What is a Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) barcode?
The Royal Mail 4-State Customer Code (RM4SCC), also called CBC, is a UK postal barcode made of bars in four states: full, ascender, descender and tracker. It encodes the postcode followed by a Delivery Point Suffix, and the symbol includes a check character.
It has long been used on bulk business mail for automated sorting. For many business mail services, Royal Mail now uses Mailmark barcodes, which also carry information about the sender and the item.
Check with Royal Mail which barcode your service requires before printing. The generator encodes the characters you enter and does not validate the postcode or address.
What data can Royal Mail 4-State (RM4SCC) hold?
Uppercase letters A-Z and digits 0-9, typically a postcode without spaces followed by the Delivery Point Suffix, for example LE28HS9Z. Lowercase input can be converted for you.
Recommended size
Royal Mail specifies the bar dimensions and placement on the envelope. Print at the specified size without stretching, and keep a clear area around the code.
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Frequently Asked Questions
It is a short code, usually a digit and a letter, that identifies the delivery point within a postcode. It comes from Royal Mail's address data.
No. RM4SCC encodes the postcode and delivery point. Mailmark carries more information, including the sender and item ID, and is used for many business mail services.
KIX uses the same kind of 4-state bars but has no check character or start and stop bars, and it encodes Dutch address data.