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

Cass vs. NCOALink certification article now live

Cass vs. NCOALink certification article now live
Updated October 29, 2025
Tags
Cass vs. NCOALink certification article now live

We get a lot of questions about USPS CASS certification and how it differs from NCOALink certification. They are both methods of address validation that originate with the USPS. While they look the same and smell the same (probably), they are in fact, very different. Even still, these methods are frequently confused, conflated and equated. So, we decided to cut the confusion and answer all your burning questions about CASS and NCOALink.

Here is some of stuff that future you (who has read the article) already knows:

  • When you notify the USPS that your address has changed, NCOALink only hangs onto those updates for 4 years.
  • In order to use NCOALink you must submit a minimum of 100 addresses for validation at a time. 
  • To become CASS-certified, vendors must score 100% accuracy on 150,000 addresses for delivery point coding, eLOT (Enhanced Line of Travel), DPV or DSF2, RDI, and Perfect Address.

Learn all this and much more by checking out the Cass vs NCOALink article here. Future-you will be so proud!

Subscribe to our blog!
Learn more about RSS feeds here.
Read our recent posts
Accessibility best practices at Smarty
Arrow Icon
An enterprise-level customer of Smarty’s recently shared how impressed they were with our accessibility-first approach, inquiring about how we designed our tools to function in a way that feels equitable and usable for everyone. At Smarty, one of our core values is outwardness — seeing people as people, not objects or caricatures. Every person who interacts with our tools has their own needs, wants, and objectives, and accessibility is one of the most meaningful ways we connect with people - an area we’re striving to improve.
Introducing Smarty’s mascot… Hermes?
Arrow Icon
Greek gods, as it turns out, have a lot to say to the mortals on Earth and the souls in Hades. What they don’t have is time to travel from Olympus all the way to Earth or Hades just to tell a mere mortal to perform 12 labors… or eat a magical herb… or free Odysseus. That’s why the gods have a personal messenger: Hermes. Equipped with winged sandals, Hermes travels between Olympus, Earth, and the underworld with lightning speed (Get it? Lightning? Because his dad is Zeus? 🤣)Smarty also knows a thing or two about outrageous speed, and that’s not where our similarities with Hermes end.
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.

Ready to get started?