QRix
The self-checking numeric code still trusted by blood banks, libraries and courier systems where a misread is unacceptable.
Libraries, blood banks and logistics (digits + - $ : / . +).
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Codabar was developed by Pitney Bowes in 1972 and is sometimes listed as Monarch or NW-7. It encodes the ten digits plus the symbols hyphen, dollar, colon, slash, period and plus, and it is framed by one of four start and stop characters — A, B, C or D — which applications use to signal what kind of record the code represents. Its enduring virtue is that it is discrete and self-checking: each character stands alone with a gap between characters, and the structure itself catches most substitution errors without needing a check digit. That reliability is why it took root in settings where a wrong read has real consequences. The American Blood Commission adopted it for blood bag labelling, libraries used it for decades on borrower cards and book spines, and FedEx built its early airbill tracking on it. Newer systems favour Code 128, but the installed base keeps Codabar in daily use.
Blood bank and transfusion labelling
Library borrower cards and book spines
Courier and airbill tracking
Photo processing envelopes
Legacy systems with validated Codabar readers
Digits 0–9 and the symbols hyphen, dollar, colon, slash, period and plus, framed by a start and stop character chosen from A, B, C or D.
They are start and stop markers. Applications assign meaning to the combination — a library might use one pairing for borrower cards and another for items — so the reader can tell record types apart.
The American Blood Commission standardised on it, it is self-checking without needing a check digit, and the validated installed base of readers and labelling systems is expensive to replace.
No. Its discrete, self-checking structure catches most substitution errors on its own, though some applications add a modulo-16 check character.
Only to interoperate with existing Codabar equipment. For anything new, Code 128 encodes more, packs it tighter and is better supported.
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