INTRODUCTION
Deutsche Post Leitcode, also known as German Postal 2 of 5 Leitcode, Code Leitcode, Leitcode, Deutsche Post AG (DHL), implements Interleaved 2 of 5 barcode symbology. It is a type of linear barcode. The Leitcode is basically the address of destination or recipient and works as a router for mails and courier services in Germany. The encoded input is numeric consisting of digits from 0 to 9. The length is of fixed 14 digits which has the following structure:
5 digits (1 to 5) comprises of postal code,
Next 3 (6 to 8) digits consists of street ID(Number),
3 (9 to 11) digits after that represents house number and
2 (12 to 13) digits are for product code
The last digit (14) is the check digit
The check digit is added to avoid any scanning errors and to enhance security. It is calculated automatically through modulo 10 techniques.
HISTORY
Deutsche Post AG developed Deutsche Post Leitcode for automated sorting of emails. It is used by Deutsche Post nowadays which is a brand of Deutsche Post AG in Germany. Deutsche Post AG is responsible for the assignment of a Sender number with accordance of the package volume.
Purpose:
As mentioned earlier Deutsche Post Leitcode was developed for the automated sorting of mails. In addition to that for 70 million mails to reach the destination each day requires both speed and accuracy that is provided by Deutsche Post Leitcode. These factors led to the development of Leitcode.
Advantages
· Since Leitcode are type of linear barcodes so they are easy to print.
· The scanning of Leitcode takes around 0.3 seconds which greatly improves the efficiency of the services.
· Leitcode space is perfectly ok for the addresses of the recipients. It takes small area in printing and hence no space is wasted.
Limitations
· Leicodes have fixed length of 14 digits which means only 1014 combinations of numbers can be stored.
· Due to small capacity of Leitcodes large amount of data has to be stored in the database which can be retrieved by scanning and then matching with the data stored in the database.
· The data type of Leitcodes is digital. If the address of the destination contains name of place etc. then this cannot be encoded. The inability to encode alphabets and other characters is a major drawback of Leitcode.
· It is easy to encode and decode data in Leitcodes but once they are damaged or poorly printed it’s impossible to retrieve it to its original state. Even a small tear or an additional line can change the address of customer which can lead the package to wrong destination.
Usage:
Two major companies that make use of Leitcodes are:
Deutsche Post, which is the most widely used company in Germany for the domestic mail services, delivers around 70 million letters each day.
United States Postal Services (USPS).
The industries which make use of Deutsche Post Leitcode are:
· parcel shipments
· air cargo
· hospitals
· courier services
· shipping industry