Everyone's talking about: The death of the barcode

About time, they're the bane of my life!

Where's your sense of technostalgia?

My sense of what?

Technostalgia. That warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you see a picture of a floppy disk or a Tamagotchi.

I can assure you that I will never get fuzzy feelings over a barcode.

You will. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Industry experts say they'll be replaced by QR codes at all main supermarkets within five years. This is the beginning of the end.

Good! They don't work when folded, which means I always have to take the halloumi to the customer service desk…

Very trying for you.

…but the staff can't read the numbers underneath because the type is too small and…

Do you realise what the barcode represents?

Misery.

I mean literally.

Er, obviously a sort of linear representation of… I've no idea.

It's Morse code.

Really?

Really. Back in 1949, inventor Joe Woodland was trying to think of a way to scan groceries, so he drew Morse code dots and dashes in the sand on a Miami beach.

As you do.

Pondering the problem further, he pulled his fingers downwards from the symbols: thin lines appeared for the dots and thicker lines for the dashes. By 1973 retailers had agreed on an industry-wide barcode system.

The barcode: dead at 50. I've outlived it!

Sad, isn't it?

So, the future is QR-shaped?

It is, but there's growing unrest on X (formerly Twitter).

Which QR codes are getting up people's noses the most?

Many, including X user Alan Cleaver, are angry about the new-look postage stamps (for which they had to trade in old ones). These have codes attached to 'improve mail processing'.

ONE MAN GOT A TATTOO OF HIS TESCO CLUBCARD QR 

What's the gripe?

They appear to offer nothing to customers other than access to an animated video of some dancing sheep.

I'm sorry, what's the thinking behind that exactly?

Just what the tweets are asking. The Royal Mail website describes the clip (accessible only if you download their app) as an 'amusing short encounter'.

Is it amusing?

It's certainly short.

Maybe it would be quicker to have the post delivered by dancing sheep?

That's unlikely to be the marketing message that the Royal Mail is going for.

What else is upsetting people?

A tweet from millennial New York author Lane Moore last month, slamming restaurants for refusing to print their menus and insisting that diners use a QR code instead, has 3.6 million views and 130.8K likes.

What does Moore say?

'Restaurants: I am begging you… I don't wanna sit there and try to connect to wi-fi, try to get it to scan, try to get [it] to load, and sometimes I just wanna be off my phone. So just PRINT UR MENUS!!!!'

She makes a strong point. Does anyone like QR codes?

Dean does.

Who is Dean?

A Sussex scaffolder who got his Tesco Clubcard QR code tattooed on his arm last year. It works, by the way.

So, is this a trend?

TikTok videos for QR code tattoos have 7.2 million views.

Are there any sensible reasons for adopting these things?

They store far more information, work even if 30 per cent of the code is unreadable and can be about half the width of barcodes.

I won't be scanning my stamps, though. I'm still baffled as to how Royal Mail thought dancing sheep would ease the introduction of QR codes.

If the responses to Cleaver's tweet are anything to go by then you're not alone. People are asking tough questions.

Such as?

'Have we been fleeced?'