CentralAddress.com - a simple & logical solution to stop identity theft, stop business and voter fraud, speed online order verification, and not have to create a National I.D. Card
(This is a beta "idea" proposal and not an actual working service. This site is for discussion purposes.)
Problem 1: When you order a product online, many high-tech automated companies initially verify your street shipping address through the USPS.com database. (Examples: ATT.com, T-Mobile.com which require a street address and will not ship to a Post Office Box. Even though they ship by FedEx and UPS, the first address-check is through USPS.com) In rural areas that don't have U.S. Postal street delivery, (P.O. Box only delivery) your street address simply isn't on the USPS.com database and your online order won't get automatically processed, or gets put in a queue for manual handling/verification. Once the street address gets manually overridden by the local shipper, then your street address gets added only to the shipper's local database - but not at USPS.com's national database. The problem is that companies like AT&T and T-Mobile are automated and many of these types of orders simply fail the initial street address verification test. (Even UPS.com and FedEx.com use the USPS.com website for address verification.)
Solution 1: USPS.com should allow Post Offices in Rural Areas that do not have USPS street delivery to add addresses to the USPS.com database. Additionally, the USPS.com website should also include Post Office Boxes so that sorters in these rural Post Offices can easily match-up mail that is addressed only to a street address. Current USPS Policy is that mail that is only addressed to a street address - and not a Post Office Box - is to be returned because it is not properly addressed. The expensive alternative to local Post Offices matching-up street address to their P.O. Box owners is local street delivery, which is more costly to the USPS than matching up street-addressed mail and is less secure for the consumer.
Alternate Solution: See Problem 2...
Problem 2: Every time you move, all of your mail doesn't get forwarded in a timely manner. And the "new" person that gets your "old" address may also receive: 1). Blank checks for credit card cash advance offers, 2). Social Security Information, 3). Bank Information 4). "Other" information about you that can be used to steal your identity. Physical un-secured (un-lockable) street Postal Boxes are the highest security risk. Thieves can simply walk up and steal your mail.
Solution 2: A new, central address database that accepts your updated "route-to" information directly from you. Instead of using your actual current physical or Post Office Box number, you use your virtual Central-Address address that identifies the current routing for that letter or parcel that you choose. Any parcel that has an address starting with a "V-" ( vee dash ) followed by your unique sixteen digit code gets checked against the master Central-Address database that is jointly maintained and updated hourly by the U.S. Postal Service, UPS & FedEx. The parcel gets routed to where ever you have designated. Example: You have your credit card bills, cell phone bills, utility bills with a mail-to address of: "V-5432-2345-1234-3003, Denver, CO, 80222. When a letter enters the U.S. Postal Service's system and the address scanner sees a "V-" (vee dash) it sees the sixteen digit "address" and generates and applies a routing code that signals automated equipment to route the parcel or letter to the current physical or Post Office Box that you've designated. This service will be particularly useful to "road-warriors", migrant workers, and those who move occasionally. If the system doesn't recognize the "V-" it will still recognize the "80222", and deliver the parcel to the Denver facility for manual handling.
Benefits of Central Address (Solutions 1 and 2):
Homeland security and voter election fraud prevention. The initial Central Address set-up would require identification verification, making it difficult for "con men" to have multiple identities.
Users would be able to update their route-to address either online, or through USPS regular mail, with built-in verification.
Real estate fraud. Parties-in-possession would be unable to pretend to be the homeowner and fraudulently sell the home. Many times small parcels get forgotten about and property taxes don't get paid. Eventually the properties go into tax foreclosure because the owner simply couldn't be found. Central Address eliminates this problem.
Central Address would eliminate the need for a U.S. National I.D. card.
Central Address is your address-for-life.
8/25/2022 revision