Residential and Mailing Address

I just moved out the record of a member who is relocating to another state. I was provided with both a residential address and a mailing address.

MLS 2.9.3 will only forward the residential address (if I mark "Address is Known") or the mailing address (if I mark "Not known" and then write the PO box into the free-text box).

Why can't MLS allow us to transfer the record using both residential and mailing information, if they are both known and different?

geek wrote:I just moved out the record of a member who is relocating to another state. I was provided with both a residential address and a mailing address.

MLS 2.9.3 will only forward the residential address (if I mark "Address is Known") or the mailing address (if I mark "Not known" and then write the PO box into the free-text box).

Why can't MLS allow us to transfer the record using both residential and mailing information, if they are both known and different?

I would have to believe that the actual residential address is the governing piece of information that will place a member in a specific ward boundary. A member could live in one ward and yet have a P.O. box in another city.

Techgy wrote:I would have to believe that the actual residential address is the governing piece of information that will place a member in a specific ward boundary. A member could live in one ward and yet have a P.O. box in another city.

This is true. If I had to pick one of the addresses to send to the other ward, I would do residential. This would allow ward members to visit the new family's home and even plot them on a ward map. I would think a need to mail something to the new family would be quite a bit less common, unless it was near the end of the year.

But geek has a valid point...why should we have to choose in the first place when sending address info to a new ward? We should be able to provide as much info as possible in order to help a new ward. (Although I have had others on this forum warn me of being too helpful to other wards when sending records! )

mkmurray wrote:This is true. If I had to pick one of the addresses to send to the other ward, I would do residential. This would allow ward members to visit the new family's home and even plot them on a ward map. I would think a need to mail something to the new family would be quite a bit less common, unless it was near the end of the year.

But geek has a valid point...why should we have to choose in the first place when sending address info to a new ward? We should be able to provide as much info as possible in order to help a new ward. (Although I have had others on this forum warn me of being too helpful to other wards when sending records! )

Most of the clerks in my stake put an "integrated" address into the residential address fields that includes both the street address and a PO box.

JTaber wrote:Most of the clerks in my stake put an "integrated" address into the residential address fields that includes both the street address and a PO box.

And then you are expecting the receiving ward to know to split that address into two addresses?

I'm not trying to be accusing in any way, just trying to clarify your method. If that's the case, at least all of the data gets transmitted to the next ward. However, it does depend on the other ward to figure out what you were trying to do, which is a little optimistic in my opinion. The preferred method would be for MLS to support transmitting both addresses.

mkmurray wrote:And then you are expecting the receiving ward to know to split that address into two addresses?

I'm not trying to be accusing in any way, just trying to clarify your method. If that's the case, at least all of the data gets transmitted to the next ward. However, it does depend on the other ward to figure out what you were trying to do, which is a little optimistic in my opinion. The preferred method would be for MLS to support transmitting both addresses.

I think he was referring to using the second address line for the PO Box. This is what the USPS calls "Dual Delivery Addresses" where you create an address such as

Joseph Smith
15 Main Street
PO Box 1830
Nauvoo, IL 60606

Since the PO Box is closest to the bottom, it will be the delivery address for any mail, but this format lets you have both the residential address and the PO Box stored in the Residential Address in MLS.

Alan_Brown wrote:I think he was referring to using the second address line for the PO Box. This is what the USPS calls "Dual Delivery Addresses" where you create an address such as

Joseph Smith
15 Main Street
PO Box 1830
Nauvoo, IL 60606

Since the PO Box is closest to the bottom, it will be the delivery address for any mail, but this format lets you have both the residential address and the PO Box stored in the Residential Address in MLS.

So you are saying this is an acceptable address format to USPS and other mail carriers?

Also, how would MLS handle the address (if you don't split it into Residential and Mailing) when printing mailing labels? I assume it would print both address lines on the label, which is acceptable to USPS?

Another thing, this wouldn't work if the resedential and mailing address are in different cities or zip codes, correct?

mkmurray wrote:So you are saying this is an acceptable address format to USPS and other mail carriers?

It is acceptable to USPS (see Postal Addressing Standards, section 215). I can't speak to other mail carriers -- since PO Boxes are a USPS thing, it seems like only USPS matters.

mkmurray wrote:Also, how would MLS handle the address (if you don't split it into Residential and Mailing) when printing mailing labels? I assume it would print both address lines on the label, which is acceptable to USPS?

When printing mailing labels, MLS uses the mailing address if it is defined; otherwise it uses the residential address. So in this scenario, MLS would only have this dual address stored in the Residential Address -- there would be no MLS mailing address. So MLS would print both lines.

mkmurray wrote:Another thing, this wouldn't work if the residential and mailing address are in different cities or zip codes, correct?

