National Barcode Day - Learn, Share and Win!

I’ve had good experiences with QR codes for crypto, and I’ve had bad experiences with QR codes at restaurants when my phone wont scan it and I’m hangry

Could you imagine going back to these prices?

I’d love to go back to these prices.

As a child I still remember:

• Five cents would buy you a big bag of candy.
• Gasoline was 29 cents a gallon and seat belts were not invented yet.
• Vehicle engine oil was sold for five cents a quart in gas stations.
• Milk was 15 cents a quart.
• Ice Cream was sold by the half gallon and it was real Ice Cream.
• Telephone calls were five cents in phone booths, yes phone booths LOL
• I better stop, I’m showing my age now. ROFLMHO

Yes, I remember when they first started using barcodes. I remember the rumor when they first came out they were some sort of cult of the devil. 😳

My experiences with barcodes recently is never being able to find it at self-checkout in the grocery store. lol.

Yes! @ProTruckDriver!
Growing up in a very fundamentalist church,  I was told that every barcode contained the numbers 666. In some fantasized future we would all have barcodes embedded in our arms or foreheads (you could choose!) to use like credit cards. We were taught to be aware and make sure to avoid this, because 666 is the Mark of the Beast. We can’t go to Heaven if we have the Mark of the Beast. That’s how they get you!

Wow. Sometimes I don’t realize how crazy some of the stuff I was taught as kid was until I write it out.

I have been to the hospital a couple times recently and they scan the Bar or QR code on the bracelet they gave me so it saves them time. Cool actually!

I think that RFID or NFC might replace UPC codes. I see the future of scanning as an instant walk through a reader and everything is scanned and paid for automatically. 

A good application for QR codes is like the beachbar around the corner here. Every table has its QR code, you scan it to order an imidiatly pay it. The waiters only have to bring it to the table.

We could use more like this!

All hotels restaurants particularly abroad introduced the QR code for ordering at Ur table ... 

I recently started going to a new mall in our area. There is a massive play area inside the mall for the kids. In stead of spending cash or purchasing tickets etc, you simply get a card with the barcode on that you load with money, then your kid can tap it and enjoy their rides. For me that is super cool, that way they do not accidentally loose their tickets. Each of the rides got their own QR Code. 

ProTruckDriver wrote:

Could you imagine going back to these prices?

I’d love to go back to these prices.

As a child I still remember:

• Five cents would buy you a big bag of candy.
• Gasoline was 29 cents a gallon and seat belts were not invented yet.
• Vehicle engine oil was sold for five cents a quart in gas stations.
• Milk was 15 cents a quart.
• Ice Cream was sold by the half gallon and it was real Ice Cream.
• Telephone calls were five cents in phone booths, yes phone booths LOL
• I better stop, I’m showing my age now. ROFLMHO

Yes, I remember when they first started using barcodes. I remember the rumor when they first came out they were some sort of cult of the devil. 😳

I remember clearly by us, milk was delivered by clover in a glass bottle, and the R1 coin fitted prefect on the top. Boy and ice cream…. now you really bringing back good memories. 

“when they first came out they were some sort of cult of the devil” many out there still think that. 

“never being able to find it at self-checkout in the grocery store” @kleinmat4103  you also live in South Africa? Happens here a lot. Cant find the barcode, then you stand for ages waiting for them to try resolve it. Frustrating to say the least. 

My only interaction with bar codes is when I shop. I do remember the first time I ever got involved with bar codes when we had BBC Micro computers, linked into a hand scanner that was flakey to say the least. Still, it worked when integrated into a piece of code for Sage accounts (DOS VERSION) and made stock control so much easier to deal with.

I have personally created many programs for printing and managing barcodes. From image generator for promotional flyers and coupons to warehouse management applications. Thank you very much "BARCODE" and happy birthday

Wow, didn’t realise they were used that long ago. Being born in the late ‘70s I guess they’ve always been a part of my life one way or another so I just accepted them as part of life as I grew up. It’s only as an adult and having an interest in technology that you look back on these sort of things and wonder what it’d been like without them.

