Royal Mail Mailmark™ barcodes was developed for machine readable Business Mail in Letter and Large Letter formats. Mailmark is replacing the Customer Barcode or CBC January 2018. The Mailmark barcodes include additional information that the CBC and Delivery Point Suffixes (DPS) was not able to include, such as tracking mail and delivery status, predictions of when mail will be delivered for marketing and advertising purposes and reporting statistics with data analysis.
Mailmark™ barcodes are either 4-State or 2 Dimensional (2D) Complex Mail Data Mark (CMDM) barcodes. The amount of data needed to be encoded in the barcode will dictate which version needed to be used. You must be registered to receive barcode savings: www.royalmail.com/barcodesavings.
Index:
2 Dimensional (2D) Complex Mail Data Mark (CMDM)
There are three types of Complex Mail Data Mark barcodes that are ECC200 Data Matrix type formats using the ISO/IEC 16022 specifications:
- Type 7:
- Letters
- Barcode Size: 24 x 24 modules
- Physical Size: 12 x 12 mm
- Total Character Count: 51 Characters
- Customer Use: 6 spare spaces
- Type 9:
- Large Letters, including polywrap
letters. - Barcode Size: 32 x 32 modules
- Physical Size: 16 x 16 mm
- Total Character Count: 90 Characters
- Customer Use: >25 but max of 45 spare spaces
- Large Letters, including polywrap
- Type 29:
- Large Letters, including polywrap letters.
- Barcode Size: 16 x 48 modules
- Physical Size: 8 x 24 mm
- Total Character Count: 70 Characters
- Total Character Count: need 6-25 customer characters
The encodation scheme required for MailMark is C40, character subset 0, which is the basic set that encoders only upper case characters, numbers and the space character.
| Description | Start Position | Char Length | Definition | Data Values | Type 7 Example Values | Type 9 Example Values | Type 29 Example Values |
| UPU Country ID | 1 | 4 | Identifies the UPU Country ID | JCB<space> | JCB<space> | JCB<space> | JCB<space> |
| Information Type ID | 5 | 1 | Identifies the Royal Mail Mailmark™ barcode payload for each product type. | 0 – Domestic Sorted & Unsorted 1 – International Sorted & Unsorted (for potential future use) 2 – Response Services (for potential future use) A – Online Postage B – Franking C – Consolidation | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Version ID | 6 | 1 | Identifies the barcode version as relevant to each Information Type ID. | Currently “1” – For Mailmark™ barcode | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Format | 1 | Identifies the format of the item. | 0 – Null or Test 1 – Letter 2 – Large Letter 3 – Packet (for potential future use) 4 – Parcel (for potential future use) 5 to 9 – Spare (for potential future use) A to Z – Spare (for potential future use) | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Class | 7 | 1 | Identifies the class of the item. | 0 – Null or Test 1 – 1C (Retail) 2 – 2C (Retail) 3 – 3C (Retail) 4 – Premium (Retail Publishing Mail) (for potential future use) 5 – Deferred (Retail) 6 – Air (Retail) (for potential future use) 7 – Surface (Retail) (for potential future use) 8 – Premium (Network Access) 9 – Standard (Network Access) A to Z – Spare (for potential future use) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Supply Chain ID | 8 | 7 | Identifies the unique chain of customers involved in the mailing. | 0000000 to 9999999 | 1234567 | 1234567 | 1234567 |
| Item ID | 15 | 8 | Identifies the unique item within the Supply Chain ID. | 00000000 to 99999999 | 12345678 | 12345678 | 12345678 |
| Destination Post Code plus DPS | 23 | 9 | Contains the Postcode of the Delivery Address with DPSIf inland the Postcode/DP contains the following number of characters. Area (1 or 2 characters) District (1 or 2 characters) Sector (1 character) Unit (2 characters) DPS (2 characters) | The PC and DP must comply with a valid PAF format (see appendix A). If there was no DP and a Unit is present then a default 9Z DP shall be used. If no Unit information is available the Sector Unit and Delivery Point fields will not be included. e.g. If International (potential future use only) , then “XY11” shall be used as the Outward element with no Inward or DP as follows: If no destination post code information is available this field shall be filled with 9 <space> characters. | CW14LZ1F<space> | CW14LZ1F<space> | CW14LZ1F<space> |
| RTS Flag | 32 | 1 | Flag which indicates what level of RTS service is being requested. | “0” – None “1” – Response Services Unique (for potential future use) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Return to Sender Post Code | 33 | 7 | Contains the Return to Sender Post Code but no DPS | The PC (without DPS) must comply with a PAF® format (see Appendix A). If no RTS post code exists this field shall be filled with 7 <space> characters. | <space><space> <space><space> <space><space> <space> | <space><space> <space><space> <space><space> <space> | <space><space> <space><space> <space><space> <space> |
| Reserved | 40 | 6 | Reserved by Royal Mail | Must be filled with <space> characters until further notice. | <space><space> <space><space> <space><space> | <space><space> <space><space> <space><space> | <space><space> <space><space> <space><space> |
| Customer Content | 46 | Optional space for use by customer. | Any data as required by the customer up to the maximum size for that format of barcode. Unused spaces must be left blank to maximize error correction capability. | 6 Characters for customers | 45 Characters for customers | 25 Characters for customers | |
| Total Character Count | This is the maximum practical capacity of the format | 52 Total Char | 90 Char | 70 Char |
Mailmark 4-state Barcode
There are two types of 4 State barcodes on printed postage 1st class and 2nd class with English and Bilingual Welsh / English options.
- Barcode L, which is a Long barcode for domestic sorted and unsorted customers.
- Number of Bars: 78
- Physical Size: Approximately 89 mm (at 21.2 bars per inch)
- Content: 26 Characters
- Barcode C, which is a domestic sorted Consolidator customer.
- Number of Bars: 66
- Physical Size: Approximately 76.2 mm (at 21.2 bars per inch)
- Content: 22 Characters
| Field Name | Character Length | Definition & Comments | Data Values | Barcode C Example Values | Barcode L Example Values |
| Format | 1 | Identifies the format of the item. Used in place of Information Type ID for Barcode C and L. | 0 – Null or Test 1 – Letter 2 – Large Letter | 1 | 1 |
| Version ID | 1 | Identifies the barcode version | 1 – Mailmark Barcode | 1 | 1 |
| Class | 1 | Identifies the class of the item | 0 – Null or Test 1 – 1C for Retail 2 – 2C for Retail 3 – 3C for Retail 4 – Premium for Publishing Mail for Retail 5 – Deferred for Retail 6 – Air for Retail 7 – Surface for Retail 8 – Premium for Wholesale 9 – Standard for Wholesale | 2 | 2 |
| Supply Chain ID | 2 or 6 | Identifies the unique chain of customers involved in the mailing. Consolidator Supply Chain ID are 2 digits. All other 4-State SCIDs are 6 digits. | 00 to 99 000000 to 999999 | 12 | 123456 |
| Item ID | 8 | Identifies the unique item within the Supply Chain. | 00000000 to 99999999 | 12345678 | 12345678 |
| Destination Post Card plus DPS | 9 | Contains the Postcode of the destination with DPS | The Postal Code and Delivery Point must comply with Postcode Address File Format. | CW14LZ1F<space> | CW14LZ1F<space> |
For more information: Mailmark Technical Handbook.