5 Barcoding Myths That Aren’t True

Barcode technology has been adopted by a lot of different businesses across many different industries, but there are some people who are unsure about it. They have heard different things about barcodes that make them think that it’s not the right idea for their business. There are five major misconceptions about barcodes that some people hear that may scare them away from trying it.

Barcoding Will Force a Change of System and Policy

This is one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about barcodes. The truth is that you don’t have to change the systems and policies you use in running your business. However, barcodes may make some of your previous systems obsolete. That is a good thing though; barcodes can provide your business with drastic increases in efficiency and accuracy.

There are three main parts to an information system:

• Inputs such as product quantities and part numbers that are entered through the keyboard.
• Processes like mathematical calculation, file creation, and report generation.
• Outputs like a screen or printed reports.

Barcodes can impact all three areas, but the barcodes primary impact is going to be in inputs. In the simplest farm, adding a barcoding system is like hiring the most accurate and fastest data-entry employee. Barcoding can often be added to your system with very minimal software changes. You’re likely to have no need to change your company’s host software at all.

5 Barcoding Myths That Aren’t True
If you have customers who are asking that you barcode shipments, your information system’s output is going to be affected since you have to create and print barcode labels. If you hadn’t been capturing all of the data that your customers want to be on the labels, it would affect your input.

It’s Expensive to Create Barcodes

This myth is a big reason people don’t use barcodes. When you compare the price of manually entering the information into a computer and the cost of any possible errors, you are going to find that barcoding is a lot cheaper as discussed by Small Biz Trends. Payback will generally occur in under a year. With all of the equipment that’s available for barcoding and applications, managers from every size of the company usually are surprised by the low cost of barcoding and how much money they are saving.

It will Disrupt my Business to Implement Barcoding

When you properly plan barcoding, and you get proper training, there will be minimal disruption. It’s also important to have a modular installation of applications that are manageable.
You simply have to plan well.

I have to Individually Label small parts

Each and every part won’t need labeling. Hardware stores sell a lot of items, such as pipe nipples, bolts, and nuts, and they don’t have barcodes. This is handled by using barcode menus, which shows the item’s picture beside the barcode that can then create standard quantities for packaging and labeling storage locations. Distributors and manufacturers that use barcodes use this same system.

It’s Going to be Hard to Overcome Anyone’s Resistance to Using Barcodes

This is another big misconception that people have about barcoding. This system is going to involve change. You may find that some employees are resisting the barcode system, but it may not be for the same reasons you’re thinking about. In some cases, people are going to believe that they will be out of a job. Sometimes they are going to think that barcoding is going to make their work harder or that it won’t work at all. Resistance is often based on ignorance. They may not understand the technology, how it works, why you need it, and what it’s going to mean for them. That’s why they resist. So it’s critical that you educate any employees or associates who resist out of ignorance.

These aren’t all the misconceptions people have about barcodes. There are others you can look up that deal directly with barcodes and still others, like those mentioned by Barcoding, that deal with derivative technology like RFID tags. Ghost Otter lists a number of other myths about barcodes such as the belief that the first number in a barcode tells where the product originated from and that bar codes are satanic. None of these misconceptions are true. They are just beliefs that people developed when they don’t understand something. If you have been concerned about using barcodes because of the things that you have heard about them, put your mind at ease, for all the myths are false.

The truth is that many people have found that barcodes are not just useful for tracking inventory but that they are also necessary for increasing efficiency and speed in their business. Inventory is a huge headache for many business owners, but barcoded products can help them with tracking their items and knowing when things need to be ordered. Put barcodes together with a great POS system, and you will have a business that is doing well and customers that are happy with your service.

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