USPS Office of Inspector General

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to reduce undeliverable as addressed (UAA) mail by 50 percent. Okay, those weren’t the exact words, but that was the challenge put forward 10 years ago by then-Postmaster General Jack Potter.

At that time UAA mail –  undeliverable because of an incomplete, illegible, or incorrect address – totaled more than 10 billion pieces, costing the Postal Service $2 billion annually because it must be forwarded, returned, or treated as waste.

It seems a lost piece of mail isn’t too different from losing your hat at school. In both cases, you’ll want to check the lost and found bin. For the U.S. Postal Service, that would be the Mail Recovery Center (MRC) in Atlanta, its official lost and found department. Known at one time as the Dead Letter Office, the Mail Recovery Center works to reunite undeliverable packages and letters with either sender or recipient.

Many of us remember when 90210 was more than just the ZIP Code for ritzy Beverly Hills. It was the name of a popular TV show, etching itself forever in the annals of American pop culture.

Perhaps, that little piece of Americana helps explain the power of the ZIP Code. It’s more than just five numbers (or nine if you use the plus-four) at the end of the address block.