Barcodes are about to go extinct

(thehustle.co)

19 points | by rmason 11 hours ago ago

26 comments

  • jensenbox 28 minutes ago ago

    I am the creator of https://www.closient.com/ - a GS1 Digital Link Resolver (still building it, be gentle).

    I have been deep into this space for a fair bit of time now. The real power is in Recalls and Return Fraud. There a ton of other nice things that this will empower of course. AMA - I will do my best to answer.

    For some other stuff to read about how they can help have a poke at https://blog.closient.com/

    Not advertising - just trying to get the word out on 2D codes and RFID and what they provide consumers.

    For those saying "Why not something else?" - it comes down to adoption - QR was just the more popular winner. While the register/till is where most of the scanning is happening the QR is just a normal URL and consumer can scan them.

    • reddalo 15 minutes ago ago

      Interesting, but your website looks completely AI-slopped.

  • sehw 14 minutes ago ago

    They aren't. Sage.

  • pavinjoseph an hour ago ago

    JAB Code (color bar code) can fit more data into the same space: https://jabcode.org/

    • etatester 9 minutes ago ago

      I love how the website shows examples and comparisons with the codes it claims to be better than.

    • reddalo 13 minutes ago ago

      It's not easy to print in color on some products (e.g. products that use thermal printer labels).

  • seanmcdirmid 27 minutes ago ago

    At family mart in China, some of the pastries are in bags with a QR code and a bar code. If it accidentally scans the QR code the self checkout (not in English) goes into a weird mode and I have to get help. So I just learned to cover the QR code for any packaging that had both it and a bar code on the same side.

  • byte-sized-snac an hour ago ago

    They mention QR code being a link and companies having to store data on their side.

    Surely the actual data will be stored in the QR code and available offline

    • kiallmacinnes 33 minutes ago ago

      As I understand it, The key bits of data are in the QR code, they are just encoded as a URL - a highly structured URL that point of sale systems can decode without visiting the URL.

      Doing it this way means the QR code is directly usable by consumers to get to a product info / marketing page, and directly usable by the POS systems.

      Edit: I looked it up. An example URL:

      https://example.com/01/09521207311511/21/1234ABDE1235

      01 is a marker before the traditional barcode.

      21 is a marker before the serial number.

      There seems to be many other codes like 17 (expiry date) and 10 (batch number).

  • JuniperMesos an hour ago ago

    I'm glad to see this. Switching to a new standard barcode format that can hold more data and enable better tracking of physical consumer goods seems like the sort of thing that will have a large number of small benefits pervasively in the economy, one of the many small improvements of human technological civilization that in the aggregate results in a better world today than in the past.

    I also like the aesthetics of QR codes better than traditional barcodes. They do kind of invoke the look of a Go board partway through a game, which is more visually interesting than the boring straight lines of the traditional barcode.

  • hollow-moe an hour ago ago

    What a bad piece. Optical is obsolete. Decathlon (here in France at least) has RFID on all their products, they're used as anti-theft, automatic tilling: you just put them in a box at the register and it knows what it is (also kills the chips once paid) and very likely they're used all along the logistic chain.

    • gpvos 35 minutes ago ago

      Putting a chip on everything sounds wasteful and worse for the environment than a printed piece of paper. Not the right direction to go in.

    • usrnm 44 minutes ago ago

      Decathlon does it in every country, not just France. Same with Uniqlo and a few others, but it's still only very large chains that can afford it

      • seanmcdirmid 25 minutes ago ago

        Uniqlo does it in the states now. It’s the first time I encountered it though (well, except for Uniqlo in Japan, even Muji is still using bar codes).

    • cyberrock 38 minutes ago ago

      Merchandise point-of-sales tags isn't the only use of barcode or QR codes. Hospitals aren't going to start putting RFID for all equipment, files, and patients.

      • gertrunde 12 minutes ago ago

        I thought that was exactly one of things RFID was used for?

        Perhaps not for files, but definitely for equipment.

    • pjmlp 25 minutes ago ago

      I am quite sure they still use optical on the German shops.

      • reubenmorais 16 minutes ago ago

        Nope, at least the Berlin shop is on RFID on all products.

        • pjmlp 5 minutes ago ago

          Yeah, unless they changed on NRW shop on my area since August.

          My diving mask and backpack certainly went through optical.

    • cocoto 31 minutes ago ago

      Too pricey for food, it’s cheaper to print.

      • seanmcdirmid 22 minutes ago ago

        Printed Chipless RFID Will solve that problem if the tech really works.

  • usernamed7 6 minutes ago ago

    I think this is great! i've long wanted a future where i can stock my fridge and cupboards with goods and scan the barcodes in and be tracking what their expirations are to better manage when i need to restock or throw things out

  • altmanaltman an hour ago ago

    We must create a barcode reservation to preseve the last of the species before they go extinct!

    Hopefully they can reproduce and ensure the survival of their species.

    • absynth 7 minutes ago ago

      An infinitely wide but infinitely short world should suffice.

  • theGeatZhopa 11 hours ago ago

    consider digimarc barcode too. qr code is nice, but nicer is it if you even not see it.

    • readthenotes1 an hour ago ago

      How to i keep my thumb off it during scanning?