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Diagram showing placement of the FIM on a reply mailer.

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 area where the postage stamp 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 four codes are in use:

• FIM A: 110010011
• FIM B: 101101101
• FIM C: 110101011
• FIM D: 111010111

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 (e.g., business reply mail or Information Based Indicia (IBI) postage) 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 four codes have the following uses:

• FIM A is used for courtesy reply mail and metered reply mail with a preprinted POSTNET bar code. In both of these types of mail, the postage is prepaid, either by a postage stamp in the case of courtesy reply mail or by a postage meter in the case of metered reply mail.
• FIM B is used for business reply mail without a preprinted ZIP+4 bar code.
• FIM C is used for business reply mail with a preprinted ZIP+4 bar code.
• FIM D is used only with IBI postage.

• Courtesy Reply Mail from the USPS (Layout Guidelines)
• Reply and Return Mail (Mailpiece Quality Control Program, chapter 9), a USPS document showing the four FIM codes