Address Checking and Types of Errors Study Guide for McGraw-Hill's Postal Exams 473/473C (page 2)

Here’s a complete list of types of errors you may encounter in your postal services exam. to look for in the List to Be Checked.

Names

• Misspelling the name of a street or city (for example, changing Johnson to Johnston)
• Changing the name of a street or city (for example, Fairmont to Fairview)
• Changing a street type (for example, Road to Drive or Avenue to Street)
• Abbreviating a word (for example, Suite to Ste. or Drive to Dr.) or changing an abbreviation to the completed word (for example, changing Rd. to Road or Hwy. to Highway)

Numbers

• Switching two digits in a street address, ZIP code, or other number (for example, changing 11791 to 11719)
• Adding or omitting a digit in a number (for example, changing 43 to 430)
• Changing one digit in a number (for example, 583 to 588)

Sometimes, you’ll find more than one error in an address (apart from the ZIP code). Here’s an example in which there’s an error on both the first address line and the second address line:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
4980 West 13th Ave. Wheat Ridge, CO 80033	4980 East 13th Ave. White Ridge, CO 80033

Most often, however, an address will contain one error at most.

Types of Errors Not to Look For

Punctuation

Punctuation is not tested. Abbreviations such as Ave., Blvd., and Ste. may or may not be followed by a period, but you won’t find any punctuation discrepancies between the correct addresses and the addresses to be checked. So don’t waste time looking for them.

Capitalization

Capitalization is not tested. Don’t waste time looking for capitalization errors (for example, Los angeles or main Street) in the List to Be Checked, because you won’t find any.

Incorrect ZIP Codes

You do not need to know which ZIP codes go with which cities. In each address, the five-digit ZIP code will be an actual ZIP code for the city that’s named. You’re not being tested on whether ZIP codes are proper matches for cities—just on whether the ZIP codes in the right-hand list match the ones in the left-hand list.

Street Names—Compass Directions

Pay close attention to street-name compass directions: North (N.), South (S.), East (E.), and West (W.), and also NE, NW, SE, and SW. You’re sure to encounter at least two or three errors involving compass directions, as in the following examples:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
233 N. 22nd Street	233 S. 22nd Street
19920 SW Radcliffe Road	19920 SE Radcliffe Road
55 Boundary Blvd. NE	55 Boundary Blvd. SE
5757 South Yucca Avenue	5757 North Yucca Avenue
112 Illinois Drive, Suite 234	112 E. Illinois Drive, Suite 234

Street Names—Is It a “Road” or a “Drive”?

Pay close attention to whatever follows a street name on the first line of an address, such as the words listed below.

Most Common	Less Common
Street (St.)	Court (Ct.)
Road (Rd.)	Circle (Cir.)
Drive (Dr.)	Lane (Ln.)
Boulevard (Blvd.)	Way
Avenue (Ave.)	Terrace
	Place
	Suite (Ste.)
	Apartment (Apt.)

Look especially for Rd. (Road) confused with Dr. (Drive) and for Ct. (Court) confused with Cir. (Circle). Abbreviated versions are easier to overlook because they’re briefer. Here are some examples of these sorts of errors:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
9230 W. Granger Rd.	9230 W. Granger Dr.
25 Babcock Ct.	25 Babcock Cir.
767 N. Yamhill Ridge	767 N. Yamhill Road
112 Timpuhaqua Lake	112 Timpuhaqua Lane
340 Lookout Mountain	340 Lookout Mountain Rd.

Remember: You won’t be tested on punctuation, so there’s no need to inspect for periods (or missing periods) after abbreviations.

Is It “Kansas City, KS” or “Kansas City, MO”?

Some well-known cities share their names with cities in one or more other states. One of the test maker’s favorite ploys is to list the same city, but different states. If you’re not careful, you can easily overlook this type of error, especially if the city and state in the List to Be Checked is well known, as in the following examples:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
Kansas City, MO	Kansas City, KS
Miami, OH	Miami, FL
Rochester, MN	Rochester, NY
Portland, ME	Portland, OR

Did You Know?

From the year 1900 to the year 2000, the annual volume of U.S. mail increased almost 30-fold, from 7,129,990,000 pieces in 1900 to 207,882,200,000 (almost 208 billion) pieces in 2000. However, the same time period saw a decline in the total number of U.S. Post Offices—from 76,688 in 1900 to 27,876 in 2000.