Residential and Mailing Address

[jbh001]

While it may work fine within the ward, I wonder what it does if you send the file that way. Does the Church system get confused on where to route the records?

It might, but already having a PO Box in place prior to sending the records out is not common in my experience. I would think that if a member were that on top of the move, then they would probably be the type to go to the new ward clerk and ask if their records had arrived yet.

As a safety net for such rare occasions, isn't there an 800 number members can call where they can provide their new address and find out what ward they will be in? If so, I would think that the clerk could do the same thing, and get the new unit number to include when sending the records out thus minimizing any guesswork.

[mkmurray]

It might, but already having a PO Box in place prior to sending the records out is not common in my experience. I would think that if a member were that on top of the move, then they would probably be the type to go to the new ward clerk and ask if their records had arrived yet.

As a safety net for such rare occasions, isn't there an 800 number members can call where they can provide their new address and find out what ward they will be in? If so, I would think that the clerk could do the same thing, and get the new unit number to include when sending the records out thus minimizing any guesswork.

Just use my maps.lds.org trick I describe in this post:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.ph ... #post18744

Just type in the forwarding address into http://maps.lds.org/ and then find their assigned congregation. Then use the trick in the above link to get the unit number.

[jbh001]

Just type in the forwarding address into http://maps.lds.org/ and then find their assigned congregation. Then use the trick in the above link to get the unit number.

That doesn't seem to really work. I tried it using my old address in Logan, Utah, and it only told me where the closest meetinghouses were, not which ward the address pertained to. Specifically, 4 units meet in the closest meetinghouse, but it didn't indicate or suggest to which of those 4 units I should be assigned. Am I missing something?

Edit: Yes, I am missing something. I forgot to scroll down. It listed 5 units my old address belonged to. Curiously it left off the "student single" and "single adult" wards my address would belong to, but included the "student married" ward. It also included a Samoan branch in North Salt Lake. Hmmm...

Does it max out at 5 units? or only list one type of student ward? or only one type of singles ward? or ...
(And, yes, that is a topic for a different thread.)

[russellhltn]

As a safety net for such rare occasions, isn't there an 800 number members can call where they can provide their new address and find out what ward they will be in? If so, I would think that the clerk could do the same thing, and get the new unit number to include when sending the records out thus minimizing any guesswork.

I don't recall hearing of any such 800 number. And I doubt if it would be open on Sunday, so it's probably easier for the clerk to use maps.lds.org.

[jwtaber]

While it may work fine within the ward, I wonder what it does if you send the file that way. Does the Church system get confused on where to route the records?

I don't know. I do know that if you send a record out with just a PO Box it lands in Address Unknown.

The reason this is done so often in my stake is that a given form will only print either the residential or mailing address, while whoever uses that form might need information from the address he doesn't have.

Then I have clerks (some of the same clerks) who have only a mailing address on the record, whether it's a PO Box or a rural route and box. (And yes, rural route and box was phased out here quite a while ago.)

[jwtaber]

Not necessarily. In my location we have several towns serviced by one location. I have found it helpful to format addresses like this in MLS:

John Doe
123 Sesame St, Lowrey
PO Box 00000
Tahlequah OK 74465

Where "Lowery" is the town serviced by the Tahlequah post office even though Tahlequah and Lowrey are separate towns. The post office simply ignores the "Lowery" portion of the address. But it sure helps out on various MLS reports. I always say, "It's pretty hard to home teach a PO Box."

My standard with the wards/branches - many of whom persist in listing only a PO Box, or no street address at all - is that "If you don't know where the family's driveway is, you don't know that they are in your unit." Now if they know where the driveway is but don't know what it says on the mailbox, I will let them hold on to the record and check that out - then post the address.