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.
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
- Online generator for Royal Mail Mailmark 4-State
- Online generator for Royal Mail Mailmark 2D
- Handling Mailmark 2D Barcodes with Aspose.BarCode for .NET
- Handling Mailmark 4-State Barcodes with Aspose.BarCode for .NET
- Neodynamic Barcode products
