Procedures for Address Unknown Files

[joshbingham]

Brothers,

In reviewing the procedures the clerks are asked to follow for locating an address for a member who's current address is unknown, one of the required procedures before sending to the general church unknown address file is:

Use postal services to find a forwarding address.

Can someone elaborate more on what that entails and/or what you have tried for this step?

Thanks,

-Josh
Ward Clerk

[mfmohlma]

Simply send any piece of mail to the last known address with the words "Return Service Requested" on it.

http://pe.usps.com/text/qsg300/Q507.htm

[joshbingham]

Thanks brother.

Happy Thanksgiving this week.

-Josh

[mdmccool]

There are services out there that access the postal database of address changes. They go beyond the one year you will get by sending a letter with the return service requested.
Do a search on NCOA processing if you find out more. You can go back as far as 48 months.
Our stake ran 48 month processing and got back over 80 moves, many of which occurred before the record was ever sent to the ward(s).
You can also do MCOA processing that goes back 60 months and uses credit bureau information on moves. Each of these services run about $50.

Mark-David McCool

[thelonepig]

I didn't know about the NCOA processing option; it sounds like it would work well for our stake as well. Can you provide a bit more detail on how your stake implemented the process? Reviewing a few of the services available, it appears that a spreadsheet is sent to the processor, which runs the data and returns a file within a few hours to a few days.

What data did you provide to the processor and how satisfied were you with the results?

Ammon Allen