Re: USPS and printing Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB)

[Gary Kaplan <gkaplan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We had to generate the IMB barcode back in 2012 due the postal barcode 
changes.  We have an external print file with the barcode defined.  The 
DDS for our printer file is:

IMBBARCODE    31S 0O    45BARCODE(34 X'03' *NOHRI)

The trick was creating the 31 digit data field.
D  IMBBC                  1     31  0
D   BCID                  1      2  0
D   STID                  3      5  0
D   MLID                  6     14  0
D   SN                   15     20  0
D   RTCODE               21     31  0

The field meanings are:
BCID	barcode id (usually 00)
STID	Service type - mail class
MLID	mailer id - assigned by USPS
SN	sequence number
RTCODE	routing code - 5-digit zip, 9-digit+4 or 11-digit DPV code

Gary

On 4/8/2017 11:40 AM, Jim Franz wrote:
> Have read through a number of posts from around 2010-2012.
> IBM has a doc on this that describes both the DDS method (assuming your
> printer(and not using HPT) or IPDS firmware handles it, or the USPS
> downloads using raster fonts.
> http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1013902
>
> I have the downloads from USPS and have reviewed pdfs - two downloads from
> 2008 - one for OS400 to encode, and one for AFP for the font. Have never
> worked with raster fonts so still wrapping my brain around it.
> https://ribbs.usps.gov/onecodesolution/download.cfm
>
>
> We are late to this change - our postal rep kept saying we didn't have to
> do this because it was not packages, but they were wrong & now have to do
> it, and do it very soon...
>
> My questions are about whether others did the IBM DDS method (not sure
> since appears the IPDS card (SCS/TNe) does not support it, but there is a
> separate Lexmark Barcode card avail but their ^%&* web docs are very
> unclear as to what works with what)...
>
> or did you use the USPS download raster fonts - and what was that like? -
> and was it as laid out in the pdf docs?
>
> Not using any forms or barcode software package, this is our only form and
> it's been running fine for 15 years.. all the spools for a self mailer
> certified mail form are DDS *afpds duplex spools, and since a 2 sided
> tri-fold there is rotation in parts of the form - and when we originally
> did this could not get a barcode to rotate..,
>
> The current printers are Lexmark T654's with IPDS cards so this runs with
> PSF configuration - very stable.
>
> Jim