A portable handheld or kiosk-mountable apparatus to decentralize processing a mail piece or parcel, comprising: at least one digital processer and memory for executing software components; a camera for digital image capture; a wireless communications module to support over-the-air services; and software components including -- (a) a recognition system interface layer to provide address recognition services to an application layer; (b) a native address recognition component operable to process a digital image captured by the camera to generate preliminary address data; (c) a directory adapter component to provide address verification services to verify, correct or complete preliminary address data; and (d) a native delivery address database directory, the recognition system interface layer including a first interface for communication with the native address recognition component, and a second interface for wireless communication over-the-air with a remote address recognition service, the recognition system interface layer being configured for selectively utilizing one or both of the native address recognition component and the remote address recognition service for address recognition, and the directory adapter component including a first interface for communication with the native delivery address database directory, and a second interface for wireless communication over-the-air with a remote delivery address database directory service, the directory adapter component being configured for selectively utilizing one or both of the native delivery address database directory and the remote delivery address database directory service to verify, correct or complete preliminary address information produced by the address recognition service. at least one digital processer and memory for executing software components; a camera for digital image capture; a wireless communications module to support over-the-air services; and software components including -- (a) a recognition system interface layer to provide address recognition services to an application layer; (b) a native address recognition component operable to process a digital image captured by the camera to generate preliminary address data; (c) a directory adapter component to provide address verification services to verify, correct or complete preliminary address data; and (d) a native delivery address database directory, (a) a recognition system interface layer to provide address recognition services to an application layer; (b) a native address recognition component operable to process a digital image captured by the camera to generate preliminary address data; (c) a directory adapter component to provide address verification services to verify, correct or complete preliminary address data; and (d) a native delivery address database directory, the recognition system interface layer including a first interface for communication with the native address recognition component, and a second interface for wireless communication over-the-air with a remote address recognition service, the recognition system interface layer being configured for selectively utilizing one or both of the native address recognition component and the remote address recognition service for address recognition, and the directory adapter component including a first interface for communication with the native delivery address database directory, and a second interface for wireless communication over-the-air with a remote delivery address database directory service, the directory adapter component being configured for selectively utilizing one or both of the native delivery address database directory and the remote delivery address database directory service to verify, correct or complete preliminary address information produced by the address recognition service.