Bar Codes Case Essay

1. (a). A bar code is a series of lines which differ in thickness and space in between each other which contain data to provide certain information on the product such as the Manufacturer, Product Description, and the Size. The purpose of the bar code is to simplify the amount of data which the staff needs to know and recognise by memory as all of the data is stored of the company computer. (b). Information that is contained in the bar code contains are the unique ID number which is the code number. (c). Information that is not contained in the bar code would be, in most cases, the price as all different shops which stock the product might need to charge different amounts. Also would be the manufacturers name, the product description, and the size and in some cases also the price as these would all be entered into the shops computer by someone. 2. (a). The barcode is entered into the computer/register by the scanner shooting a beam of light which will interpret the barcode. Once this has been recognised as a valid product the information relating to that barcode will be received from the main computer and the relative information will be displayed/. (b). If the barcode cannot be scanned then the person at the till would enter the barcode in manually with the set of numbers which are linked with the barcode into the computer to mark the item as paid. (c). Fresh fruit, vegetables and items from the delicatessen counter are dealt by either the customer weighing and putting a unique barcode on the bag themselves or by the person at the till weighing them and then manually entering the amount to pay into the register to add onto the final bill. (d). The chip and pin process is used by a person inserting their card and putting in their pin code instead of signing the bill using their signature. When they have put in their pin code and pressed enter the computer will verify that the code that the person has entered is the same as the card code and if it is the transaction would of succeeded but it they got it wrong they will either have to do their signature or they will have to prove that their card is theirs or they could be charged with fraud. (e). After the payment has been made the supermarket computer will add all of the items bought to their reordering list so that the bulk order is read to put in once they have reached their minimum stock level. (f). Incentives that regular customers could have would be the method of a club card or loyalty/reward card which can be used to either get money off the final payment or using points towards an item for money off. They could also give out school vouchers to get either computer or PE equipment. 4. (a). Advantages to the customer of using the computers in the supermarket is that there will be less chance of any errors, and also there will be more information about the item and a faster service. (b). Disadvantages to the customer of using computers is that the computer may not be working due to technical problems and may give the wrong information or it may not be working at all. 5. The list that would be given to a student for his after school job would be on a handheld device so that he would walk round and find out what needs to be re-stocked. This would be loaded from the main computer list of what is /is not on the shelves. 6. (a). The manager can find out what stock needs to be re-ordered by checking what has been bought since the last time he checked and what ever has been bought then it would need to be re-ordered. (b). The human would check the re-order list before the order is placed to make sure that all of the items have been entered correctly and that no items had been left off the list. He also needs to verify the stock levels. 7. Stock on the shelves and in the warehouse might not match the stock file on the computer if stock had somehow been made unusable such as being damaged or if the product has expired or if the item has been stolen. 8. (a). Advantages to the supermarkets of using computers are that they will not lose any money by making human calculated errors, (b). disadvantages to the supermarket of using computers is that the supermarket will be totally dependant on the machines and also training would be needed.