Worth Data 5000 Appendix I UPC Specifications, UPC 2 and 5-character supplemental codes

Appendix I: UPC Specifications

UPC symbols are found on almost all grocery products and many other retail items. The UPC code most people are familiar with (UPC-A) is a fixed-length (12 digits) numeric only code, with the first digit controlled by UPC coding assignments and the last digit a checksum. UPC-E and UPC-E1 are variations of the standard UPC-A code. Each digit is constructed of two bars and two spaces. UPC has very precise standards of code size, structure, and numbers to be used.

EAN is an international superset of UPC. EAN-13 has 13 digits, with the first two digits representing a country code. The final digit is, as with UPC, a check digit. EAN-8 is a shorter version on the EAN-13 code containing seven data digits and ending again with a checksum.

The exact UPC/EAN symbol specifications are available from:

GS1-USS(Formerly Uniform Code Council, Inc.)

7887 Washington Village Drive, Suite 300 Dayton, OH 45459

937-435-3870

937-435-7317 info@GS1us.org 8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST

Specifications are also available via the internet at:

http://www.gs1us.org

Keep the following guidelines in mind when printing UPC bar codes:

If you plan to use a "supermarket-type" in-counter scanner to read the codes, specify a bar code height of at least .9" for an optimal first read rate.

Make it an early practice to observe the numbering conventions of the GS1 Council. Do not label unmarked merchandise with a bar code whose numbers may conflict with those already assigned. If products with these numbers are not in your store now, they are likely to be in the future, causing conflicts in your inventory system.

The leading Number System Character, (the first number of the 11 digits to be entered) should conform to these UPC assignments: 0,6,7,8: Regular UPC 12 digit codes with numbers assigned by the GS1 UPC Council. (Do not use 0 as the leading number for in-store marking).

2Store-marked random weight items of meat and produce.

3Reserved for National Drug Code and Health Related Items.

4Use this leading digit for in-store marking of non-food items.

5Reserved for coupons. Do not use this today, or you will not be able to process coupons through your system tomorrow.

UPC 2 and 5-character supplemental codes

The UPC standards include the addition of a 2 or 5-character supplemental code used with magazines and paperback books. To read the supplements, you must first enable them using the TriCoder Setup Menu.

NOTE: Enabling the supplements disallows the reading of UPC codes from right to left to assure that the supplement does not get missed.

UCC/EAN Extended Coupon Code

Enabling supplements also allows reading of the Extended Coupon Codes, providing that the UPC‟s NSC is a 5 or the EAN‟s country code is 99. The supplement is a Code 128 bar code in an Extended Coupon Code.

ISBN Specifications

ISBN (International Standard Book Numbering) bar codes are essentially EAN-13 with a 5 digit supplement, where the first 3 digits are the Bookland country codes of 978 for books and 977 for periodicals. Although the bar code contains 18 characters, the ISBN format uses only 9 of them, along with a newly calculated Mod-11 check digit. For example, a bar code containing the numbers 978055337062153495 would transmit as 0553370626 in the ISBN format. The TriCoder has the

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