BAR CODES FLUNK TEST
By Adnews Staff
Almost two-thirds of consumer product bar codes tested so far with the ScanRight evaluation process from A.C. Nielsen Canada have failed to meet industry standards. ScanRight tests UPC codes for their scanability and compliance with guidlines of the Uniform Code Council and Grocery Products Manufacturers Council. The most common problems with the UPCs were code size, print quality and location on the package. Other problems found were multiple UPC symbols for the same items, and identical UPCs for different goods. The test involved 1000 items, including a wide range of products found in food and drug stores. ScanRight also determines if products scan on the first attempt. If they don't, the likelihood of the cashier manually entering the price increases, and when this occurs the marketing data for the item sold is lost.