NCOA | CASS | List Hygiene | Variable Data
| Updated Feb 2026Bad data wastes postage, kills response rates, and makes your brand look careless. Our mailing list services clean, validate, and personalize your data so every piece reaches the right person at the right address.
50
States Served
24hr
Turnaround
1989
Established
Build Your Audience
Records Matching
50
States Served
24hr
Turnaround
1989
Established
The Foundation of Every Campaign
Every direct mail campaign starts with a list. If that list has bad addresses, duplicates, or outdated records, you're paying to print and mail pieces that will never arrive. The USPS estimates that 6% of the U.S. population moves every year - that means roughly 1 in 16 addresses on your list could be wrong right now.
Data processing isn't glamorous, but it directly determines whether your campaign makes money or wastes it. Clean data means higher deliverability, lower postage costs (USPS requires NCOA for bulk mail rates), fewer returned pieces, and better response rates. We process your list before anything gets printed - whether it's a targeted mailing or an EDDM saturation campaign.
6%
of Americans move every year
$0.43+
wasted per undeliverable piece
What Happens Without Data Processing
Undeliverable Mail
Moved addresses mean returned pieces. You paid to print and mail them for nothing.
Duplicate Waste
Same person, different spellings = multiple pieces to one household. Annoying and expensive.
Lost Postage Discounts
USPS requires NCOA processing within 95 days for Marketing Mail rates. Skip it and you pay full postage.
Reputation Damage
Mail addressed to deceased individuals or with misspelled names reflects poorly on your organization.
Real Example
A typical 10,000-record mailing list that hasn't been processed in 12+ months contains hundreds of bad records. Here's what cleaning it actually saves on a standard direct mail campaign.
Based on $0.60/piece (print + Marketing Mail postage). Data processing cost: ~$100.
What We Do With Your List
Every mailing list we touch goes through a complete data hygiene process. Here's what that includes - and why each step matters.
National Change of Address
We run your list against the USPS NCOALink database to update addresses for individuals and businesses that have filed a change of address in the last 48 months. Required by USPS for Marketing Mail presort rates.
Coding Accuracy Support System
CASS processing standardizes your addresses to USPS format, adds ZIP+4 codes, validates delivery points, and assigns carrier route codes. Required for automation-rate postage discounts.
Dedup, Merge/Purge, Suppression
We identify and remove duplicate records, merge multiple lists while eliminating overlaps, and suppress records for deceased individuals, prisoners, and known undeliverables. We also run DSF2 (Delivery Sequence File) processing to verify delivery points. Every removed bad record saves you postage and printing costs.
Personalization at Scale
Every printed piece can be unique - personalized names, addresses, offers, images, barcodes, and QR codes pulled directly from your database. Personalized mail gets higher open and response rates than generic pieces. VDP pairs perfectly with our direct mail campaign services.
File Conversion & Field Parsing
We accept data in any format and convert it to whatever your project requires. Field parsing, column mapping, address splitting, name standardization - we handle the cleanup so your list is production-ready.
Targeted Consumer & Business Lists
Need a list? We source targeted mailing lists filtered by geography, demographics, income, homeownership, business type, and more. Lists come pre-processed with NCOA and CASS already applied. Try our interactive list builder tool.
Consumer & Business Lists
Our mailing lists can be filtered by dozens of selects across geography, demographics, financials, lifestyle, and more. Here is a sample of what is available.
Reach the right households
Geography
Demographics
Financial
Lifestyle
Behavioral
Reach the right companies
Geography
Industry
Company Size
Company Type
Contact
Don't see what you need? We can source lists with custom selects. Contact us to discuss your targeting requirements.
Know the Difference
Our data processing services include three distinct steps. Each solves a different problem - and all three are required for clean, mail-ready data.
| NCOA | CASS | List Hygiene | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Updates moved addresses | Validates & standardizes addresses | Removes bad records |
| Solves | Mail going to old addresses | Incorrect formatting, missing ZIP+4 | Duplicates, deceased, vacant |
| USPS Required? | Yes, for Marketing Mail | Yes, for automation rates | No, but saves money |
| Lookback | 48 months of moves | Current USPS database | Current suppression files |
| Typical impact | 4-8% of records updated | 1-3% corrected or flagged | 2-5% removed |
MPA runs all three as part of our standard data processing. EDDM saturation mailings go to every address on a carrier route and don't require NCOA or list hygiene - they're addressed to "Postal Customer." Use our EDDM planning tool for saturation campaigns.
