Tech Forum

We use the 2nd address line in MLS to provide one-off instructions i.e letter only, email only... The new LCR functionality does not display the 2nd address line. Is this a bug/feature or am I missing a config. setting somewhere?

The second address line shows up in LCR for my ward – we use the second address line for apartment numbers.

I can see the second address line too.

I strongly suggest that if you put any one-off instructions to the address, do record the address without any instructions as a mailing address. Otherwise if you want to print address labels (in MLS) to send letters to the people, there will be those instructions in them. It will look silly.

Also, anything you put in the address will appear publicly for any member of your ward/stake to see in the LDS.org Directory.

The new policy to force all apartment numbers from the first address line to the second address line is causing some problems. Normally, all street addresses, including numbers for Apt, Ste, Spc, Unit, etc. fit on the first address line. Thus, all reports can be printed without a second address line, saving paper and ink. Now that Apt. numbers are being forced to a second address line, all reports needing an address MUST use the customize option to include the second address line, else it will not display and all apartment numbers will be omitted which creates problems for all report users. Even when the second address line is added so apt. numbers will display, it becomes a challenge to fit all columns on a portrait report. When we have to change to an landscape report due to the second address line, that increases paper and printer costs, which has become a significant expense to wards. Please help us use the first address line as much as possible for apt. numbers to reduce costs and confusion to wards by eliminating the need to always display a second address line. If you cannot do this, then please make the second address line a default requirement for all reports using an address, beginning with a narrower columns to enable portrait format reports to save paper and ward costs.

llcampbell wrote:The new policy to force all apartment numbers from the first address line to the second address line is causing some problems.

I have not heard of any such policy. However, there has been a default in the LCR programs that "assumes" apartment numbers and the like need to be on the second line. While this is an irritant, it is not a requirement. You do have the option of putting apartment numbers on the first line just as the USPS standards recommend. When the message to use a suggested format with the apartment on the second line appears there is the option above it to use the addressing as you entered it. You do not have to accept the recommended addressing.

sbradshaw wrote:Also, anything you put in the address will appear publicly for any member of your ward/stake to see in the LDS.org Directory.

And for your stake leaders, the address you put in is the same one they use...I know many times we printed labels at the stake, for stake-wide events, and if one ward had input non-standard addresses, that would have made our job much more difficult!

I can't remember the last time our ward has actually printed a directory with members' addresses – so paper isn't an issue for us.

I too wish that the LCR software would NOT try to force the apartment number onto the second address line. Many reports do not show the second address line. The U.S. Postal Service zip code lookup / address standard tool keeps the apartment number on the first line. Why does the LCR software insist that pushing apartment number to the second address line is the "suggested format"?
(I have made these same comments using LCR Feedback.)

In general I agree with following standard formats. That said, the USPS system is set up to emphasize assembly-line efficiency for the mailing system. The USPS standard is great for machines and trained employees, but it's not the most human-readable format. For example, in addition to putting the apartment number on the same line with the street address, the USPS standard has everything in all-caps and removes all periods and commas.

These days in a ward, the most frequent use of an address is to find it on a map, or to navigate to the member's home. Sending things in the mail is secondary. So, human readability seems like a higher priority to me than mailing efficiency.

Perhaps a smarter system would be to have a separate field for the apartment/unit name and number, and Leader and Clerk Resources could display or print it differently depending on the context (for labels, it could even make the address all-caps and strip the extra punctuation).