PHLPost Address Validation

“PHL,” or Phillippine’s national postal system, was established in Manila in 1769. With over 250 years of history, the postal service covers the entire Philippine archipelago. It is the leading courier service in the Phillippines regarding the number of outlets and branches. But how do they ensure deliverability in complex regions? How do businesses operating in the Phillippines avoid misdelivery, delays, and return mail? 

PHLPost solves these problems by providing a postal ID to verify postal addresses against official records. It is designed to help government agencies, ecommerce companies, and other private companies improve mail deliverability, marketing campaigns, and location intelligence efforts. How does it work? Can businesses solely rely on this service to validate their customer addresses before dispatching mail items? This blog will provide complete insights into how PHLPost address validation works, a better alternative, and the Filipino postal address format.

Key Takeaways 

• PHLPost relies on Postal IDs to verify postal addresses against official records. 
• PHLPost address validation aims to improve deliverability and reduce delays and failures. 
• Businesses can use PHLPost’s Postal ID Online Verification System to validate addresses. 
• PHLPost’s address validation method can only cover addresses of Postal ID holders. 
• Individuals and businesses can use the PHLPost mail item tracking tool to find the last known status and location. 
• The Philippines postal address system could be complex, having street names with multiple names. 
• Filipino addresses heavily rely on Barangays as the most minor administrative division in the country. 
• There’s no real-time validation, standardization, or auto-complete when you use PHLPost’s address validation tools. 
• Businesses can validate high-volume addresses to save time and effort with PHLPost.

Invalid or Incomplete Address on the Label

Anyone can make mistakes while writing Filipino addresses. You might write the incorrect house number, street name, Barangay, or city. Postal workers can have difficulty delivering your mail items if you make mistakes in these address elements. It is advisable to use PHLPost address validation to verify the identity and address of your recipient. Negligence in validation might lead to delays, return mail, failures, or even lost packages. 

No Consistency or Standardization in the Address 

Filipino addresses use an officially accepted format, starting with the recipient’s name,  house number, street name, subdivision, barangay, city or municipality, and postal code with the province name. You must follow this standard format when writing addresses in the Philippines. 

Sadly, following these guidelines is difficult because some streets have multiple names, residents might only use the barangay name instead of the complete address, and people still use landmarks in rural areas. International businesses operating in the Philippines often face these standardization issues when sending mail to the country. 

Invalid ZIP Code 

An incorrect ZIP code on the address label of a mail item can lead to delays or misdelivery. Filipino addresses use a four-digit postal code system, with a ZIP code assigned to each city, town, or barangay. Any mistakes in writing the ZIP code might send your mail or package to an entirely different location. 

The Recipient Was Absent at the Delivery Point 

Your recipient might be absent at their address while the postal workers reach them with a mail item. PHLPost might leave a notice to inform the recipient to pick up the mail from the post office or try to reattempt the delivery. However, it could also be a sign of outdated address information. The recipient might have moved to another location, but you still have their old address. Filipinos must register a change of address request to receive their mail items at their new address. However, this process takes some time and involves bureaucracy.

• Abbreviations: PHLPost uses multiple abbreviations for different address-related terminologies. For example, Av. for Avenue, Brgy. for Barangay, P.O. Box for Post Office Box, No. for Number. 
• Alignment: Filipino addresses are always left-aligned for ease of reading and postal processing. 
• Language: People use Filipino and English as the official languages to write mail in the Phillippines. 
• Postal Codes: The Philippines uses a shorter four-digit postal code system to help postal workers sort and route mail, parcels, and deliveries. 
• Barangays: The Philippines relies on barangays as the country’s most minor administrative division. They function as the basic political unit for local governance. 

Filipino addresses are very similar to Western addresses. You begin by writing the recipient’s full name. Next, you must include the house number, street name, and subdivision. Writing these three elements in this order, with commas separating individual units, is critical. Then, mention the Barangay followed by a comma and write the city or municipality name. The following line is meant to include the postal code and province name. However, there won’t be any punctuation between the two items. Lastly, you should write PHL in capital letters for the country’s name (Philippines) for international mail. 

Here is what the format should look like: 

Your sample address would look like this: 

Limited Coverage of Filipino Postal Addresses 

Although PHLPost address validation via Postal IDs provides a robust way to verify identities and addresses, it can only fetch address information linked to postal IDs. You may be unable to find residential and commercial addresses in its system. Businesses cannot confirm the authenticity of these addresses by relying only on Postal ID information, leaving the scope of misdelivery, delays, or return mail. 

High Dependence on Postal IDs

Most countries host their official address databases for address validation. However, the Philippines’ address validation solution relies on Postal IDs. Because this is a relatively new system, some Filipinos still don’t have a Postal ID, making it almost invisible to address validation methods. Many businesses cannot verify customers’ postal addresses without a postal ID. 

Lack of Real-Time Address Validation 

PHLPost’s address validation method relies on the number of registrations they get for Postal ID. It stores information about an individual’s identity and address in a new database. Businesses using this tool cannot expect real-time address validation results to ensure the highest accuracy. 

Manual Address Input 

PHLPost provides a mobile application for individuals and businesses to verify Postal IDs. The application can scan the card’s QR code or require users to input the full address for verification. These time-consuming and manual processes are unsuitable for business applications requiring high-volume validation. 

Absence of Geocoding Data 

Most businesses rely on geographical coordinates to pinpoint their customers on the map for the most accurate address validation. Sadly, PHLPost address validation only provides insights about an individual’s identity and address. You don’t get latitude and longitude information for location intelligence or precise validation. 

No Integrations to Support Bulk Validation Workflows 

PHLPost only provides a mobile application to verify Postal IDs and check the authenticity of postal addresses. You won’t find API integrations with your favorite tools to run bulk validation workflows. Companies with large-scale verification jobs cannot utilize PHLPost address validation to ensure deliverability, location intelligence, and accuracy. 

As mentioned, PHLPost address validation relies on the Postal ID to fetch address information. Businesses don’t get a comprehensive validation solution to verify, standardize, cleanse, or autocomplete customer addresses. The Postal ID might be a revolutionary initiative by the Philippines Post, but it is still in its infancy and depends on how quickly people enroll. Businesses shipping mail to the Philippines should find a better alternative to ensure higher deliverability, customer satisfaction, and low wastage. 

PostGrid’s address validation API is a comprehensive solution for validating, standardizing, auto-completing, and cleansing address data from multiple authoritative and credible sources. Our solution can validate 200 K addresses simultaneously, so you won’t need to worry about high-volume address data. The zero-code integration integrates the solution with your website, mobile application, or CRM system for instant, real-time validation at your fingertips. You won’t even need to type the complete addresses; the autocomplete feature provides up to 100 suggestions, saving time and effort. 

Businesses can use PostGrid as a better alternative to PHLPost address validation. It gives you geocoding information and premise-level address validation results. Companies of any scale and budget can use our solution to save time and ensure accuracy.