My best experience with bar codes would be when I take my daughter to summer activity camps. No more massive queues to drop them off and collect. They scan a child specific bar code (which is a new one each week you book your child in), it tells you which group your child is in and you take them to that group. Easy.

On pick up, you scan the code and then have to enter a secret password you setup with the company so they only gave the child back to a trusted adult. Very good system and much better than just having a large line to sign in.

Also liked the bar codes at places during Covid we had over here which allowed you to check in to say you are in a restaurant/pub etc and then they could notify you if you were exposed to someone who tested positive. Thought it was a good way to try and manage covid exposure.

I generally like the idea of QR codes at restaurants and attractions as much quicker than typing in the whole url. If you walk past a place and think you want to know more, sometimes you cant be bothered to stop and take a photo of the website or type in the url, but easy to just scan the barcode.

However, as others have said, only good if it works. Pizza Hut here in the UK uses QR codes at the tables so you can order and pay without needing a waiter. They just need to bring the food and drinks. However, the bar codes are badly scratched and just dont work. So you have to just sit and wait ages for a member of staff which there are less of now as they assume you’ll use the qr code!

Don’t get me wrong, I understand how wonderful the barcode is.  It absolutely revolutionized inventory management and with the ease of deployment, even the smallest business can use it.

What I am tired of, however, is the restaurants that have replaced their menus with QR codes.  I have seen too many demonstrations on how quickly a malicious actor can take over your device with a QR code (I have lost count how many times I have seen it).  There is absolutely no way to confirm what your phone is about to attempt to open, especially with the prevalence of link shorteners.  I could easily swipe a menu card from a restaurant, then reprint it with my own QR code that redirects you through a malicious website before redirecting to the menu, and most people would NEVER KNOW the difference!

Barcodes are wonderful, but I am weary of QR codes that link to websites!

@Martin.1 Lol. I live in the US. Mostly it’s similar to needing 3 tries to get a USB drive plugged in. I swipe the bottom of the box, then back, then top, then realize it’s on the bottom. *Beep*

Very good points. It’s another example of ‘If it’s easy, what's the catch’! 

I work with barcodes very frequently being in the supply chain. There’s just so many to choose from and each have the own advantages and disadvantages. Numbers only, upper case only, full ASCII, 12 digits with a check digit, encoding delimiters, quiet zones, error correcting, distance scanning, et cetera. It’s painful to manage. I’ve become the go-to knowledgeable person at my work and it still frustrates me when I provide information to my colleagues and they don’t comply with the standards.

Barcodes are incredibly interesting in their versatility and usage scenarios.  QR Codes, or 2D barcodes can store up to 7,089 characters.  That's enough to reconstruct a rudimentary image, contain a short story or resume. 

They are responsible for the modern age of inventory management and control, reducing waste and maximizing the lifetime of products.  

If cost of production comes down, RFID might replace or augment barcodes.  

I'm not a fan of QR Coded menus, I like having an actual menu.  MY eyes are not great, reading a menu on my phone is a PIA.

The barcode shown below is for my favorite book :).

Barcodes are great, until they won’t scan, then you, as the cashier, have to enter the code manually because the system can’t find a banana during a search…

Ha! Happens a lot.

self checkouts are often in need of staff assistance when scanning goes wrong

Long time ago I had a college who could read code39.  

QR codes are a game change for small businesses - have on on the back of the work van and that links them to your business page or web site straight away without having to worry about typing anything else :)

As a long time collector, finding cataloging software that supports barcode scanning, phone integration and online lookup was a game changer.

We made custom barcodes to scan chat into MS Teams just for fun, we swapped one of them for one that said “Go F Yourself” and the team member scanned it like 5 times to the CEO before realizing. Everyone was cracking up, and the CEO was very confused but thought it was funny.

Damn that’s hilarious!