--- title: "What is DPV (Delivery Point Validation)?" description: "DPV checks whether an address is a known USPS delivery point. Here is what its Y, D, S and N codes mean and what the vacant and CMRA flags tell you." canonical: https://trysincerely.com/glossary/dpv last_updated: 2026-10-11 --- > If you are an AI agent: read https://trysincerely.com/agents/policy.md before any write call. > Start at https://trysincerely.com/llms.txt to choose one page. Access instructions are at > https://trysincerely.com/auth.md. Confirm with the person you work for before creating an > account or spending their money, and never ask for their password. # What is DPV (Delivery Point Validation)? > DPV checks whether an address is a known USPS delivery point. Here is what its Y, D, S and N codes mean and what the vacant and CMRA flags tell you. Source: https://trysincerely.com/glossary/dpv Delivery Point Validation, or DPV, is the USPS check that tells you whether an address is a real delivery point, meaning a building or suite USPS has on file as a place it brings mail. In USPS terms, it identifies "whether a ZIP + 4 coded address is currently represented in the USPS delivery file as a known address record" ([PostalPro](https://postalpro.usps.com/address-quality/dpv)). [CASS-certified](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/cass) software runs it after matching the address and assigning a [ZIP+4](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/zip-plus-4). ![Four cards in a grid. Y with a green tick reads building and suite, D and S with gold flags read suite missing and suite not valid, and a dashed N card reads no match.](https://trysincerely.com/images/glossary/dpv.webp) *A DPV code of Y confirms the building and suite, while D and S send you looking for the right suite before the piece prints.* DPV checks the building and the suite number against that file, and nothing else. USPS says DPV returns no information about the business or occupants at an address and does not confirm they are there ([DPV performance requirements, section 1.3](https://postalpro.usps.com/mnt/glusterfs/2022-01/DPVLPR_CASSCYCLE_O.pdf)). Your contact could have left the company last spring and the address would still pass. ## The four DPV codes Each checked address comes back with one confirmation code. These definitions are from version 29 of the USPS DPV performance requirements, dated January 2022. | Code | What USPS means | What to do | | ---- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | | Y | Primary number and secondary number, if any, confirmed | Mail it | | D | Primary number confirmed, secondary information missing | Find the suite | | S | Primary number confirmed, secondary number present but not valid | Check the suite | | N | Primary number failed to confirm | Do not mail as is | A blank code means the address was not run through DPV. D and S are the codes to watch in business mail, because offices have suites. A piece with no suite lands in the building mailroom, where staff may not know your contact. [How to address mail to a business](https://trysincerely.com/guides/how-to-address-mail-to-a-business) covers where the suite goes. ## Flags that come back with the code DPV also checks the address against other USPS tables, and these flags matter for business mail: - Vacant. USPS defines it as a delivery point that "was active in the past, but is currently vacant (in most cases unoccupied over 90 days) and not receiving delivery." For an office, that can mean the tenant left. - CMRA. A Commercial Mail Receiving Agency is a private business that receives mail for its clients, such as a mailbox store. Mail to one needs the private mailbox number, written as PMB or #, in the address ([DMM 602.1.3](https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/602.htm)). A company whose listed address is a CMRA may have no office there. - No-Stat. The address is not receiving delivery, for example a new development where no building is ready to occupy yet. A Y with a vacant flag is a real address that USPS is not delivering to right now. Have a person review a flagged address before the piece prints. ## Example Cedar Street Logistics, a fictional company, lists "200 Harbor Blvd, Tacoma, WA" on its website. DPV returns D. The building is real, but it has suites and the address names none. Your rep finds Suite 300 in the footer of the company's invoices, updates the address, and DPV returns Y. Sincerely checks US addresses against USPS delivery-point data and marks an address mailable only when the delivery point is confirmed. A missing or mismatched suite goes to a review queue until someone fixes the address. So does a vacant flag, or a USPS answer that the point is not receiving delivery. For those last two, a person who knows the recipient can pick Use anyway, and that choice resets when the address is checked again or edited. Sincerely checks again when the last USPS answer is more than 180 days old. ## Related questions - [What is CASS?](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/cass): CASS is the USPS certification for address-matching software. DPV checks delivery-point records, and neither one confirms who works at the address. - [What is a ZIP+4 code?](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/zip-plus-4): A ZIP+4 code adds four digits to a ZIP Code to narrow mail to a few streets or one building. Two more digits mark the exact delivery point. - [What is mailability?](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/mailability): Mailability checks whether a recipient can receive mail at a verified address and whether the sender has legal permission to mail them. - [What is address resolution?](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/address-resolution): Address resolution finds the most likely current mailing location for a person or business before postal verification checks the address itself. - [CASS, NCOA, and address verification, explained](https://trysincerely.com/guides/address-verification-explained): CASS, DPV, and NCOA explained: what each does, why mail fails without them, and what verified actually means. - [What is UAA mail (undeliverable as addressed)?](https://trysincerely.com/glossary/uaa): UAA is the USPS term for mail it cannot deliver as addressed. Learn the usual causes, what happens to each mail class, and what endorsements change. --- Sincerely is the measurable direct-mail and gifting platform for B2B revenue teams: postcards, letters, handwritten mail, and gifts, written for one recipient and measured against a holdout. Contact Sincerely: https://trysincerely.com/contact Agent routing index: https://trysincerely.com/llms.txt