Bar Codes Simplify Your Business

The classic answer to this childhood riddle used to be “a newspaper.” But today, it’s the ubiquitous bar code. These simple black and white symbols are literally read all over… in warehouses, in mail, in retail stores and even in hospitals. We see bar codes everywhere in everyday use, but many of us never stop to think how they work much less how they could work for our business

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Here’s how bar codes work

Bar codes represent a series of numbers or letters. A barcode scanner reads the code and enters it into your computer. This is just like typing on a keyboard, but faster, easier and with many fewer mistakes. The code serves as an identifier for an item such as a part, a tool, an address, or a product. These digits are used to look up information in a database e.g. the price of a product. Or to update a number stored in a database such as the quantity of an item in stock.

How can bar codes help your business?

Now that you know how bar codes work, how can they help your business? Here are some ways bar codes can streamline your operations, increase accuracy, and and add to your bottom line.

  • Inventory Tracking – Knowing exactly how much of an item you have in stock at any point in time is essential to placing orders for the right amount of the right product at the right time. That minimizes your inventory costs and helps you avoid being out of stock.
  • Asset Tracking – Keeping track of physical assets like desks, computers and tools helps you know how much of your capital is allocated to equipment. It can also be an important part of managing maintenance and replacement schedules. Affixing a bar code to an asset lets you know what you have and where it is located.
  • Invoicing – By printing a barcode representing an invoice number on each invoice, processing payments is just a matter of scanning the invoice when it is returned with payment

These are just a few ideas to help you think about how you can use barcodes. If you are looking for ways bar coding can help your business, give Zev a call at (845) 371-1975.

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