# Giant barcode on a cereal box **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767 "2020-02-11T13:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/1 "2020-02-11T13:32:00Z")
Is this a new trend to make sure it scans? Barcode took up one side of the box. It was Aldi brand cereal. Are other stores doing this? ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/2 "2020-02-11T13:35:55Z")
I buy a variety of Kellogg’s and Post cereals and haven’t noticed. Maybe because it is the store brand. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/3 "2020-02-11T13:44:27Z")
Aldi is very low price so maybe they decided to do this to speed the checkout lines. Makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/4 "2020-02-11T13:54:49Z")
[This Mother Jones’ article](https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/06/aldi-has-very-impressive-barcode-strategy/) agrees that the purpose is to speed up the checkout process. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/5 "2020-02-11T14:14:44Z")
Many of Aldi’s products have bar codes on nearly every side of the product, and as large as possible. Since they aren’t trying to out-compete the product next to them, they don’t need the boxes to be quite as pretty as Kellogg’s. What Aldi’s gets in return is the fastest checkout line in the business. Their cashiers can practically throw the product past the scanner and it will scan. I vividly recall going to a Trader Joe’s after getting used to Aldi’s checkout process and found it painful to watch the checker look for the tiny UPC on the product, try to scan it, try again, look again, only to have it scan on the third try… over and over again. An Aldi checker would have filled up a cart with product in the amount of time it took that poor soul to scan a dozen items. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/6 "2020-02-11T14:23:39Z")
Beaten to it, but since I’ve typed it up… It’s an Aldi thing. The bar codes run along whole sides of the box (or around a can) so that there’s no need to scan the package for where the code is. My local Aldi (and I’m guessing all of them) runs a bare minimum of checkouts so the staff have to be very quick scanning through the products, the omni-directional codes make this easy peasy. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/7 "2020-02-11T15:00:05Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I vividly recall going to a Trader Joe’s after getting used to Aldi’s checkout process and found it painful to watch the checker look for the tiny UPC on the product, try to scan it, try again, look again, only to have it scan on the third try… over and over again. You forgot ‘comment on each item,’ a seemingly universal Trader Joe’s rule for cashiers. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/8 "2020-02-11T15:09:30Z")
Wait, are you telling me that the Trader Joe’s checker didn’t really like the frozen meal I bought and instead was just told to make conversation? That shatters my illusions. But it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/9 "2020-02-11T15:26:33Z")
Store cashier here. The larger the bar code, the easier it is to scan. Most codes today will scan no matter what side you drag over the scanner. It does speed up checkout. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/10 "2020-02-11T15:42:28Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wait, are you telling me that the Trader Joe’s checker didn’t really like the frozen meal I bought and instead was just told to make conversation? That shatters my illusions. But it makes sense. [A former advertising executive got a job there](http://freakonomics.com/podcast/trader-joes/) just to research it. > [@Mark Gardiner](#): > > So, they would tell us, “You’re going to be looking for customers who seem like they can’t find something that they want or just seem curious about something. You are going to initiate conversations with these people, and we want you to be friendly, we want you to be chatty, we want you to be empathetic. And more than anything else, we want you to do what it takes to make customers feel appreciated and wanted.” P.S. TJ’s is owned by the same guy that owns Aldi. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/11 "2020-02-11T15:51:03Z")
Actually, it’s not true that the same person owns both. They were owned by brothers. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/12 "2020-02-11T16:13:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Actually, it’s not true that the same person owns both. They were owned by brothers. This. There are two European grocery chains (started by brothers from Germany) that go by the brand name Aldi – from a corporate entity standpoint, one is named Aldi Nord, and the other Aldi Süd. They’re separate companies, though they apparently work very closely togeter (both being owned by members of the same family). The Aldi stores in the US are owned by Aldi Süd; Trader Joe’s is owned by Aldi Nord. More information than you wanted to know: [Aldi - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/13 "2020-02-11T16:20:45Z")
guy that invented the bar code for IBM died a few months ago. Costco is very fast checkout and they have normal bar codes. we now have Lidl which is also German and they are better than Aldi IMO ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/14 "2020-02-11T16:27:28Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > guy that invented the bar code for IBM died a few months ago. Costco is very fast checkout and they have normal bar codes. Costco isn’t super fact, in my experience, but they also have a bar code trick. Most of their products are either house brands or are specially packaged for Costco. They put at least one bar code on every surface of the larger packages so the checkout clerks don’t have to lift or turn the packages to access the bar codes. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/15 "2020-02-11T19:04:46Z")
Coincidentally, while reading this thread I was eating some cottage cheese I’d bought at Aldi. (“Friendly Farms” brand, which is their house brand for dairy products.) The container has the bar code three times – each more narrow than the one on the can of seltzer I’m drinking which is not from Aldi. It appears on the lid, and twice along the side of the round container. I was surprised to note that these two bar codes are not 180 degrees apart. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/16 "2020-02-11T19:11:07Z")
Somehow this thread reminds me of this [Mad Magazine cover](https://www.etsy.com/se-en/listing/617014749/mad-magazine-198?ref=sold_out-6). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/17 "2020-02-11T22:09:03Z")
As soon as I saw this thread title, I thought to myself “I’ll bet that’s from Aldi”. Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/18 "2020-02-12T03:25:14Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Somehow this thread reminds me of this [Mad Magazine cover](https://www.etsy.com/se-en/listing/617014749/mad-magazine-198?ref=sold_out-6). Wasn’t there some book or music album that had a bar code on the cover as a artistic thing, but it turned out the bar code was actually valid and could be read by computers as something like 5 cents, so enterprising people were having cashiers scan the artistic barcode and getting the product for a bargain? ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-barcode-on-a-cereal-box/847767/19 "2020-02-12T03:34:06Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Wasn’t there some book or music album that had a bar code on the cover as a artistic thing, but it turned out the bar code was actually valid and could be read by computers as something like 5 cents, so enterprising people were having cashiers scan the artistic barcode and getting the product for a bargain? [This article from Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bar-none/) talks about a 3-CD set with a barcode as part of the cover art. The bar code was actually the bar code for a Jack Johnson CD with a list price of $17.46, instead of the 3-CD list price of $26.76.