Facing Identification Mark


The Facing Identification Mark, or FIM, is a bar code designed by the United States Postal Service to assist in the automated processing of mail. 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 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 and zeroes. The following five codes are in use:
All defined FIMs start and end with a bar, and are palindromic, 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 serves the following purposes: it allows the proper facing of mail for cancellation. It also identifies the manner in which postage is paid and whether that business reply mail has a POSTNET bar code. If the POSTNET bar code is present, the mail can be sent directly to a barcode sorter.
The five codes have the following uses: