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Consumerism Working life

Barcodes

Have you ever noticed how in the supermarket the check-out chicks/ blokes sometimes have to ask the customer what a fruit is so they can enter the code? Okay, to be fair, I don’t know what half the stuff is, especially those really bizarre fruits like the star shaped ones and the small round hairy ones… but then, it’s not my job to know. Ask me a computer question instead.

They could always put barcode stickers on the fruit, but that would be expensive and potentially very annoying to customers, particularly when they remember the sticker after they’ve eaten the fruit.

I’ve had a better idea. Uh oh, you’re thinking, is this something impractical like last week’s idea of intelligent shopping trolleys? No, I think it might be possible. Genetics has come a long way… what if they genetically alter fruit to include barcodes? Then all the check-out chick would have to do is pass it over the scanner like everything else.

You may be wondering why all this talk of supermarkets. Well, I started my new job today. Working on a project related to Point Of Sale terminals. Nuff said?

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.