Does everyone working in your retail newsagency know how to scan barcodes?
I urge newsagents to check in with everyone working in their businesses, to see how they scan. Inaccurate scanning can result in register over rings, under rings, inaccurate inventory data … and more problems than these.
Please don’t dismiss this advice as professional scanning reflects the professionalism of your business.
I was talking with a newsagent last week about a theft problem that was not discovered as early as it could have been because of the lazy approaching the business to scanning. I know of another where customer throughput at the counter is regularly impacted by poor scanning techniques.
So, take a moment to check that your employees scan professionally:
- Be aware of where barcodes are located on products.
- Do not put price labels over barcode.
- Pass a barcode across the scanner once.
- Pass from one side to the other, always following the same path.
- Only hold one product when you are scanning.
- Rapid movement back and forth does not assist scanning.
- Rubbing a barcode on a scanner does not assist scanning.
- Hitting a scanner with a product, barcode facing toward it, will not assist accurate scanning.
- Scanners should only be cleaned with screen cleaning cloths, using an abrasive cleaner will not help the scanner.
- Place the scanner on the side of the register than the majority of employees prefer – knowing left handed employees will have a different preference to right handed.
While this topic may seem to be of minor interest, there are plenty of retail businesses I have seen where following the simple steps above will improve accuracy, shopper throughput and data integrity.