A look at the future of 2D bar codes

It’s been nearly 51 years since the first UPC bar code scan took place at Marsh Supermarkets in Troy, Ohio, on a 10-pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum. And while UPC bar codes are still in use, in this episode of the "Tip of the Iceberg" podcast, John Ross, CEO of IGA, shares the endless possibilities of 2D bar codes for the future of the fresh produce industry.

Ross said the nonprofit information standards organization GS1 US set 2027 as an optimistic goal for POS devices to accept 2D bar codes. While that's still a couple of years away, retailers have been slow to make the switch due to the investment in necessary upgrades for stores, he said. This includes enhancements to the scanner itself, the hardware to read scans and any scanners in warehouses or distribution centers, as well as capturing and storing the data that’s possible with 2D bar codes.

“When anything new comes along you have to prioritize that effort, and I think a lot of our industry has been slow to make this a priority,” Ross said.

While there are costs associated with the upgrades to a store to be 2D bar code capable, there are many benefits, he said.

“When you go to omnidirectional scanning it allows the cashier to speed up dramatically,” Ross said. “Even if the even if the QR card is damaged, often the optical scanners can read the QR code in a way you couldn't do or you'd have to manually key using the old code system.”

This will be especially handy in the fresh produce industry where a code on a piece of produce could get ripped or wet, said Ross, adding that there’s also the capability that an entire package could be a code.

“Now, all of a sudden with package design and labeling and these secret codes, they all kind of blend together in some interesting and new way,” he said. “Think about your logo. Your logo can be a QR code. Imagine one of your farms ... [has] their logo [on the package]. That logo means something to people who know them, but to people who've never shopped there, they don't know about the family legacy. They don't know about their responsible and sustainable farming practices or water recovery or all the things that amazing things they do.”

This way, instead of sending a shopper to the farm’s website, a shopper can scan the package and instantly connect with the grower, Ross said.

“With the code now, the shopper connects to the original grower and they can learn about that farm they can learn about what makes it unique, their responsible growing policies, their hiring practices — all the stories that we want to tell that what makes us special and cool. Now you can connect through the product because we're scanning images not arbitrary lines of black text," he said.