Something I learned at ALDI — multiple barcodes = efficiency!

I attended a blogger event held by ALDI. All opinions here, however, are my own.

More on my ALDI trip later — but this one struck me as SO cool, and as: How did I never notice this before? See this innocent bag of dates, above, with its standard barcode on the front.

Flip it over and what do you see? Two more on the back! That’s three barcodes on one small bag.

• All ALDI brands have multiple barcodes!

I went around and checked some of the ALDI products in my house — yup! That chicken broth I bought earlier? Barcodes on all four sides. The Clancy’s tortilla chips? Four barcodes. Because these are ALDI brands and they control the production, they can design the packaging to their own specifications.

Um, why multiple barcodes?

Think about it: No matter what way a cashier picks up a product, it will scan. She doesn’t have to hunt for a barcode, doesn’t have to flip the product over, doesn’t have to contort it to fit over the scanner or swap out for a hand-held scanner: It will scan. That’s one of the reasons they can move people through the lines so fast, and also reduces the risk of wrist injury, because there’s no twisting and bending, just grabbing a product and scanning.

Maybe I’m a geek but

That’s cool. More on efficiency and other topics later, but I just wanted to share this tidbit real quick so you can have fun counting the barcodes on your own products. 😉