Royal Mail Mailmark
A Mailmark barcode must be added to mail pieces in order to access the Mailmark options of the Retail and Network Access product portfolios.
It is also now used with most stamps.
They can be either a 2D Mailmark barcodes or a 4-state Mailmark barcodes.
2D Mailmark barcode
The 2D variant of Mailmark is based off Data Matrix and offers three variants (types 7, 9 and 29) that offer varying quantities of space for non-Royal Mail use.
It is a Complex Mail Data Mark (CMDM) that is a Data Matrix type ECC200 code. The module size must be in the range of 0.50 – 0.70mm. They can be arranged in a square or rectangular pattern. The left and bottom edge will have a solid line (L shaped finder pattern) and the top and right edge will have alternate black and white modules which enables manual counting.
| 2D Type 7 | 2D Type 9 | 2D Type 29 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barcode size | 24 x 24 modules | 32 x 32 modules | 16 x 48 modules |
| Minimum physical size (0.5mm modules) | 12 x 12 mm | 16 x 16 mm | 8 x 24 mm |
| Maximum physical size (0.7mm modules) | 16.8 x 16.8 mm | 22.4 x 22.4 mm | 11.2 x 33.6 mm |
| Total capacity | 51 characters | 90 characters | 70 characters |
| Available for customer use | 6 characters | 45 characters | 25 characters |
| Sample |  |
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The first six characters of the data string will demonstrate the barcode is a Royal Mail Mailmark barcode of a certain product and version:
- Latch to C40 character encoding - 1 character (position 0)
- <230>
- UPU identifier – 1 character (position 1)
- always J
- UPU Country ID – 3 characters (position 2)
- currently always GB<SPACE>
- Information (Product) type ID – 1 character (position 5)
- 0 - Domestic Sorted & Unsorted
- 1 - International Sorted & Unsorted
- 2 - Response Services
- A - Online Postage
- B - Franking
- C - Consolidation
- Version ID – 1 character (position 6)
- Currently 1
- Class - 1 character (position 7)
- Supply Chain ID - unique group of customers involved in the mailing - 7 characters (position 8)
- Item ID - unique item within the Supply Chain ID - 8 characters (position 15)
- Destination Post Code plus Delivery Point Suffix (DPS) - 9 characters (position 23)
- RTS Flag - 1 character (position 32)
- Return to Sender Post Code - 7 characters (position 33)
- Reserved - 6 characters (position 40)
- must be filled with <SPACE> until further notice
All information in the Royal Mail portion is encoded using the Basic C40 character (Upper case Alphas, Numerals, and the SPACE character only)
4-state Mailmark barcode
A 4-state Mailmark barcode is a non-industry standard, 4-state barcode similar in appearance (but not content or method of producing) to the existing Royal Mail 4-State or CBC option used by Retail & Network Access services. It has defined data content, which is compliant with this Mailmark barcode specification.
There are 2 types of 4-state Mailmark barcodes available:
- Type L - encodes 26 characters and is intended for machine-readable Low Sort and Unsorted Retail and Access 70 services
- Type C - encodes 22 characters and is intended for consolidated machine-readable Low Sort and Unsorted Retail and Access 70 services
Links
- Royal Mail Mailmark- Mailmark Barcode Definition Document
- Royal Mail Mailmark™ Barcode FAQ
- Barcoded stamps
- Online generator for Royal Mail Mailmark 4-State
- Online generator for Royal Mail Mailmark 2D
- Handling Mailmark 4-State Barcodes with Aspose.BarCode for .NET
- Handling Mailmark 2D Barcodes with Aspose.BarCode for .NET
- Neodynamic Barcode products
