Whats all this about step ladder and picket fence bar codes?
These terms refer to the direction in which a bar code is presented for scanning. If the code runs up and down so its bars resemble the rungs of a tiny ladder, that’s “step ladder” bar code. If the code runs left and right the bars resemble a little picket fence, hence the term. This stuff is especially important in unattended scanning where for example boxes are rushing past a fixed scanner mounted on a conveyor line. There is often confusion about step ladder or picket fence orientation when printing bar codes on roll of fan fold label stock. If the code is printed so that the bars come out of a printer parallel to the print head they are referred to as step ladder. If they are perpendicular to the print head they are considered picket fence. Its really only important when using thermal transfer or dot matrix printers. On these printers the best quality code is generally printed picket fence. Its really best to talk about bar code print orientations as drag or step printing. What mos