This only works in the same city. The ZIP code that is specified in a dual address is for the delivery address, which would be the PO Box. So it would work okay to have the mailing address and residential address in different ZIP codes; you would simply specify the PO Box's ZIP code and not worry about the residential ZIP code, since a ZIP code is really for mail delivery.

mkmurray wrote:Another thing, this wouldn't work if the resedential and mailing address are in different cities or zip codes, correct?

Not necessarily. In my location we have several towns serviced by one location. I have found it helpful to format addresses like this in MLS:

John Doe
123 Sesame St, Lowrey
PO Box 00000
Tahlequah OK 74465

Where "Lowery" is the town serviced by the Tahlequah post office even though Tahlequah and Lowrey are separate towns. The post office simply ignores the "Lowery" portion of the address. But it sure helps out on various MLS reports. I always say, "It's pretty hard to home teach a PO Box."

This method also works for private mail box service:

John Doe
123 Sesame St, Lowery
15 N Main St PMB 1234
Tahlequah OK 74464

While it may work fine within the ward, I wonder what it does if you send the file that way. Does the Church system get confused on where to route the records?

RussellHltn wrote:While it may work fine within the ward, I wonder what it does if you send the file that way. Does the Church system get confused on where to route the records?

It might, but already having a PO Box in place prior to sending the records out is not common in my experience. I would think that if a member were that on top of the move, then they would probably be the type to go to the new ward clerk and ask if their records had arrived yet.

As a safety net for such rare occasions, isn't there an 800 number members can call where they can provide their new address and find out what ward they will be in? If so, I would think that the clerk could do the same thing, and get the new unit number to include when sending the records out thus minimizing any guesswork.

jbh001 wrote:It might, but already having a PO Box in place prior to sending the records out is not common in my experience. I would think that if a member were that on top of the move, then they would probably be the type to go to the new ward clerk and ask if their records had arrived yet.

As a safety net for such rare occasions, isn't there an 800 number members can call where they can provide their new address and find out what ward they will be in? If so, I would think that the clerk could do the same thing, and get the new unit number to include when sending the records out thus minimizing any guesswork.

Just use my maps.lds.org trick I describe in this post:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.ph ... #post18744

Just type in the forwarding address into http://maps.lds.org/ and then find their assigned congregation. Then use the trick in the above link to get the unit number.

mkmurray wrote:Just type in the forwarding address into http://maps.lds.org/ and then find their assigned congregation. Then use the trick in the above link to get the unit number.

That doesn't seem to really work. I tried it using my old address in Logan, Utah, and it only told me where the closest meetinghouses were, not which ward the address pertained to. Specifically, 4 units meet in the closest meetinghouse, but it didn't indicate or suggest to which of those 4 units I should be assigned. Am I missing something?

Edit: Yes, I am missing something. I forgot to scroll down. It listed 5 units my old address belonged to. Curiously it left off the "student single" and "single adult" wards my address would belong to, but included the "student married" ward. It also included a Samoan branch in North Salt Lake. Hmmm...

Does it max out at 5 units? or only list one type of student ward? or only one type of singles ward? or ...
(And, yes, that is a topic for a different thread.)

jbh001 wrote:As a safety net for such rare occasions, isn't there an 800 number members can call where they can provide their new address and find out what ward they will be in? If so, I would think that the clerk could do the same thing, and get the new unit number to include when sending the records out thus minimizing any guesswork.

I don't recall hearing of any such 800 number. And I doubt if it would be open on Sunday, so it's probably easier for the clerk to use maps.lds.org.

RussellHltn wrote:While it may work fine within the ward, I wonder what it does if you send the file that way. Does the Church system get confused on where to route the records?

I don't know. I do know that if you send a record out with just a PO Box it lands in Address Unknown.

The reason this is done so often in my stake is that a given form will only print either the residential or mailing address, while whoever uses that form might need information from the address he doesn't have.

Then I have clerks (some of the same clerks) who have only a mailing address on the record, whether it's a PO Box or a rural route and box. (And yes, rural route and box was phased out here quite a while ago.)

jbh001 wrote:Not necessarily. In my location we have several towns serviced by one location. I have found it helpful to format addresses like this in MLS:

John Doe
123 Sesame St, Lowrey
PO Box 00000
Tahlequah OK 74465

Where "Lowery" is the town serviced by the Tahlequah post office even though Tahlequah and Lowrey are separate towns. The post office simply ignores the "Lowery" portion of the address. But it sure helps out on various MLS reports. I always say, "It's pretty hard to home teach a PO Box."

My standard with the wards/branches - many of whom persist in listing only a PO Box, or no street address at all - is that "If you don't know where the family's driveway is, you don't know that they are in your unit." Now if they know where the driveway is but don't know what it says on the mailbox, I will let them hold on to the record and check that out - then post the address.