Swiss post parcel barcode is a type of linear barcode used in the postal service of Switzerland. It is also known as Swiss PostParcel Barcode or Switzerland Post Parcel Barcode. It is the standard barcode used by Switzerland Postal Services for efficient transferring of parcels around the country. The barcode identifies the information and destination of the receiver and ensures that parcel is being sent to the right person at the right location.
Structure
The total length of Swiss Post Parcel barcode is 18 digits. This is numeric only barcode and can only encode numbers from 0 to 9. These 18 digits are categorized as follows:
· Swiss Post reference consists of the first two digits.
· Franking licensing number contains the next 8 digits.
· The last 8 digits present the item number.
Purpose
The purpose of Swiss Post Parcel barcode was to increase the efficiency and quality of the Switzerland’s postal services and to improve the security of the parcels being transferred across the country. This barcode has somehow achieved its desired objectives and is now playing a significant role in the Switzerland postal department.
Advantages
· Simple encoding and decoding strategy, less user training is required to decode and encode data.
· Can be encoded by any simple device, similarly, can be decoded by simple scanning devices.
· Extremely fast encoding and decoding due to numeric only encoding.
Disadvantages
· Can only encode numeric only data, alphabets and special characters cannot be encoded.
· Fault tolerance of this barcode standard is low and distortion and damage may make it difficult to correctly decode the information.
· Low density barcode compared to Telepen and other similar barcode standards.
Usage
As aforementioned, and as the name suggests, the biggest user of Swiss Post Parcel Barcode is Swiss Postal service which is using it extensively for parcel and mail delivery services. However, some private courier and mailing services are also now adopting this barcode standard.