On American Personalized stamps, and today also on philatelic items issued in many countries, a new kind of barcode can be found, the QR-code. This QR-code (Quick Respond-code) is a two dimensional successor to the barcode and can carry a large amount of information on a small space. An ordinary barcode showing our club name is quite long:

The QR-code has been developed by (Nippon) Denso (right, the one from the spark plugs), to be able to "tag" (label) parts produced for Toyota and describe for which type, where and when and for what purpose a part has been produced.
By the enormous amount of data that can be stored in such a QR-code it can be used for many different purposes. For example for identification, tagging products, or putting advertisements and manuals on packaging.
In philatelics and postal services they are used more often every day. It is possible to put all information for customs and international shipments simply in a square inch. Also for stamp "cancelation" the QR-code is used nowadays. Postal stationeries in Germany and home printed stamps and envelops in France ("Pret-a-Poster") are already carrying the code. Every postally used QR-code is unique. A posted letter passes along an electronic eye in the sorting machine. Computers communicate with each other and every passing code is noted as used. If the same code passes an eye again, it recognizes this one as being already used and  the cover is ejected. Everything is possible in 2009.
The QR-code can be easily read with nearly any cell-phone. For some phones a download from the manufacturers site is needed. Modern phones already have the reader. Make a picture of the code from any angle and the explanation will appear in the display. You can also send the picture to your computer and go to www.qurify.com and read what you have photographed. In total the code can carry 7089 signs and if you would photograph and convert the code above, a large part of this article would appear on your display. Incredible, or not??

Every stamp a unique code

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