Giving UPCs their due - Business: consumer corner - universal product code scanners popular with drugstore, supermarket customers - Brief Article

Scanning the Universal Product Code (UPC) has been speeding up the checkout process since it was introduced in the '70s. Today, some consumers are telling us that stores with good self-checkout systems are actually faster to shop than stores without them. Translation: Self-checkout systems that customers perceive to be working well don't just save labor. They make the store a more attractive place to shop.

On the other hand, unreadable UPCs and unscannable items have been slowing down checkouts for exactly as long as scanners have been speeding them up. As long as somewhat trained clerks were doing the scanning, finding the UPCs and handling rejects was pretty routine. Now comes self-scanning, a new advance in technology that brings new problems along with those it solves.

The new problems arise from shoppers scanning packages that range in shape, size and weight, while bagging at the same time. In this environment, the importance of fast-finding and first-pass reading jumps to a new level.

Problems with locating the UPCs and not being routinely successful on first-pass scans are reasons that shoppers perceive self-scan systems as "not necessarily time efficient." Since time-efficiency is important to many shoppers, brands and companies with bar codes that don't read easily could be facing a new source of dissatisfaction. With companies modifying their bar code systems to accommodate new prefixes or Global Trade Item Numbers, this is a good time for preventive check ups on bar code's visibility to customers and readability to machines.

"Sometimes it's hard to get the bar code to scan which makes self-scanning an OK idea for certain circumstances but certainly not a replacement for the traditional cashiers."

"My tendency is NOT to use self-checkout. I find it awkward and not necessarily time efficient. Perhaps if you ask again in a year or so, I'll be able to be either more thumbs up or clearly more disgruntled!"

"To try to scan most items, you have to go over the screen at least twice. That really slows things down."

"I'm not good with machines and don't like feeling forced to fumble with these checkout machines in public."

These comments come from shoppers on The Consumer Network's e-panel who, simply by their active use of email, are almost certainly more appreciative of technology and more sympathetic to techno-kinks than shoppers as a whole. We expected self-checkout reports from these electronically-experienced shoppers to be heavily positive. We did get a lot of strong positives, but we got an alarming number of anxious and angry responses from "machine-challenged" shoppers who have been embarrassed by the complexity of self-checkout systems and remain unconvinced of the merits. We don't know the size of the machine-challenged segment, but judging from the number of women who still can't program VCRs, it's probably huge.

Given that self-scanning is rapidly becoming a fait accompli about which many consumers--and just as many retailers--are excited and delighted, scanning snafus take on a new dimension, and UPC locations and the graphics around them gain new importance.

Making sure that the scanning part of the self-scanning systems is easy and successful is not only important for machine-challenged shoppers who don't like being seen fumbling or feeling awkward. It's also important for consumers who love the systems, some of whom are actually enjoying shopping more as a result with shorter wait times, eliminating hostile encounters with checkers and just plain being in control of their own checkout.

While some consumers feel exploited by the process (for example, they feel that they should get a discount for taking on the checkers' job), happy users see it as an opportunity to take control of what they have often experienced as the most negative part of the shopping process.

The fact that tens of millions of delighted self-scanners are going to be looking for UPCs as they scan creates new opportunities for sell messages and front-panel type treatments.

"I use the self-checkouts at Publix and love them. I sort my groceries as I scan, and then when I get home, it is quicker to put them away."

"I like them a lot. I'm hoping all the grocery stores add self-checkouts. They're fast, fun and I can pack my groceries the way I want them done."

"I have tried the self-checkout and I think it's wonderful. The Price Chopper near my work is one of the busiest in the area and I hated to stop in after work for a few items for dinner. The wait was always more than I could stand. With these new checkouts, I'm on my way in less than half the time."

Instead of something that is hidden away out of sight, perhaps packagers should start showcasing UPCs as something like the bulls-eye of their packages.

The author, Mona Doyle, is CEO of The Consumer Network Inc., an organization that regularly takes the pulse of consumers on packaging issues. She publishes The Shopper Report newsletter. Contact her at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 2A4, Philadelphia, PA 19130; Phone: 800-291-0100; E-mail: Mona@MonaDoyle.com

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