Postal Letter

Does the US Postal Service have anyway to know right away whether or not an address exists?

I'm writing a report about the workings of the US Postal Service. And I'm wondering whether or not the US Postal Service has anyway to know right away that an address was misprinted or faulty before the waste the time and effort to send it half way across the US.

Public Comments

1. Yes, when a letter is accepted for processing it is sent to a mail processing center where it runs through a sorting machine that reads the address. If the address is correct it continues on through the sorting process, if it doesn't it is sent to a area where they try to figure out what the address should be. If it can't be corrected it is returned to the sender as undeliverable.