[ic] Address2 field superflous?

Jon Jensen jon at endpoint.com
Fri Jun 26 02:19:57 UTC 2009


On Thu, 25 Jun 2009, Paul Jordan wrote:

> So, I am wondering if it would be wise to attempt to "coax" customers to 
> properly use the main address field to enter their apartment number. It 
> seems the cleanest way to go about this might be to simply remove the 
> address2 field and fix any records in the table already. The other 
> option is to concatenate the two fields into the main address line at 
> XML time. If I take a look at transactions where address2 was used, it 
> was overwhelmingly for Apt# (and units, etc.).

I think by far your best course here is to concatenate the two address 
fields for Endicia. This is primarily of concern to Endicia, and 
formatting that data to make it happy is fine. I wouldn't mess with your 
database, and I can't see changing the default Standard demo address1/2 
fields for such a small use case.

> However properly formatted address examples on usps.com have none where 
> an address2 field would be used so I am wondering if the address2 field 
> is really all that important today. My particular business does a lot of 
> international orders, and even still, what is in address2 could have 
> easily gone in address1. BTW, Endicia does not validate non US 
> addresses, so that is not an issue.
>
> Lastly, I have noticed some newer software being made with only a single 
> field for the "address" line. Could this be a signal?

For example, what software have you seen that in? Most shipping-related 
software I've seen has not only address line 2, but also 3.

> Anybody have some thoughts or observations on this? Are you using 
> address2, and if so, why... because it is there?

I use both a P.O. box and a street address at the same time, myself. One 
for USPS deliveries, the other for UPS/FedEx. (They have the same zip 
code.)

I've seen address2 used for "Attention" fields fairly often.

Perhaps for the most part the world would be fine with a single address 
line, but I doubt it's going to happen many places. So I'd work around it 
as you see best.

Jon

-- 
Jon Jensen
End Point Corporation
http://www.endpoint.com/



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