The Planet (Postal Alpha Numeric Encoding Technique) barcode is a variable-length, numeric 1D barcode developed with a checksum. Planet was developed by the US Postal Service to encode information for their "Confirm" service. PostNet and Planet barcodes have been superseded by Intelligent Mail, which can encode both of the former barcodes in a single symbol.

Example Barcode

The following example barcode encodes the information 0123456789 as an Planet barcode:

Details

Planet is a 2-state barcode, similar to PostNet, and is intended to encode information for the US Postal Service's "Confirm" program to facilitate tracking incoming and outgoing packages. Since this barcode only has two states, it is relatively data sparse - especially when compared to Intelligent Mail which can encode a Planet and PostNet barcode, using less space.

Planet barcodes encode 11 or 13 characters plus one checksum character. Thus, Planet barcodes appear to have 12 or 14 characters. All Planet barcodes include a checksum character that is a 1-digit number which, when added to the sum of the other digits, results in a whole number that is a multiple of 10.

Barcode Breakdown

The table below presents a breakdown of the encoding scheme for Planet. Please note that 1s represent full-bars, and 0s represent half-bars. Every digit is encoded with 5 bars, 2 half-bars and 3 full-bars.

Planet barcodes have two formats, Destination Confirm and Origin Confirm.

Destination Confirm

Destination Confrim Planet Barcodes encode the following information:

• Service Type ID: The first 2 digits of the barcode. Represents the service and the shape or class of mail. Can be any of the following values:
  • 40 - First-Class Mail letters.
  • 41 - First-Class Mail flats.
  • 42 - Standard Mail letters.
  • 43 - Standard Mail flats.
  • 44 - Periodicals letters.
  • 45 - Periodicals flats.
  • 46 - First-Class Mail cards.
  • 47 - Standard Mail cards.
  • 22 - Residual Mail items.
• Subscriber ID: 5 digits used to identify the subscriber.
• Mailing ID: 4 or 6 digits to be used by the mailer for their own purposes.
• Checksum digit: The 12th or 14th digit in the barcode. Used to detect and correct errors.

Origin Confirm

Origin Confirm Planet barcodes encode the following information:

• Service Type ID: The first two digits of the barcode. Represents the service and the shape or class of mail. Can be any of the following values:
  • 50 - Courtesy reply letters.
  • 51 - Courtesy reply flats.
  • 52 - Business reply letters.
  • 53 - Business reply flats.
  • 54 - Business reply cards.
  • 56 - QBRM letters.
  • 57 - QBRM cards.
  • 58 - Courtesy reply cards.
  • 21 - Miscellaneous items.
• Customer ID: 9 or 11 digits used to help identify the customer or the reply mailpiece itself.
• Checksum digit: The 12th or 14th digit in the barcode. Used to detect and correct errors.

Similar Barcode Types

Barcode Variants

PostNet barcodes share a similar coding scheme, but the bits are inverted and the barcodes are used for a different purpose.

Related Barcodes

Planet is also similar to the 2 of 5 symbology (e.g. Industry 2 of 5, IATA 2 of 5, and Interleaved 2 of 5), but 2 of 5 bits are short, rather than wide.

For additional background and use-case information see our Planet barcode page.
For more information, see the Barcode Xpress SDK product page or try our online demos.