Patent ID: 8046416

Claim:
A method of determining a correct mail recipient comprising: determining that a mail piece received from a sender is incorrectly addressed; scanning, by a scanning device, the mail piece; determining, by a processing device, a plurality of envelope characteristics associated with the sender, the plurality of envelope characteristics comprising at least one of a meter number, a return address, an address change service participant code or an address change service key line; analyzing, by the processing device, the scanned mail piece to produce analysis results based at least in part on the plurality of envelope characteristics; determining, by the processing device, a sender of the mail piece based at least in part on the analysis results; determining, by the processing device, a correct address for the mail piece based on the sender and at least in part on the analysis results by matching one or more of the plurality of envelope characteristics to one of a plurality of mail recipients; placing the correct address on the mail piece; and sending the mail piece to the correct address.