WorksRight Drives Down Mailing Costs with Three New Products

by Alex Woodie

WorksRight Software last week announced the availability of new geocoding software for the iSeries server. Given a postal address, the Z4 LAT/LON program calculates the exact coordinates of that address, which leads to more accurate addresses and lower mailing costs for the user. In addition to geocoding, the OS/400 mailing software specialist recently introduced new software based on the U.S. Postal Service's Delivery Point Verification and Residential Delivery Indicator technology.

Companies in different industries use geocoding for different things. A financial services firm might use geocoding with census information to get a better idea of its customers' demographics, while a logistics operator could use the software to optimize its drivers' routes. Geocoding is also at the heart of the geographic information systems (GIS) used by police and land use planners.

In WorksRight's case, geocoding can help users to reduce their mailing costs. WorksRight is selling Z4 LAT/LON as an optional add-on to its Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) software, called PER/ZIP4 CASS, which provides a ZIP+4 code for addresses, thereby qualifying the user for bulk mailing discounts. With the addition of geocoding through Z4 LAT/LON, users can continually verify, correct, and update the addresses they use, and make their mailings more efficient in the process.

In addition to latitude and longitude, Z4 LAT/LON provides the following information based on an address: Federal Information Processing Standards state code; state abbreviation; FIPS county code; county name; FIPS Minor Civil Division/Census County Division code; FIPS Census Designated Place code; 2000 Census Metropolitan Statistical Area code; 2000 Census Tract and BlockGroup; current MSA code; Current Micropolitan Statistical Area code; current Metropolitan Division code; current Consolidated Statistical Area code; time zone; and telephone area codes.

For example, if you plug WorksRight's address, 501 Cobblestone Court, Madison, MS 39110-8479, into the free Web-based geocoding program, available at www.geocode.com, you can find out all sorts of stuff about this particular location, including WorksRight's geographical coordinates according to the WGS 84 format (32.445189 degrees North by 90.118125 degrees West), its FIPS County Code (MS089), and the 2000 census Tract and BlockGroup numbers (MS089030101 and MS0890301012, respectively).

In addition to this geographical information, Z4 LAT/LON includes a Nearest Dealer Locator function and a distance calculator. The software can calculate distances between ZIP codes or between known latitude-longitude coordinates, in statute miles, nautical miles, or kilometers. Like most WorksRight products, Z4 LAT/LON can be accessed through an interactive user interface, or it can be used as a callable program or an API.

MORE MAILING SOFTWARE

Earlier this summer, WorksRight introduced two other new products, the PER/DPV Delivery Point Verification software and the PER/RDI Residential Delivery Indicator software.

PER/DPV is an optional add-on to PER/ZIP4 that uses the U.S. Postal Service's new Delivery Point Verification technology to determine if an address is an actual place where mail can be delivered. Because the USPS is forbidden by law from publishing actual addresses, its CASS database is vague about which addresses are valid. For example, CASS can tell you that any address between 500 and 599 Cobblestone Court is valid, WorksRight says. PER/DPV takes the extra step and tells you that mail can be delivered to 501 Cobblestone Court but not to 510 Cobblestone Court.

PER/RDI provides a similar service as the Delivery Point Verification technology, except that it identifies, via a flag, whether a particular address is a residence or a business. WorksRight says the USPS is promoting the use of RDI as a tool for finding the best shipping rates.

PER/ZIP4 customers can purchase one-year subscriptions to the Z4 LAT/LON and the PER/DPV products for $900 each. WorksRight is giving licenses for PER/RDI to PER/ZIP4 customers free of charge. However, they will still have to sign license agreements and agree to abide by certain restrictions.

"Both PER/DPV and PER/RDI involve very sensitive information," WorksRight warns on its Web site. "Use of PER/DPV and PER/RDI will be very strictly controlled. Both the USPS and WorksRight will have strict guidelines for the use of each product."

For more information about WorksRight's products, or for free 30-day trials, go to www.worksright.com.