(00)SSCC-18
The pallet's license plate: an 18-digit serial for this one logistics unit.
Reference · Label compliance
GS1-128 at the dock: every field on the label.
GS1-128 is the barcode on most carton and pallet labels: the license plate, or LP, your floor already talks about. What the codes mean, what gets checked at the door, and what a good record looks like when a label fails.
The anatomy
Every field on the label.
Ship from
Ship to
(10) Batch or lot
A2214
(37) Count
48
(01) GTIN
(00) SSCC
(01)GTIN
The item number: which product this is.
(10)Batch or lot
The production batch. The key to traceability and recalls.
(17)Use-by date
Date fields, encoded as year, month, day.
(21)Serial number
A unit-level serial, when items are serialized.
(37)Count
How many trade items a mixed logistics unit contains.
Each field starts with an Application Identifier, a numeric prefix that says what follows. The symbology underneath is Code 128; the human-readable line under the bars must say exactly what the bars encode. Source: GS1 General Specifications.
At the door
What receiving actually checks.
It reads.
Print contrast and the quiet zone, the blank margin around the bars, decide whether the code scans at all.
It matches the ASN.
The SSCC ties to the advance ship notice already sent to your ERP or WMS. No match, no clean receive.
The words match the bars.
The human-readable line must say what the barcode encodes. When they disagree, something upstream was keyed or printed wrong.
It sits where it can be scanned.
Logistics labels belong where the reader, human or camera, can see them as the pallet comes off the trailer.
The failure case
When a label fails at the door.
A failed label does not stop the trailer: the item is received by hand and the failure is documented right then.
Flowtally checks label compliance on every read. A label that reads but does not comply is flagged as an exception with its picture, assembled at the door.
RCV-88244-021Exception
Common questions from the dock.
What is the difference between GS1-128 and Code 128?
Code 128 is the underlying symbology, the pattern of bars. GS1-128 is a stricter application of it: the data must follow the GS1 system of Application Identifiers, short numeric prefixes such as (01) for the item number or (00) for the pallet's SSCC. Every GS1-128 barcode is a Code 128 barcode, not the other way around.
What is an SSCC and why does it matter at receiving?
The Serial Shipping Container Code is an 18-digit number that identifies one logistics unit, usually a pallet, the way a license plate identifies one vehicle. It ties the physical pallet at your door to the advance ship notice already in your ERP or WMS, which is what makes scan-and-receive possible.
What do receiving teams actually check on a pallet label?
Four things carry most disputes: the barcode reads at all, the SSCC or item data matches the advance ship notice, the human-readable line matches what the barcode encodes, and the label sits where it can be scanned.
What happens when a label fails at the dock?
The item still has to be received, so someone keys the number in by hand. What matters afterward is whether the exception was documented: a record of what was keyed in, alongside the reads that did land with their pictures and timestamps, turns an argument with the supplier into a record you can send them.
Label compliance checked on every scan.
Every scan is paired with its photo and timestamp. Label compliance is checked as part of the receive itself.