CASS Address Matching & Standardization 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the maximum number of characters allowed in a standardized USPS delivery address line?
- 35 characters (Correct answer)
- 40 characters
- 45 characters
- 50 characters
Correct answer: 35 characters
USPS Publication 28 specifies that each address line must not exceed 35 characters including spaces to meet OCR and barcode readability requirements.
Question 2: Which of the following correctly describes a 'highrise' address exception in CASS processing?
- Buildings over 10 stories that require elevator designators
- Addresses in the Highrise file that require mandatory secondary information to be deliverable (Correct answer)
- Residential towers exempt from ZIP+4 assignment
- Multi-unit buildings where all units share one delivery point
Correct answer: Addresses in the Highrise file that require mandatory secondary information to be deliverable
Highrise addresses are those in the USPS Highrise file where a secondary unit identifier is required for mail to be deliverable to a specific unit.
Question 3: In address matching, what is a 'ZIP Code centroid' match?
- A match to the geographic center point of a ZIP Code area when no street-level match exists
- A match to the central post office serving a ZIP Code
- A match confirmed at the 5-digit level without street-level verification (Correct answer)
- A match to the primary city name associated with a ZIP Code
Correct answer: A match confirmed at the 5-digit level without street-level verification
A ZIP Code centroid match means the address could only be validated to the 5-digit ZIP level, not to a specific street or delivery point.
Question 4: What is the role of the USPS Address Management System (AMS) in CASS processing?
- It provides the reference database of all known USPS deliverable addresses (Correct answer)
- It certifies software vendors to perform address standardization
- It manages the physical delivery routes for each carrier
- It processes returned mail and updates address databases
Correct answer: It provides the reference database of all known USPS deliverable addresses
The AMS is the USPS master address database that CASS-certified software queries to validate, correct, and standardize input addresses.
Question 5: When an address has both a P.O. Box and a street address on separate lines, CASS processing should:
- Use the street address line and ignore the P.O. Box
- Use the P.O. Box and ignore the street address (Correct answer)
- Match whichever line produces the higher match score
- Flag the record as ambiguous requiring manual resolution
Correct answer: Use the P.O. Box and ignore the street address
When both a P.O. Box and street address are present, USPS guidelines direct CASS software to use the P.O. Box for mail delivery purposes.
Question 6: Which CASS certification test scenario evaluates software's ability to handle address input with transposed street number digits?
- The false positive test set
- The exact match test set
- The non-match test set
- The digit transposition test set within the standardization accuracy test (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The digit transposition test set within the standardization accuracy test
CASS certification testing includes scenarios with transposed digits to ensure software correctly identifies or rejects addresses with common data entry errors.
Question 7: What does a CASS 'Form 3553' document represent?
- A USPS license agreement for using AMS data
- A summary report certifying the results of CASS address processing for a mailing (Correct answer)
- A carrier route optimization report
- An application to become a CASS-certified software vendor
Correct answer: A summary report certifying the results of CASS address processing for a mailing
USPS Form 3553 is the CASS Summary Report that mailers must submit with qualifying mailings to document the CASS processing results and certification.
CASS Address Matching & Standardization 4
What is the maximum number of characters allowed in a standardized USPS delivery address line?