The Facing Identification Mark, or FIM, is a

bar code A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly refe ...

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

to assist in the automated processing of

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

. The FIM is a set of vertical bars printed on the envelope or postcard near the upper edge, just to the left of the postage area (the area where the

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

or its equivalent is placed). The FIM is intended for use primarily on preprinted envelopes and postcards and is applied by the company printing the envelopes or postcards, not by the USPS. The FIM is a nine-bit code consisting of ones (vertical bars) and zeroes (blank spaces). The following five codes are in use: *FIM A: , , , , , (110010011) *FIM B: , , , , , , (101101101) *FIM C: , , , , , , (110101011) *FIM D: , , , , , , , (111010111) *FIM E: , , , , (101000101) All defined FIMs start and end with a bar, and are

palindromic A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

, reading the same forward and backward. Thus, there are only 16 possible FIMs, 11 if the current limits of at most 3 consecutive bars or spaces are maintained. The FIM allows the proper facing of mail for cancellation. It also identifies the manner in which postage is paid (e.g.,

business reply mail Freepost is a postal service provided by various postal administrations, whereby a person sends mail without affixing postage, and the recipient pays the postage when collecting the mail. Freepost differs from self-addressed stamped envelopes ...

Information Based Indicia Information-Based Indicia (IBI) refers to a secure postage evidencing standard used by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to indicate electronic postage payment. Information-Based Indicia is a 2-dimensional PDF417 or data matrix barcode comb ...

(IBI) postage) and whether that business reply mail has a barcode, typically an

Intelligent Mail Barcode The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) is a 65-bar barcode for use on mail in the United States. The term "Intelligent Mail" refers to services offered by the United States Postal Service for domestic mail delivery. The IM barcode is intended to provi ...

or the older

POSTNET POSTNET (Postal Numeric Encoding Technique) is a barcode symbology used by the United States Postal Service to assist in directing mail. The ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code is encoded in half- and full-height bars. Most often, the delivery point is add ...

barcode. If the barcode is present, the mail can be sent directly to a sorter. The five codes have the following uses: *FIM A is used for mail bearing regular postage and an Intelligent Mail Barcode. It is commonly used by preprinted courtesy reply mail and

metered reply mail Metered reply mail, or MRM, is a type of mail in which a business sends pre-printed, self-addressed envelopes or postcards to customers, with postage prepaid on the envelopes or postcards with a postage meter. It is thus similar to courtesy reply ...

, but may be applied to any mail to speed delivery. *FIM B is used for

''without'' a preprinted barcode. Because this costs more than barcoded mail, it is rarely used. *FIM C is used for business reply mail with a preprinted Intelligent Mail Barcode. *FIM D is used only with IBI postage. *FIM E is used to mark Share Mail, where the Intelligent Mail Barcode is used as postage.

References

External links

Domestic Mail Manual The Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) is a document that lays out the policies and prices of the United States Postal Service (USPS). In legal parlance, it contains "the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service". Changes to the DMM are anno ...

br>part 708.9: Facing Identification Mark (FIM)
illustrates the five FIM codes

Layout Guidelines) {{commons, Barcode United States Postal Service Barcodes Postal markings