Why It’s Time to Retire 1D Barcodes in Modern Logistics

It started with a rather unpleasant call from an interior design logistics client who said that half of the labels wouldn’t scan during a full container load. They were using the same label template with a 1D barcode for the last 10 years and on the surface there was no reason for things to go wrong. After a bit of poking around it turned out that they got a batch of labels from a new supplier and that was enough to cause the problem. The deeper reason for the trouble was … traditionalism. Nobody initiates a change for the sake of change - the technology world forces it whether we like it or not. Smartphones get outdated, laptop blow up and even cars tend to become more and more disposable. 1D barcodes had held their ground for a while but the modern technology came to reject them to. The worst part of a traditional barcode like Code 39 is zero loss tolerance - meaning that if it is damaged, missing bars, or obstructed, it generally cannot be read at all and offers no means to recover lost information. That’s a stark contract with a QR code which can still be scanned and decoded even if up to 30% of the code is damaged, missing, or obscured.The modern world is stacked against 1D barcodes in modern logistics - they just weren’t designed to be scanned by the camera, they were friendly to physical scanners that cost an arm and a leg now. A QR code, on the other hand, was invented specifically for being read by a camera and analyzed by a computer. Now every single phone has a powerful camera and a processor to decode a QR code lightening fast. And that’s what modern logistics and moving workforce uses in a warehouse and on the road.Generally I reject conformity, but when it comes to modern technology for our clients I do advocate for it - it saves time and money and quite a bit of aggravation.Get on with the modern tech, visit us at:https://lnkd.in/g39bsvmhttps://lnkd.in/eiJr7xqvAnd let’s start talking.

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