courier. A courier can help to maintain confidence in their company if they reduce errors both on their part, and on the part of their clients.
