3 Uses for Barcodes Besides for Tracking Inventory

With the recent advancements in technology and the huge price reductions in the cost of barcode printers and barcode scanners, business owners are embracing barcoding technology for accurate tracking of their inventory.

However, there are other uses for barcoding than just to keep track of your inventory. Here are just three other ways you can use barcoding in your business:

(1) Tracking Paperwork / Invoices - A high quality Point of Sale (POS) software will allow you to print a barcode at the top of each invoice, receipt, purchase order, credit note, or any other paperwork you print out on a regular basis. This way, if a client brings back an item or if you simply want to enter in an invoice number or purchase order, you can just scan the barcode on the page instead of having to manually type in the document number.

This improves accuracy and makes dealing with paperwork more manageable.

(2) Tracking Employees - Through the use of employee id cards with printed barcodes on them, you can track employees signing in/out for their shifts. Simply assign an employee barcode card to each employee and have them scan in/out of the system when they start and end their shifts. This once again improves tracking accuracy for payroll, and also improves your security as well.

(3) Tracking Customers - Similarly to tracking customers, you can assign customers a customer loyalty card with a printed barcode on it and each time the customer purchases something you can simply scan their card and track their purchases. This is much more convenient and secure than having the customer tell you their phone number or name as a way of tracking them. Most customers don't like saying their phone number out loud with a lineup of people standing behind them listening but won't hesitate to hand you a card with their barcoded customer number imprinted on it.

These are just three ways in which you can use barcode printers and barcode scanners to improve your business.