3 ms·

Ask HN: USPS charges $32,750 for address change API access. Any Alts?

5 points by artur_makly 6y ago

https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing-and-shipping-services/NCOALink

h2odragon 6y ago
"cypherpunks" once worked on usps stuff, but that was at least a couple generations ago
seattle_spring 6y ago
Just curious but what is the use-case here, other than scamming people?
- artur_makly 6y ago
  my wife runs a custom-made team portrait service: https://POPteam.io https://POPteam.io When companies move to a new location, they usually need to decorate their new spaces with art that has meaning. We provide that meaning. So the timing of our offer is critical here.
  - trcarney 6y ago
    A cheaper option may be to try print advertising through the USPS, although I'm not sure how much it costs. I know when you change a residential address, you get advertisements from various retailers targeting people who are moving. They may have something similar for businesses. This may be a cheaper way to accomplish what you want until you can afford the API access.
artur_makly 6y ago
incredibly enough none of the FAANGS provide this simple targeting data-point ( on businesses ), but ironically they do offer almost everything else on them. So if this data doesn't exist (US market)... perhaps some clever dev-team should try to aggregate/scrape this and make an affordable paid API service for it ;-)
- dmlittle 6y ago
  The reason why it doesn't exist is licensing and a bunch of regulatory processing that needs to be done to keep the license. Lob, as a mail provider, built and licenses this from the USPS for its mail operations but is unable to sell it to customers due to licensing and regulatory issues. Similarly, SmartyStreets used to sell this service but discontinued it due to the amount of regulatory and reporting work that was required to keep the licensing rights. Source: I used to work at Lob and helped build those systems.
shoo 6y ago
Companies that have signed up as full/limited service licensees to this API may be able to sell you access indirectly through their own API offering. They may be able to offer cheaper pricing if they spread the cost of the USPS fee across multiple customers. Lists of licensees with contact details are visible on the USPS site: https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Full_Service_Provider_Licensees https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Full_Service_Provider_Li... https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Limited_Service_Provider_Licensees https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Limited_Service_Provider...
dmlittle 6y ago
There are a lot of licensing restrictions that will make it extremely hard, if not impossible, for you to buy this from a third-party vendor. You'll need to sign a PAF(https://postalpro.usps.com/NCOALink_PAF https://postalpro.usps.com/NCOALink_PAF) with the NCOA service provider and if I remember correctly the smallest "batch" of addresses that the licensee can run at a time is of 100. The service provider also cannot run addresses via NCOA without actually sending a piece of mail to the address being processed. Source: I helped build a USPS CASS-certified address verification and NCOA API at my previous employer. Dealing with USPS licensing was a PITA.

5 points by artur_makly 6y ago

https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing-and-shipping-services/NCOALink

h2odragon 6y ago

"cypherpunks" once worked on usps stuff, but that was at least a couple generations ago

seattle_spring 6y ago

Just curious but what is the use-case here, other than scamming people?

artur_makly 6y ago
my wife runs a custom-made team portrait service: https://POPteam.io https://POPteam.io When companies move to a new location, they usually need to decorate their new spaces with art that has meaning. We provide that meaning. So the timing of our offer is critical here.
- trcarney 6y ago
  A cheaper option may be to try print advertising through the USPS, although I'm not sure how much it costs. I know when you change a residential address, you get advertisements from various retailers targeting people who are moving. They may have something similar for businesses. This may be a cheaper way to accomplish what you want until you can afford the API access.

artur_makly 6y ago

incredibly enough none of the FAANGS provide this simple targeting data-point ( on businesses ), but ironically they do offer almost everything else on them. So if this data doesn't exist (US market)... perhaps some clever dev-team should try to aggregate/scrape this and make an affordable paid API service for it ;-)

dmlittle 6y ago
The reason why it doesn't exist is licensing and a bunch of regulatory processing that needs to be done to keep the license. Lob, as a mail provider, built and licenses this from the USPS for its mail operations but is unable to sell it to customers due to licensing and regulatory issues. Similarly, SmartyStreets used to sell this service but discontinued it due to the amount of regulatory and reporting work that was required to keep the licensing rights. Source: I used to work at Lob and helped build those systems.

shoo 6y ago

Companies that have signed up as full/limited service licensees to this API may be able to sell you access indirectly through their own API offering. They may be able to offer cheaper pricing if they spread the cost of the USPS fee across multiple customers. Lists of licensees with contact details are visible on the USPS site: https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Full_Service_Provider_Licensees https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Full_Service_Provider_Li... https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Limited_Service_Provider_Licensees https://postalpro.usps.com/ncoalink/Limited_Service_Provider...

dmlittle 6y ago

There are a lot of licensing restrictions that will make it extremely hard, if not impossible, for you to buy this from a third-party vendor. You'll need to sign a PAF(https://postalpro.usps.com/NCOALink_PAF https://postalpro.usps.com/NCOALink_PAF) with the NCOA service provider and if I remember correctly the smallest "batch" of addresses that the licensee can run at a time is of 100. The service provider also cannot run addresses via NCOA without actually sending a piece of mail to the address being processed. Source: I helped build a USPS CASS-certified address verification and NCOA API at my previous employer. Dealing with USPS licensing was a PITA.