What do I need to do to get bar codes for my products? Is there some special software I can use or do I need to contact some type of authority in the matter? I’ve been selling my handmade wreaths and decorative accessories at a local gift shop for the past few years, and I have just been using stickers with the prices written on. While that store doesn’t require me to use bar code labels, I would like to sell my work in others that do. Are these really necessary and worth it? If they are, how much work/cost is involved in a system to generate them and make them work?
This question sent me right to the Internet for support. Although I am well aware of bar codes, who isn’t, they’re everywhere; I hadn’t a clue where they came from. Here’s what I now know about Universal Product Codes, UPC. They were first used to keep track of train cars in the 60s and then in the 70s began to show up on products in supermarkets, the first retailer to consistently use them to track the movement of huge amounts of product. Let’s look at how they work. Barcodes are assigned by the Uniform Code Council, UCC. Every product is given a code in which the first 6 digits are a manufacturer identification number; the next five digits are the item number.
A unique barcode must be purchased for each of your products. For instance you would need one number for a wreath with a red ribbon and another for the wreath with dried flowers, one for each size you make them in and so on. Each barcode costs $89. In addition you need a barcode printer; there are regulations about how they are printed and how big they must be.
So are you sure you want to do this? Do you make so many wreaths that you need help tracking them? Do you sell to enough large retailers with barcode scanners to justify the expense? And how do you feel about a handmade product having a tag that is so synonymous with big industry? Here’s how I feel, I don’t like the message it gives. As we work to strengthen the place for handmade in the marketplace I think it is important to keep our tagging consistent with the handmade message and barcodes are not part of the message I want to send.