They managed to deliver mail to the previous address for years, so I guess they were able to figure it out.
Why do you think I’m upset? It was slightly annoying but not really a big deal, easy enough to fix, just thought it was a funny story.
To the human part: If you send a letter to a residence; and only include a street address plus 5-digit Zip code, or a street address plus city/state without a Zip code; that's enough to get the letter through. The envelope might be scanned at the originating point, and the image sent to a human for review, or the letter might make it to a post office at/near the destination, and a human will take it.
Sticking with the "rd" / "road" example: When the bank goes to mail something to you, I wouldn't be surprised if they run the address through a validation program. That validation program would catch things like "rd", replace it with the appropriate term, and also generate the Zip+4 code. What's missing is feedback from that program. So the bank might continue to have "rd" in your address, even though it's wrong.
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE NW
WASHINGTON DC 20500-0005
I thought it was common knowledge to, when moving to a new address, check one is using the correct formatting via the USPS online validator.
It's picky because "rd" is not valid. You would know this if you did a simple google search:
https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28apf.htm