LPN Barcode Generator

Make license plate number (LPN) barcodes for pallets, cartons and totes. Build a numbered run, download the barcodes, or print LPN labels on sheets or a 4" × 6" thermal printer.

Opening a CSV lets you pick the column. Pasting a column from Excel or Google Sheets works too.

Your barcodes

    Colours

    Dark bars on a light background scan best. Most scanners use red light, so red, orange and yellow bars read as blank.

    What is an LPN?

    In a warehouse, a license plate number (LPN) is a unique ID stuck on a container, whether a pallet, carton or tote, so the warehouse management system (WMS) can track the container and everything in it with one scan. Instead of scanning 40 cartons on a pallet, staff scan the pallet's LPN and the system knows what's on it and where it is.

    You'll also see LPNs on returned and liquidation items, especially from Amazon, where each returned unit gets an LPN (usually starting with "LPN") to track it through inspection and resale.

    How to make LPN barcodes

    1. Check your WMS for its LPN format (prefix, length, letters or digits). If you're setting one up, a prefix and a fixed-length number like LPN0000001 is common.
    2. Click Make a number sequence and enter the prefix, start number (continue from your last used one), count and number of digits.
    3. Keep the type on Code 128. It's what most WMS systems use for LPNs.
    4. Download the ZIP, or press Print on label sheets and choose the 4" × 6" thermal size for pallet labels.

    LPN or SSCC?

    An LPN is your own internal number and only needs to be unique in your warehouse. An SSCC is the GS1 standard for the same idea: an 18-digit number built from your GS1 company prefix, unique worldwide, and readable by your customers' systems. If a retailer asks for SSCC pallet labels with advance shipping notices, use the GS1-128 generator with AI (00).

    Good practice

    • Never reuse an LPN while the old one could still be in the system.
    • Use large bars (0.5 mm or wider) on pallet labels so they scan from a forklift.
    • Put labels on two adjacent sides of a pallet, so one is always visible.
    Pallet racking in a distribution warehouse
    Pallet racking in a distribution warehouse.

    Questions

    • License plate number: a unique ID for a pallet, case, tote or returned item, used by warehouse systems to track it.

    • Usually Code 128. GS1 SSCC labels use GS1-128.

    • LPNs are internal to the warehouse that issued them, so only their system can look them up. To identify the product, use the UPC, EAN or ASIN printed elsewhere on the item.