[ic] Address2 field superflous?

[Paul Jordan]

Ahoy

Some of my clients and I have started to use Endicia to print labels for 
USPS. Their software is kinda quirky, but for the most part if you are 
quirky too, it works fine. We load each order as we ship, automatically via 
XML.

Problem:
In order to print postage on the label, Endicia requires you to validate the 
address. This is done automatically in their software with a click. I've 
been noticing that when the address verification has an issue, 99% of the 
time it is because people have put their apartment/unit number in the 
address2 (Interchange) field, and even though Endica has an 
<Address2></Address2> it seems they ignore it.

So, I am wondering if it would be wise to attempt to "coax" customers to 
properly use the main address field to enter their apartment number. It 
seems the cleanest way to go about this might be to simply remove the 
address2 field and fix any records in the table already. The other option is 
to concatenate the two fields into the main address line at XML time. If I 
take a look at transactions where address2 was used, it was overwhelmingly 
for Apt# (and units, etc.).

However properly formatted  address examples on usps.com have none where an 
address2 field would be used so I am wondering if the address2 field is 
really all that important today. My particular business does a lot of 
international orders, and even still, what is in address2 could have easily 
gone in address1. BTW, Endicia does not validate non US addresses, so that 
is not an issue.

Lastly, I have noticed some newer software being made with only a single 
field for the "address" line. Could this be a signal?

Anybody have some thoughts or observations on this? Are you using address2, 
and if so, why... because it is there?

TIA

Paul Jordan

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