How to Find a Physical Address for a Rural Route

Not everyone enjoys city or suburb living, and some people much prefer living out in the country where things are quieter. These folks can be a bit harder to find, though, especially if they have rural route addresses. A rural route number is used for properties in areas that are not close to larger cities and towns. It is abbreviated "RR." How does one find these places without a physical address?

Rural routes can encompass numerous roads and streets, and postal services can change them at any time. If you are not familiar with rural route address formats, the USPS explains that the correct one is RR_____ Box _____. Therefore, one might look something like this: RR 2 Box 152 or RR 9 Box 23A.

Of course, this information cannot be entered into a GPS. So what can you do if you need to find a physical location based on a rural route address? First of all, you will need the city, state and zip code. Without these, it will be nearly impossible to acquire the information you're seeking. With those details in hand, contact the post office for the zip code in question and see if they can look up the exact street address.

In an urgent but non-emergency scenario, you can try other methods. Identify the contact information for the rural route number's city's 911 center. Do not dial 9-1-1, however. Instead, look online for the center's actual office phone number. You can contact this call center to see whether they can advise you.

Of course, the most logical and perhaps easily overlooked option at your disposal is to contact the person you are trying to find directly. Chances are, if you don't have their contact information at all, you perhaps shouldn't be appearing at their home unexpectedly. Thus, if you cannot just ask for their physical location, you might wish to send them mail at their mailing address first with your inquiry.

The postal service has a database system that converts rural route numbers into street addresses. It is called LACSLink, which stands for Locatable Address Conversions System. According to Smarty Streets, LACSLink compares rural route addresses against their list of rural, highway and box number addresses and then updates them. This is an ongoing process, with new information constantly being produced.

LACSLink works with the postal service's ZP4 system, another database that has all of the country's addresses, zip codes, mail carrier route numbers and other postal delivery data. This has been especially useful for emergency services providers when they need to help people who have hard-to-find rural route addresses. The systems automatically convert these addresses and can also generate specified address lists when desired.

Companies that use mailing lists can really benefit from LACSLink, and there are businesses that can provide this service. These databases can greatly reduce the amount of undeliverable mail since they provide the most recent address information for recipients. This, in turn, lowers mailing costs and speeds up the delivery time.

You can go online and search for companies outside of the USPS that provide LACSLink access. Some of these are Amerilist, the address verification provider Melissa and Anchor Computer. They charge fees for this valuable service, but if you are an individual looking for one or a few addresses, you can always try contacting the post office first before paying for them.