BREAKING: USPS slashes address verification to 60 addresses/hour. What now?
Smarty

Unlock value in your address database with metadata

In this webinar, we briefly considered the value of breaking an address into its component parts to reveal hidden metadata.
Updated October 29, 2025
Tags
In this webinar, we briefly considered the value of breaking an address into its component parts to reveal hidden metadata.

Did you know that every address has loads of hidden data buried in its metadata? In this webinar, we briefly considered the value of breaking an address into its component parts. Then we looked at the different metadata available and provided definitions for each one. And finally, we went over use cases and ideas on how to leverage metadata for improved operations, business intelligence, and financial performance.

There’s gold in your address metadata!

Every address contains basic components that are standardized by country. In the US, the components are:

▢ Primary number

▢ Pre direction

▢ Street name

▢ Street suffix

▢ Post direction

▢ Secondary designator

▢ Secondary number

▢ City

▢ State

▢ ZIP Code

While each of these is valuable, there’s knowledge and data available that’s associated with every address. It’s THAT data—categorized as Root, Components, Metadata, and Analysis—that can bring a new life and a wealth of information to your address database.

What is address metadata?

Address metadata is simply information about an address. Smarty provides up to 55 points of metadata for every address.

Because there is a lot of metadata and the webinar promised to be a short one, we only went over 9 of the data points that are offered, as indicated with yellow arrows in the image below:

Address data points

Break down of the metadata

  • Root
    • Input ID - Your identifier to reference the input & output address
    • Input Index - The order in which an address was submitted with others
    • Delivery Point Barcode - 12-digit barcode; consists of 5-digit ZIP Code, 4-digit add-on code, 2-digit delivery point, and 1-digit check digit
  • Components - Details listed above
  • Metadata
    • Record Types - Indicating what type of building is at the address, ex: highrise, rural, street, etc.
    • Residential Delivery Indicator - Whether the building is zoned as residential or commercial
    • Geocodes - Latitude and longitude for each address
  • Analysis
    • Vacancy Indication - Whether the USPS registered the address as vacant or not.
    • Footnotes - The notes on what was done to obtain a match
    • DPV Footnotes - The quality of match for each address

Try it yourself

If you want to start getting this hidden treasure, along with crazy accurate address validation and rooftop geocoding, you can try it out yourself for FREE by visiting our Single Address Verification Tool.

Do you want to validate and get this data on more than one address at a time? Try our bulk address lookup tool, also for free, by signing up for a free account.

You can also view the full webinar recording here:

Subscribe to our blog!
Learn more about RSS feeds here.
Read our recent posts
How to build and validate address lists for direct mail marketing
Arrow Icon
Looking to build a direct mail marketing campaign? You’ve come to the right spot. Before you can send marketing mail like a pro, you’ll need to build a list of verified addresses. Otherwise, frequent misdeliveries and costly redeliveries can take the wind right out of your campaign’s sails. On top of that, a bad address list could lead you to miss out on mind-blowing postal discounts. 😱Don’t let bad addresses capsize your campaign. With a US Master Address List of over 210 million verified addresses—available by state, county, or nationwide—and shipshape US Address Verification, you can construct new lists or clean active ones with the swagger of a seasoned captain.
USPS API rate limit capped at 60 requests per hour: How to prepare and why many are choosing Smarty
Arrow Icon
Because who doesn’t love juggling one more thing during the holiday season…? A major shift in the address-verification landscape is approaching at the beginning of the new year. On January 25, 2026, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will officially retire its long-standing Web Tools APIs, a free API that previously allowed for approximately 5 address lookups per transaction. This includes the legacy USPS Address Information APIs that many organizations have depended on for years. Under USPS’s new API structure, the default quota for many services, including the Addresses API, is 60 requests per hour.
Pinpoint 2025: Day 1 recap
Arrow Icon
For two days, Smarty users gathered together with other address data experts for Pinpoint, Smarty’s first virtual user conference, where developers, industry experts, and product specialists talked all things addresses and pulled back the curtain on address data solutions. Attendees asked questions about cloud-based software, the impact of accurate address data on fintech and insurance companies, and the ROI of good address data across all industries. Plus, attendees got to take a peek behind the scenes and see what makes Smarty’s address data solutions tick.

Ready to get started?