| By :
Stewart Wrighter
You would think that as the name indicates, the pricing guns are only meant to bring out neatly type price labels that tell the customer and cashier how much a certain item costs. This is not so; apparently there are many other uses to these special machines. It is a guide for the cashier -- Sometimes -- in fact, most of the time, the price is written twice on a particular item, for example, one in plain English for the customer's benefit and the other in bar codes that would be identified at the counter by the cashier. In this manner, the cashier would not only know that the amount charged is accurate, but also whether the label has the correct item listed for inventory purposes. Special details about an item -- a particular item might come with something free or special discounts. This information is embedded in the bar code, which the computer deciphers when the cashier runs the reader over the coded inscription and voila! The cashier would know what the benefits you would receive when you purchase the item at the store. Expiry dates -- there are certain items that need to be consumed within a certain span of time such as cold cuts, eggs and such stuff. Their expiry dates too can and are mostly embedded in the barcode, which is then disseminated to the cashier and hence to the customer at the checkout. Quality control - many people use the labels as recognition that the items have been checked and passed quality control. Besides the stamp of the price, the code might also say whether or not the particular item passed the quality control checking. The stamp usually says this both in English language as well as code. Place of manufacturing -- there are other types of information included in the barcode such as place of manufacture, batch number, quality, and so on. This is important as in case there is any trouble with the item, the whole batch can be tracked and checked for the same defect. There have been many instances where one faulty item pointed at a whole defective batch. In such a case, the whole batch could be withdrawn from the market and sent back to the manufacturer for reimbursement. Unless you would be able to identify the batch, it would become chaotic to seek out the defective pieces and pull them off the market. Of course, the basic use of this equipment still remains pricing of the items, but along with it these wonderful labels contain much, much information. There is one more thing that these bar codes help with, safety and insurance against theft. All these bars need to be de-activated at the cashier's counter and if these are not, an alarm would sound out loud when the shoplifter attempts to leave the shop. This is because the computer at the gate recognizes the non de-activated barcode. In this manner, the modest label and the gun prevent shoplifting in a very efficient manner.
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlesbacklink.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
