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Canada Post's Address Improvement Program

Are You Prepared?

What is AIP?

The Address Improvement Program (AIP) is a new address repository being created by Canada Post to ensure that the address data they collect for use in the postal code database is accurate and complete. As part of this effort, a new single database called the Address Management System (AMS), containing all the mailing addresses in Canada, is being created.

The Canada Post AMS will become the single corporate home for addressing and delivery information for Canada Post and its customers. This database will contain all data related to addressing management for all points of call in Canada, including new information such as individual apartment suites and civic addresses for rural delivery (where they exist and are used by customers).

How will this affect my database?

Since all Canadian Address Accuracy software uses this postal code database, changes to the underlying address content will obviously have an effect on address accuracy results.

What do I need to do?

It is recommended that you update your mailing lists on a regular basis throughout the Canada Post AIP implementation to minimize the overall impact of the data changes.

Recognizing this, Canada Post is granting an extension to all current Address Accuracy statements. Specifically, Canada Post has stated that organizations with a current statement of accuracy of 95% or greater expiring between November 15, 2003 and November 30, 2004 will now be valid until December 31, 2004.

What types of changes are expected?

Based on Canada Post's preliminary analysis of updated address information, highlights of some possible changes are:

  1. Street names: There will be minor corrections to street names (spelling, punctuation, etc).
  2. Address ranges: For most civic postal codes, Canada Post publishes a range of valid street numbers. For example, a postal code could be valid for even street numbers between 1 and 100 for Main Street. In some cases, however, the range that CPC currently publishes is either too small (i.e., the real range is 1 to 110) or too large (houses on the street only exist between 6 and 80). Canada Post will be revising the postal code database to make sure their data better corresponds with reality.
  3. Suite number ranges: Many apartment, condominium, or business buildings have a unique postal code. Currently, Canada Post does not provide suite number ranges for most of these postal codes but they expect to provide many more suite number ranges for these types of addresses.
  4. Householder counts: The number of houses, apartments, businesses and farms will be updated.
What is an example of a change I would need to make?

The addition of more suite number ranges to the postal code database could cause an immediate problem. For example, the DataFix mailing address: 8 King St E, Suite 600. Our postal code is M5C 1B5, and while it is unique to 8 King St E, Canada Post currently provides no suite number range. This means that using 8 King St E as the address with no suite number is considered valid according to current address accuracy rules. Once Canada Post publishes a suite number range, however, the suite number will become a mandatory part of the address, and must be present and within the published range for the full address to be considered valid.

Any organization that has a significant number of records that are missing suite or apartment numbers could see a significant negative impact to their address accuracy results.

What do all these changes mean?

Adjustments to the number of mail pieces normally printed as well as reviewing your current mailing list to remove undeliverable addresses will be required. For example:

  • Customers using Canada Post Unaddressed Admail service may need to adjust the number of mail pieces that are printed and prepared to reflect the changes in householder counts and householder types (houses, apartments, farms, businesses).
  • For Addressed Admail, and Publication Mail™, Letter-mail Incentive customers (using Address Accuracy) will see more accurate address information in the software you receive from your software vendor. Mailing lists may also need to be adjusted to remove undeliverable addresses.
  • Subscribers to Postal Code Address Data and Delivery Mode files will see more accurate address data. If you use this address data product you may need to update and/or modify your database.
Are there any Benefits?

It is expected that more accurate householder counts will be available to allow mailers to print and prepare correct volumes for Unaddressed Admail campaigns. Improved return on investment for advertising campaigns is a direct result of having more accurate householder information. In addition, better-addressed mail means decreased mail returns, improved service and of course, reduced costs for mailers.

Results of the Canada Post PEI Pilot

Canada Post started the AIP Rollout in Prince Edward Island and has provided a summary of those changes. For more information here is a link to Canada Post website: http://www.canadapost.ca/offerings/address_management/can/aip-e.asp

What should I do next?

For more information on how AIP will affect your organization, contact the address quality experts at DataFix for a free data evaluation.