leete@mac.cc.macalstr.edu (04/24/91)
Hi, I'm looking for info on programs to print PostNet barcodes on envelopes in MS/PC-DOS. PostNet is the special barcode accepted by the US Postal Service and is commonly seen on the botton of bill envelopes. You can get a special postage rate for using barcodes with the USPO. The USPO will only give you addresses of service bureaus that will convert addresses for a hefty fee. If you know of programs to produce PostNet barcodes please lend me a hand. Thanks -Jennie Leete
v105mahs@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peter P Donohue) (04/24/91)
In article <1991Apr24.011358.322@mac.cc.macalstr.edu>, leete@mac.cc.macalstr.edu writes... >Hi, I'm looking for info on programs to print PostNet barcodes on envelopes in >MS/PC-DOS. PostNet is the special barcode accepted by the US Postal Service >and is commonly seen on the botton of bill envelopes. You can get a special >postage rate for using barcodes with the USPO. The USPO will only give you >addresses of service bureaus that will convert addresses for a hefty fee. If >you know of programs to produce PostNet barcodes please lend me a hand. >Thanks > -Jennie Leete I don't know of any programs that do this offhand, but it shouldn't be too hard to write something that did it. All the code is is a binary translation of the zip code that you are sending to. Each tall bar means that the bit is on, each short that it is off. The bits are grouped in fours, with a tall bar on each side of the group, so that they can produce between 0 and 9. Number PostNet code 0 |....| 1 |...|| Consider each '|' to be a tall bar and 2 |..|.| each '.' to be a short. 3 |..||| 4 |.|..| 5 |.|.|| 6 |.||.| 7 |.|||| 8 ||...| 9 ||..|| This information is all available in various US Mail publications. Try the ones that they will send you if you tell them you are interested in third class mail. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter P. Donohue - University at Buffalo, Graduate School of Management bitnet: V105MAHS@UBVMS . "Education is a journey internet: V105MAHS@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU . not a destination..."
dcd@tc.fluke.COM (David Dyck) (04/28/91)
In article <1991Apr24.011358.322@mac.cc.macalstr.edu> leete@mac.cc.macalstr.edu writes: >... looking for info on programs to print PostNet barcodes on envelopes in >MS/PC-DOS. PostNet is the special barcode accepted by the US Postal Service >and is commonly seen on the botton of bill envelopes. ... Back in May-90 Woody Baker posted the following info to comp.lang.postscript (I emailed the postscript program to leete@mac.cc.macalstr.edu) >From: woody@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re:US POSTAL BARCODE Summary: USPS BARCODE Message-ID: <1253@chinacat.Unicom.COM> Date: 21 May 90 04:28:33 GMT During the trade show, that I did the airplane for, I ran across the United States Postoffice booth. They were giving out free, nifty holographic stamed envelopes. These are FANTASTIC! They have been on sale since Dec. The envelope cost is .05 and the postage cost is .25 for a total cost of .30. Go to your nearest post office and buy one! Earlier, I had spent about an hour "cracking" the USPS bar code printed at the bottom of prepaid mailer cards. A call to the Postoffice as to how to compute the check digit did not yeild any usefull info. The lady at the show booth however, sent me publication 25, A Guide to Business Mail Preparation, along with a nifty transparent template. I got it, and immediatly created the following program (something that I have wanted for a long time.) Bulk mailers get cheaper rates for presorted by zipcode, and presumable the bar code will give you a better rate as well. (I have not verified this.) So, here is the barcode printer, as well as an address positioner that meets USPS policy. Enjoy Cheers Woody [ postscript program deleted ]
v105mahs@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Peter P Donohue) (04/28/91)
In article <1991Apr27.190905.23979@tc.fluke.COM>, dcd@tc.fluke.COM (David Dyck) writes... >In article <1991Apr24.011358.322@mac.cc.macalstr.edu> leete@mac.cc.macalstr.edu writes: >>... looking for info on programs to print PostNet barcodes on envelopes in >>MS/PC-DOS. PostNet is the special barcode accepted by the US Postal Service >>and is commonly seen on the botton of bill envelopes. ... > >Back in May-90 Woody Baker posted the following info to comp.lang.postscript > (I emailed the postscript program to leete@mac.cc.macalstr.edu) > stuff deleted... > >[ postscript program deleted ] Could you post the postscript code? If not here, perhaps to comp.binaries or comp.lng.postscript? Thanks. Pete ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter P. Donohue - University at Buffalo, Graduate School of Management bitnet: V105MAHS@UBVMS . "Education is a journey internet: V105MAHS@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU . not a destination..."
jwhiting@cdp.UUCP (04/30/91)
The ElsweWare Barcode Kit, availablefrom ElseWare Corp. in Seattle, has both Type 1 fonts and EPS files for POSTNET, Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5 and UPC bar codes for the Macintosh. 206 547-9623.
