# What is the state of QR codes in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446 "2013-09-22T15:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/21 "2013-09-22T19:54:16Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > Are micro transactions and grocery delivery, as seen in other countries not viable for the US? I frequent a few cafes that use QR-based payment systems like LevelUp. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/22 "2013-09-23T00:26:27Z")
Well they were never intended for consumer or point-of-sale usage, that is just an opportunistic side use. They were designed for use in manufacturing, where they are huge in Japan and growing in the US. Their main competition is RFID tags, which contain more data and are re-writable, but of course cost a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/23 "2013-09-23T03:40:50Z")
You’d get a lot more people saying they’re useful if you asked in a place where the average age didn’t skew “Geritol Generation”. I see them all the time on concert posters and such aimed at the local college crowd. If you live in your smartphone, taking a picture of one and getting a concert date that’s easier to plug into your calendar is a lot more attractive. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/24 "2013-09-23T05:49:06Z")
I think they’re the equivalent of decoder rings - the main appeal is, “heh heh, secret info nobody else can read!” ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/25 "2013-09-23T10:38:27Z")
I keep seeing them in places that make no sense, like on a sign on a pole posted by the side of a 40 mph highway, or notably, on the bumpy door panel of a (small, local) company-owned car. I suppose those are great if you’re the one car stopped in traffic close enough for a passenger to get a phone out to read the code, or if the company car is spotted in a parking lot, but that’s a lot of ifs on top of ifs. Same with real estate signs, great if you stop, get out and walk up, not so useful if you’re driving past. Someone’s gonna do something really nifty with them eventually, but it hasn’t come to pass yet. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/26 "2013-09-23T11:06:21Z")
Someone said somewhere that they’re really popular marketing tools…among marketers. No one else gives a crap. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/27 "2013-09-23T11:36:03Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I had a client who asked me to create one for an email she was sending out, and I had a hard time convincing her that putting a QR code in an email was a pretty dumb idea. So, they have some “buzz,” but people don’t know what to do with them. A co-worker had one in his email signature. Once decoded it said something like “Don’t you feel stupid pointing your phone at your computer?” ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/28 "2013-09-23T12:41:20Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > **You seriously couldn’t have looked it up?** > > [QR code - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code) > > You’ve definitely seen them. > > They are all over the place in advertising. I’m in the automotive industry where these have been used for a while but we always called the 2D barcodes, not QR codes. So I didn’t have a clue what the OP was talking about either. There was no need to add the snark (bolding mine) to your otherwise fine response. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/29 "2013-09-23T12:42:08Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Someone’s gonna do something really nifty with them eventually, but it hasn’t come to pass yet. I think that’s the problem is that the iPhone and the rest don’t automatically support QR codes, an additional app needs to be added. If the native camera app automatically recognized QR codes, I think their usage would go up. For now, I can’t be arsed to find the QR code app to scan it and then hope it works the first time. Probably by the time that it would pick up QR codes, it could be programmed to just find links and have pictures with hotlinks in them. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/30 "2013-09-23T12:49:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > You’d get a lot more people saying they’re useful if you asked in a place where the average age didn’t skew “Geritol Generation”. OTOH, if you do old fogy stuff like take a [walking tour of Historic New Braunfels](http://nbfootprintsintime.com/desktop/index.php), there are QR codes chasing you down the (very quaint) streets. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/31 "2013-09-23T13:39:15Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I’m in the automotive industry where these have been used for a while but we always called the 2D barcodes, not QR codes. So I didn’t have a clue what the OP was talking about either. There was no need to add the snark (bolding mine) to your otherwise fine response. I work in manufacturing as well and we use 2D bar codes too but not QR Codes. QR Codes are a subset of 2D bar codes. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/32 "2013-09-23T14:27:37Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > You need to spend more time on the floor of a retail establishment (or define, more clearly, what “tiny percentage” and “almost no one” means. I will make no claim that they are widely used (yet), but I see customers reading them once or twice a week, and I hardly see all the customers coming through my store (since I work in the back room)… I work retail. I see the codes plenty, but I haven’t seen anybody scan them in the past year or two at least. Customers are more likely to use a barcode scanner app to try to find better prices for items. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/33 "2013-09-23T16:05:46Z")
I asked my kid in high school if he ever scans them, he said yes for promotions and for “some websites” (not sure what this means, didn’t get into the details). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/34 "2013-09-23T17:15:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The house name here is “Martian fingerprints.” :). . . . Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/35 "2013-09-23T17:28:33Z")
I have heard that they’re a good way for scammers to get into your phone. I have no idea if this is true, but if others have heard it, it would discourage scanning these things. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/36 "2013-09-23T18:45:51Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I have heard that they’re a good way for scammers to get into your phone. I have no idea if this is true, but if others have heard it, it would discourage scanning these things. Right. If I were looking to add a whole bunch of 4G smartphones to my botnet, I would print up 2D barcode stickers and start covering the ones on subway posters with my own that would take them to my site, infect them, then deliver them to the original site. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/37 "2013-09-23T21:32:52Z")
I was in Austin, TX, a couple of months ago, and they have an application there that I thought was brilliant. Every bus stop sign has a QR code that you can scan to find out when the next three buses are due to arrive. I wish that they had that system where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/38 "2013-09-25T16:21:36Z")
My personal take: I use them just to while away time, when I’m waiting for a train at the subway platform - taking out your smartphone and scanning the QR code will kill some time. But for serious usage ? I guess most people who see an ad that’s of interest to them will simpley memorise the name of the company and google it later, irrespective of whether there’s a QR code provided or not. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/39 "2013-09-25T16:32:19Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > So I didn’t have a clue what the OP was talking about either. There was no need to add the snark (bolding mine) to your otherwise fine response. Pop quiz: which of these processes is faster and more convenient for everyone? This? 1. Hit \*\*Reply \*\*in SDMB 2. Compose post: “Er… what’s a QR code?” 3. Hit **Submit** 4. Wait for someone else to come along and answer your question or provide a link. Or this? 1. Type “QR code” into your search bar 2. Hit **Enter** 3. Click Wikipedia link This isn’t the biggest deal in the world, but i must admit to some amazement that people still refuse to look something up for themselves, even when doing so is twice as easy and a hundred times as fast as asking on here. This message board is great, but so is Google, and they each serve different purposes. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446/40 "2013-09-25T16:41:20Z")
Based on consumer survey, but here’s a 2012 [Pitney Bowes report on usage](http://s3.amazonaws.com/pb-web/pdf/smb/pitney-bowes-2012-qr-codes-use-us-europe-report.pdf). This report suggests usage is actually higher in the U.S. than in Europe. Personally, I find the result way higher than I’d have thought but if I were simply answering “have you captured a QR Code” I’d have to say “yes” even though it was such a pain-in-the-ass experience (it was a way of accessing more exhibit information at a zoo) I’ve actively avoided doing it again. Here’s an article going over Comscore European statistics, also showing higher usage than I’d have thought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-state-of-qr-codes-in-the-us/669446.md?page=3)