Staging preview — not published. This page describes a format TRAKWIND Scan reads, so it stays unindexed until the release is confirmed.

New with TRAKWIND Scan

USPS Intelligent Mail

The row of tall and short bars along the bottom of US mail.

Type: Four-state postal
How it works: Each bar takes one of four forms: full, ascending, descending or short
Encodes: Routing and tracking data for the mailpiece
Off by default: Enable it under Settings → Scanning engine

Four-state postal codes work differently from the barcodes on a product. Instead of varying the width of bars, every bar is the same width and takes one of four forms — full height, rising above the baseline, dropping below it, or short in the middle. The information is in the shape of each bar, not its thickness.

That design lets a long identifier fit into a short strip, printed by an ordinary mail-production printer, and read reliably by sorting machinery at speed. The Intelligent Mail barcode replaced earlier US postal codes by combining routing and tracking into one symbol.

For anyone handling inbound mail — a mailroom, a returns desk, a fulfilment operation — it is the code that identifies the piece in front of you.

Where you meet it

The 4-state bars along the bottom of US mail.

Can a phone scan a USPS Intelligent Mail barcode?

Standard phone scanners do not read four-state postal codes at all. TRAKWIND Scan does, and it ships switched off — enable it under Settings → Scanning engine.

How to scan it with your phone

1
Install Barcode & QR Scanner Keyboard from Google Play and enable it as a keyboard.
2
Open Settings → Scanning engine and choose TRAKWIND Scan.
3
Tap the barcode key on the keyboard and point the camera at the code.
This format ships switched off. Turn it on in the same Scanning engine screen before you scan.