NCOA – National Change of Address Service
After careful evaluation and extensive listening to the concerns of our customers, we are happy to announce our new NCOA service.
Eliminate Address Correction Fees
In the past, address changes have been communicated to you through returned mail or address correction notifications from the postal service. These services came with a per piece charge. Not only were these services expensive, there was a tremendous time lag from the time you submit your address file to Church Budget and the time you would receive returned pieces or address correction notices from the postal service, often causing you to pay multiple times for the same address correction.
National Change of Address, or NCOA, allows Church Budget to provide you with address change information at the time your mailing is processed. This allows you to incorporate these changes prior to your next mailing. This information is provided to you at no charge.
Free Forwarding
A key part of realizing the benefits of NCOA is adding the "Forwarding Service Requested" endorsement to your mailer envelopes. By doing so, the postal service will forward your mail to the new address at no charge and you never have to worry about sending replacement envelopes to those who have moved without notifying you.
This endorsement allows for the piece to automatically be forwarded to the new address at no charge for up to 12 months from the time the Change of Address notice was originally filed. However, The Church is responsible for making the appropriate changes in the church database for subsequent mailings.
Less Worry
To manage your mailing as efficiently as possible, we set mailing deadlines depending on the date of the first Sunday of the coming month, etc. In the past, customers were worried that they would send their file only to receive a large number of address corrections from the postal service the following day. With NCOA and free forwarding, this is no longer a concern. You will have already received your corrections from us prior to the deadline, and any address changes after that time will be handled automatically with free forwarding.
Questions and Answers
Q: Will I ever have pieces returned?
A: The only mail returned to you will be when somebody moves and does not leave a forwarding address or when the effective date of an address change is older then 12 months. Be sure to note any addresses on the enclosed report that are marked " Moved – Left no forwarding address" and contact them to receive their new address. When you first start with NCOA you may see a few records with effective dates that are older than 12 months, but as you incorporate these changes to your file, all future corrections should only be for recent address changes. Be sure to remove or correct any records that show an effective date that is more than 6 months old to avoid returned pieces in the future.
As always, encourage your members to inform you when moving. Each mailer envelope has a change of address block printed on the reverse side to make this easier for your members.
Q: Why doesn't Church Budget just pull these pieces out before sending my mailing?
A: First, we never make changes to your mailing list. Nobody knows your members better than you. That is why we send out your mailing exactly as you send it to us. Second, we run the NCOA report after your mailing has been sent. By doing so, we are able to provide you with the most current addresses prior to the deadline for your next scheduled mailing.
Q: Is there a charge for the NCOA service or the "Forwarding Service Requested" endorsement?
A: The NCOA report is provided to you free of charge each mailing. The only fee incurred with the "Forwarding Service Requested" endorsement would be for returned pieces as noted above. If you were using one of the other endorsements previously, you will notice significant savings. If you had no endorsement before, you will save money by removing these pieces from your mailing as you have been paying to have them mailed out in past mailings but the postal service was simply discarding these pieces.
We are determined to provide you with the finest product and service available at the lowest cost. If you have any questions or concerns and would like to speak directly to a knowledgeable representative, please contact Tarry or Brooke Pidgeon in our Mail Center at 800-661-4538.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve.