Pre-Ship Address Validation
A package shipped to a bad address costs twice: the shipping cost itself, and the return shipping or reshipping cost when the delivery fails. For high-value items, add the customer service time spent resolving the situation. For time-sensitive shipments, add the cost of the delay.
Address validation before dispatch catches these problems at the point where they're cheapest to fix.
Validation Before Label Generation
When a shipping label is requested, the platform validates the delivery address before generating it. The validation checks the address components against carrier-maintained address databases: does this street exist in this city? Is this postal code valid for this region? Does the combination of street number, street name, city, and postal code form a valid, deliverable address?
If the address fails validation, label generation is blocked. The order displays a warning with the specific issue: "Street number not found on this street," "Postal code does not match this city," "Address incomplete — missing apartment number."
Suggestions, Not Just Errors
For common address errors, the validation returns suggested corrections. If the postal code is one digit off from a valid code for the entered city, the suggestion shows the correct code. If the street name has a spelling variation that matches a real street, the suggestion shows the correct spelling.
The warehouse operator can accept a suggestion with one click, updating the address and regenerating the label. Or they can override the validation if they have reason to believe the address is correct despite the validation result — with the override logged for accountability.
Catch What Customers Miss
Customers entering shipping addresses in online checkout make predictable errors. Abbreviated street names, apartment numbers in the wrong field, postal codes for the wrong city after moving. Catching these before shipping is significantly better than catching them after a failed delivery.
For addresses that haven't been validated at checkout, the pre-ship check is the safety net. The label generation step is the last point before the package enters the carrier network — exactly the right point for a final address check.