dcd@tc.fluke.COM (David Dyck) (04/30/91)
I have had several requests to post the postscript program. This is what I received in comp.lang.postscript last May. >From: woody@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) Subject: Re:US POSTAL BARCODE Message-ID: <1253@chinacat.Unicom.COM> Date: 21 May 90 04:28:33 GMT Organization: a guest of Unicom Systems Development, Austin During the trade show, that I did the airplane for, I ran across the United States Postoffice booth. They were giving out free, nifty holographic stamed envelopes. These are FANTASTIC! They have been on sale since Dec. The envelope cost is .05 and the postage cost is .25 for a total cost of .30. Go to your nearest post office and buy one! Earlier, I had spent about an hour "cracking" the USPS bar code printed at the bottom of prepaid mailer cards. A call to the Postoffice as to how to compute the check digit did not yeild any usefull info. The lady at the show booth however, sent me publication 25, A Guide to Business Mail Preparation, along with a nifty transparent template. I got it, and immediatly created the following program (something that I have wanted for a long time.) Bulk mailers get cheaper rates for presorted by zipcode, and presumable the bar code will give you a better rate as well. (I have not verified this.) So, here is the barcode printer, as well as an address positioner that meets USPS policy. Enjoy Cheers Woody % % % (C) Copyright 1990 by Woody Baker % Rt.1 Box I % Manor, Tx. 78653 % % this code may be used for personal use, as long as this header % remains intact but may not be used % as part of a commercial package. All commercial rights reserved. % % % code to print usps barcode. % checkdigit computation is the sum of the digits, rounded up to % the next even multiple of 10. % % You MUST print this on the envelope within certain very specific areas. % The x and y coordinate MUST have the following relationship with the % RIGHT LOWER CORNER of the envelope. % x can be no further from the right edge than 4" and no closer than % 3 1/4. The y coordinate MUST be 1/4 inch up from the bottom of the % envelope, +/- 1/16 th inch. The x coordinates' wide lea-way is % to accomodate shifting of inserts containing POSTNET codes which appear % through windows in the envelope. For printed barcodes on envelopes % the post office prefers 3 7/8 to 4 inches. % request Publication 25 (A Guide to Business Mail Preparation) from % your local Post Office. Be sure to ask for the template that accompanies % the book. % /inches {72 mul} def /barwidth .020 inches def % MUST NOT CHANGE /long .125 inches def % MUST NOT CHANGE /short .050 inches def % MUST NOT CHANGE /nextx .0475 inches def % MUST NOT CHANGE % % one of the recommended fonts for OCR lables. 10/14 is one of the % recommended settings. % /Helvetica findfont 10 scalefont setfont /linehite 14 def % /digarray [ { lbar lbar sbar sbar sbar % digit 0 } { sbar sbar sbar lbar lbar % digit 0 } { sbar sbar lbar sbar lbar % digit 2 } { sbar sbar lbar lbar sbar % digit 3 } { sbar lbar sbar sbar lbar % digit 4 } { sbar lbar sbar lbar sbar % digit 5 } { sbar lbar lbar sbar sbar % digit 6 } { lbar sbar sbar sbar lbar % digit 7 } { lbar sbar sbar lbar sbar % digit 8 } { lbar sbar lbar sbar sbar % digit 9 } ] def % % sbar does a short bar, and alters the current point accordingly % % /sbar { barwidth setlinewidth % always make sure it is correct width currentpoint % remember where we are currentpoint short add lineto % do the bar exch nextx add exch moveto % advance the current point } def % % lbar does a tall bar and alters the current point accordingly % /lbar { barwidth setlinewidth % always make sure it is correct width currentpoint % remember where we are currentpoint long add lineto % do the bar exch nextx add exch moveto % advance the current point } def % % routine takes a string of numbers (no hyphens in the first cut) % an orientation flag (1=Landscape) and an x and y coordinate % % % x y orientation (numberstring) % % check digit computation 10 sum 10 mod sub computes the remainder % from a divide by 10, and then subtracts that from 10 to generate % a digit, which if added back to sum would round it up to the next even % multiple of 10 % /dobar { /msg exch def % get all parameters from the stack. /orient exch def moveto % relative to origin of mail piece /sum 0 def gsave orient 1 eq { 90 rotate 0 -612 translate } if lbar % starting marker msg % process the message. { 48 sub dup % convert the digit to binary sum add /sum exch def % update the checksum /digval exch def % have the binary digit digarray digval get exec % draw the digit. } forall digarray 10 sum 10 mod sub % compute check digit get exec lbar % ending marker stroke grestore } def % % routine takes x y array of strings and does an address block % for an envelope. Prefered is ALL UPPERCASE % [(WOODY BAKER) (RR 1 BOX I) (MANOR TX 78653)] % NOTE: the City State and Zip MUST be the last line, and in that order. % it is preferable NOT to use punctuation. If the last line won't fit, it % is permitted to put the ZIPCODE on the line under that, all by itself. % you should provide that decision, when constructing the array of strings. % % In addition, since this is HELVETICA, and it is Proportional, it % is a wise idea to put 2 spaces down rather than 1 for separation. The % USPS states that there should be at least 1 full space or 1 em space % between the characters, and at least 2 points additional % leading between the lines, 4 points is better for a 10 pt font. % % bottom line of RETURN address no lower that 2 3/4" from bottom edge % of envelope. Mailto address should fit within a rectangle that extends % from 5/8 " from the bottom, to 2 1/4" up from the bottom of the mail piece. % /address { /stringaray exch def /ycoord exch def /xcoord exch def xcoord stringaray length % get number of lines linehite mul ycoord add moveto % adaptively find the top line. stringaray { currentpoint linehite sub exch pop xcoord exch moveto show } forall } def % % example code for testing % 100 120 [(WOODY BAKER) (RR 1 BOX I) (MANOR TX 78653-0102)] address 100 100 0 (786530102) dobar 200 200 1 (1234567890) dobar showpage
ries@venice.SEDD.TRW.COM (Marc Ries) (04/30/91)
Under MSDOS Windows 3.0, there is a shareware program called "winbar" that does POSTNET barcodes (but currently not the "+4" barcode that goes in the upper right area). Under MSDOS, there are at least two that do both POSTNET bar codes. One is shareware, one is commercial. Sorry, but I don't have the names handy. The shareware one is on Simtel in the laser printer directory -- something like "envlj" or ?.