From Raw List to Mail-Ready
Every list follows the same five steps. Most jobs are completed within 24 hours of receiving your file.
Send your list via email, SFTP, or secure upload. CSV, Excel, any format.
Parse fields, format addresses, apply CASS certification for USPS compliance.
NCOA updates, deduplication, deceased and prison suppression.
Quality check on record counts, flag rates, and deliverability. You get a report.
Clean list delivered in your required format - ready for print, mail, or VDP merge.
Who We Work With
From local businesses to national organizations, we process data for companies that rely on direct mail to reach their audience.
Customer list cleanup, postcard prospecting, EDDM targeting, new mover lists for local marketing.
Patient communications, open enrollment, appointment reminders. HIPAA-compliant data handling. Learn more
Donor lists, fundraising campaigns, annual appeals. Nonprofit postage rates save even more. Learn more
AEP/OEP enrollment campaigns, policy renewals, claims correspondence. High-volume list processing. Learn more
Admissions campaigns, alumni mailings, fundraising appeals. Student lists change fast - NCOA is essential.
Public notices, tax mailings, regulatory correspondence. Verifiable address accuracy and audit trails. Learn more
Tenant notices, lease renewals, community updates. Keep resident lists current with NCOA and address validation.
Voter file processing, district targeting, campaign mail at scale. Tight deadlines, high accuracy. Learn more
Why Choose MPA
Most print shops farm out data work. Most data bureaus don't print. We do everything under one roof - which means fewer handoffs, faster turnaround, and no finger-pointing when something goes wrong.
Most list processing jobs are completed within one business day. Rush processing available for same-day needs.
Licensed NCOALink provider and CASS-certified facility. Your data processing meets all USPS requirements for presort mail rates.
Data processing, printing, addressing, mail prep, and postal drop all happen in our Lakeland, FL facility. No outsourcing, no delays.
35+ years processing mailing lists for healthcare, government, nonprofits, higher education, and financial services organizations nationwide.
Data services pair with everything we do:
Common Questions
NCOA (National Change of Address) processing compares your mailing list against the USPS database of address changes filed in the last 48 months. It updates addresses for people and businesses that have moved, reducing undeliverable mail. USPS requires NCOA processing within 95 days of mailing for Marketing Mail (bulk) rates. Without it, you lose postage on every piece that goes to the wrong address.
NCOA updates addresses for people who have moved. CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) standardizes and validates delivery point addresses - correcting formatting, adding ZIP+4 codes, and verifying that addresses are real deliverable locations. Both are required by USPS for presorted bulk mail rates, and MPA runs both as part of our standard data processing.
List hygiene is the process of removing bad records from your mailing list. At MPA, this includes deduplication (removing duplicate addresses and names), merge/purge (combining multiple lists and removing overlaps), deceased suppression (flagging records of deceased individuals), prison suppression, and address validation. The goal is to eliminate waste - every undeliverable piece costs you postage and printing with zero return.
Variable data printing (VDP) personalizes every printed piece with unique information pulled from your database - names, addresses, account numbers, custom images, personalized offers, unique barcodes, and QR codes. Each piece can be completely different without slowing down the press. MPA uses Xerox Iridesse digital presses for variable data printing at production speeds.
We accept mailing lists in CSV, Excel (XLS/XLSX), tab-delimited text, fixed-width text, Access databases, and PDF. If your data exists in another format, contact us - we can work with most structured data formats. We also accept files via email, SFTP, or our secure upload portal.
Data processing costs depend on list size, the services required (NCOA, CASS, deduplication, suppression), and project complexity. Variable data printing is based on personalization level and print volume. Contact us with your list size and project details for an exact quote - most standard list processing jobs are completed within 24 hours.
Send us your list and tell us what you need - NCOA, dedup, variable data, or the full treatment. We'll process it and get back to you within 24 hours.
Veteran-Owned | USPS Certified | Since 1989 | All 50 States