bar code on shipping labels won't scan at post office

[ymca49]

Been selling on ebay for years. Been printing my shipping labels for years..no problems . All of a sudden this week the five labels I printed could not scan at the post office. They said the lines in the bar code were too bold and thick and not spaced properly????? I have an  Epson workforce pro 3820.  I attempted several times to reprint....same prolem. If I take the qr code to the post office it prints properly......  Anyone have any ideas what my problem could be and why it would develop in the last 5 days...I have not made any changes to printer or server?? Im at a loss.

[stuff4divas]

@ymca49  I am not tech savvy, but have printed labels as recently as a few days ago and they all scanned properly.

By any chance, do you have the 'BOLD' typeface clicked?

 @eburtonlab  will know

[mr_lincoln]

@ymca49   Not having that issue.  Perhaps you could update the driver for the printer.  If the bar code does not look "bold" as @stuff4divas questions then it could be another setting.   Your dpi could have inadvertently switched from 600 to 300 (loss of print quality) or something along those lines.

You can try changing the % from 100% down to 90% then 80% and see if the Post Office scanner works.

You can also try a different Post Office if there is one nearby ... our P.O. recently got all new screens for charge cards and a software update ... who knows what else they got.

If you get any inbound packages shipped USPS compare them to one of yours ... if they look identical for the bar code format the issue may be at the Post Office ... maybe their scanner lens needs to be cleaned.

Regards,

Mr. L

[ymca49]

I had to get the wrong code take my phone to the post office and when they scanned the code it printed perfectly for them.  Compared their bar code lines are thinner and closer together.  Mine are thick and spaced.        I haven’t changed anything on my printer settings.   I just don’t get it 

[ymca49]

Oops I meant qr code not wrong code

[ymca49]

I’m not sure where clicking bold is an option when you click print label ??  But it makes sense. I’m going to look into my printer…. Must be my printer because the bar codes print fine at the po when they scan the QR code from my phone. The mystery is. Why did they print correctly last week and now won’t ?  Thanks for taking the time to try to help me.  Stay safe

[stuff4divas]

@ymca49 

did u ever find out what the problem was or is?

good to post for others that may run into this.

thnx!

[rfmtm]

Look at the barcode with magnification, are the vertical edges ragged or are they sharp and crisp?

Does the barcode look ok in the label preview?

Check that your browser is opening PDF files with Adobe and not its built in reader.

What OS and browser are you using?

[ymca49]

Sorry for delay in responding. 
yes edges are sharp and crisp

bar code looks good in preview

i am using Firefox browser.  Mac Monterey version 12.5

to me the odd thing is it worked perfect one day and the next not…….I didn’t make any changes to printer or browser…

by the way how do I check if my browser is using adobe or reader ??

in past I have always just hit print label and it pops up…I print from there by hitting print icon…I don’t download a pdf file ??

[ymca49]

No still have to take the QR code to the post office which is very inconvenient 

im going to try to uninstall my printer and re-Install to see if a glitch just happened with the printer ??

just can’t explain WHY a problem just occurred overnight !

[rfmtm]

If you are using Firefox with Mac OS, the last Firefox update introduced a problem where images like the barcode are not printed correctly.  There is a bug report open and the Firefox people are working on a fix.

The workaround is to download the file to PDF, then open and print from the file, preferably with Adobe, but other readers may work also.

[ymca49]

Thanks !!  This makes some sense at least…..I will try what you said or even maybe switch to safari from Firefox.   Thanks for taking the time to let me know. 

[rfmtm]

There have been reports this may also happen in Safari, so it's starting to have the hint that maybe something more is going on.  This problem is only on the MAC not with a PC. 

Try it with Safari and come back and let me know if it worked for you.

[ymca49]

Yes it is working. I switched to safari and downloaded the label as a PDF and it printed fine...then this morning just to see..I switched back to Firefox...did the same download with a PDF and it also worked.....so I am happy to have this option rather than running to the post office everytime I sell something...I love out in the country.

Don't understand why you cant print the label from the ebay app.....as I have ALWAYS done..but whatever.....

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it and hope this saves someone else the stress and headache I went through.

[rfmtm]

You should be able to print the label from the mobile app, if that what you are talking about.  Visit the appropriate mobile app board under the buying & selling tab and ask about your problem there.