This reminds me of a book I read when I was a kid: “Alvin’s Secret Code.” Alvin Fernald fancied himself a secret agent and “cryptogruffer,” and a lot of the story was based on various types of codes and ciphers. In one chapter he and his friends were able to save his dad a significant amount of money on a new stereo system by figuring out the secret code on the price tag that told when the store received the system (the proprietor claimed it was brand-new, but it had actually been sitting around for several months). I thought the whole thing was fascinating and for awhile after I read it the first time, I used to amuse myself in stores trying to figure out codes on the price tags. Occasionally I was actually able to do it. 
(Quick diversion: how does it happen so often that in a thread that’s been opened for awhile, two posters simultaneously come in with the same answer?)
I don’t have much for the topic. I know that ISBNs (ie book numbers) have several sections. They start with a one digit number that’s usually 0, then a section for identifying the publisher, then a section identifying the book for that publisher, and finally a one digit hash code from 0 to 11, with X representing 11. I used to know the publishers by code. 0-13 was Prentice-Hall, 0-07 was McGraw, 0-534 was Wadsworth. The bigger the publisher, the fewer digits that number, because that left more space in the next section for more book numbers.
Oh, also conveyer belts in grocery stores stop after awhile, but you can get them going again by passing your hand in front of the electric eye at the front.
Not as cool as figuring out wholesale prices, but that’s all I’ve got.
Really, they’re automated? I always thought that the cashier operated them with a foot pedal. I was told that when I was really young and it just stuck with me.
They used to be manual, but most are now operated by electric eye. Of course, half the time, the dumb things aren’t even on, and the cashier starts/stops them with a switch next to the belt. Yes, that’s a lot better than a foot pedal. :rolleyes:
Stickers on fruit and veggies are usually 4 digits. 5 digit codes (starting with an 8 or a 9) mean the fruit is organic.
Not sure how secret this is, or how helpful it might be to any of you, but when I worked for blockbuster back in… 2005… I learned that they swung a deal to destroy most of the DVD’s after they had been done renting them out, instead of selling them as used copies. Evidently the movie publishers don’t want the millions of copies of DVD’s going out on sale as previously used DVDs, so they pay blockbuster to destroy them. Or they sell them to blockbuster for a cheaper price in the first place under the condition that they will destroy most of the copies. It was pretty cool to see a huge pile of shredded disks and covers… really quite aescthetic in a way.
Did any of the “destroyed” ones end up in employees’ personal collections?
Automobile VIN numbers are chock-full of information.
You’re right that a first digit of 9 means the produce is organic, but a first digit of 8 means that it’s genetically modified. It’s in the FAQ from the Produce Marketing Association, which is the group that assigns codes.
Two more tidbits: about 1300 codes have been assigned (I’d have thought there were more), and they all fall in the 3000 and 4000 range.
That’s right- I knew that. Stupid moment. Thanks for the clarification.
There’s a pretty cool site here that does a pretty nice job of deconstructing the VIN for you and telling you other stuff about your vehicle (like destination charge, MSRP, etc.) as well.
Kinda funny and timely with this thread–I was rooting around in my freezer today looking for something good to eat for lunch and came upon an old frozen entree that didn’t have a sell-by date on it. I know the company (Stouffer’s) has updated their packaging so I figured it had to be at least a couple of years old, and I didn’t want to eat it without knowing it was safe, so I called the customer service number on the box. The woman there had me read a series of code numbers on the side of the box, by which she divined that my frozen entree was manufactured in…February of 2001! Yikes! I know I tend to keep things awhile (this one was way in the back) but I had no idea I had 10-year-old frozen dinners hanging around!
At her recommendation, I tossed it and found something else for lunch.
Geez - my fridge isn’t as old as that frozen dinner!
It’s been ages since I worked retail, but even then in a Chicago clothing store, we marked up clothes 300% from wholesale when they first arrived. ($10 wholesale dress listed at $40 retail)
Wait for the first to be sold as new, cool and hip by those who didn’t have to scrimp pennies.
Then a few weeks later they could mark them 25% off, a few weeks after that 50% off and then even 75% off list price towards the end and still break even.
Usually, once we got to the last few at 75% off the list price, people were grabbing things, no matter if it fit or not.
Needless to say, even today when I see a sign in a clothing store window joyously offering 10% off, I don’t exactly get excited.
We had a stock room, but we had (IMO) a really odd mix of products back there. Not necessarily the stuff we sold a ton of, but rather seasonal crap that we did not sell a ton of, and large volume items that apparently we got once a year by the semi-load.
For example, I’d say 1/2 of the stock room was seasonal stuff that we couldn’t really keep on the shelves, and nor could we ship it back.
Another 1/4 was large ticket items like treadmills, weight sets, golf clubs, guns, etc… that I suppose the rationale was to keep them on hand, so that people would actually get them from us rather than ordering them.
The remaining 1/4 seemed to be items that were kind of bulky, but not expensive, so we’d have 1-2 out, and 5-6 in the back.
Most of our stuff showed up on the weekly truck, and we’d immediately stock it on the shelves. If you came in and wanted golf clubs, we’d get them from the back, but if you wanted fishhooks, what we had out was all we had.
I remember being trained on how to re-shrink wrap something in a software store. We could open a box, pirate a copy for demo purposes, and then re-wrap the software to sell it as new in the box.
runs amok with yataghan.
Or start walking out rather than pick out similar but more expensive item, whereupon a floor clerk for that department suddenly “finds” the item that you were after.
Back in Ye Olde Days the [price tag with secret letter code for inventory purchase cost] trick was pretty common.
Ref bump’s post #5 I wrote the inventory control application for one of Oshman’s bigger suppliers back in the mid 1970s. Yes, every Oshman’s price tag then had a letter code for inventory purchase price. Since price tags had all but disappeared from retail goods by 1985, you’d have to be pretty old to have seen them.
The only such code I still remember is the “Sav On” drug store chain. Thier code was “ondrugsave”, where o was 1 and e was 9. More useless 1970s trivia.
Ref Pundit Lisa’s post 6 about airline prices … I’m in the business. Ticket prices are simple. Take whatever the last guy paid and add or subtract a random number. Then change it a few times between when the customer sees it online and they hit [submit]. Then change it a few more times before the departure date. 
I work at a c-store, and we have a thick plastic binder called the “CODE DATE MANUAL.” It has rules for deciphering the codes on most of the items we sell.
Joe
When I worked at a drug store years ago we had a code on the price tags that said when the item was received at the store. A= January, B= February, and so on. The letter was then followed by a number, which was the last digit of the year the product came in.