Northern Tool Addresses Accuracy

As a result, returns from incorrect addresses (along with shipping costs) began piling up.

"We ship everything from tractors to work gloves," says Todd Wermerson, Northern Tool's president of information technology. "It's very expensive to ship that stuff across the U.K., and then ship it back."

In fact, returns numbered so many that one shipping company gave Northern Tool an ultimatum: Start verifying addresses or lose their partnership.