5 ms·

I think we should place a QR on every product label, and scanning that QR takes me to data about the product such as its historical mass/volume, cost, and unit

I think we should place a QR on every product label, and scanning that QR takes me to data about the product such as its historical mass/volume, cost, and unit price, as well as its brand owner right on up the chain. I see you, Nestle. Of course, giving customers information to make an informed decision is Bad For Business.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
robertlagrant 3y ago
Mostly bad for business because of the massive data and engineering effort required.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  If businesses weren't so intent on lying to customers, I'd feel some empathy for them. But I don't. Liars deserve to suffer.
- scarmig 3y ago
  A job guarantee for software engineers.
  - thefurdrake 3y ago
    Really terrible ones, if they think that using data already tracked by the store's internal systems (you know, the database attached to the POS, the one that stores all the pricing data and names, the one you could conceivably track changes in, that database, the one with the pre-labeled data available for one to parse) is something that would genuinely adversely affect business on engineering cost and complexity.
    - robertlagrant 3y ago
      It might be worth thinking for a second about this. You have to link subjectively, not objectively. How do you know a smaller product at the same price should be linked, or not? You don't. Someone has to do that, and over time (should the 4th iteration still be linked through from the 1st, or only from the 3rd, because they're sufficiently different?)
ptspts 3y ago
To combat this, manufacturers can just rename the product.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  Cool, as a customer I'd stop purchasing products that had short records.
- no_time 3y ago
  They are putting billions into ads just so they can stay recognizable. I can't imagine pepsico or mcds renaming a single product, ever.
makeitdouble 3y ago
Coming up with unique identifiers for every single specific recognizable product would be an incredible feat, that would have huge impacts beyond this. Now I'd totally expect a brand to just renew identifiers at random and break any tracking that doesn't help them.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  Cool, as a customer I'd stop purchasing products that had short records.
- gambiting 3y ago
  >>Coming up with unique identifiers for every single specific recognizable product would be an incredible feat You mean like....barcodes that are on pretty much every item ever?
  - makeitdouble 3y ago
    Might be surprising but those are not inherently unique to a product, the maker does whatever they want (if Chupa Chups decide to only ever use 100 barcodes and recycle them across products in time, they can). And they're also not completely unique internationally but I don't remember if there are any namespaces in the first place [edit: EANs are namespaced internationally, but nothing stops a maker from putting random codes if they're not going through standard distribution.]
delecti 3y ago
Like a barcode? Effectively every product in grocery stores has a UPC on it already. So you wouldn't need store buy-in, because the challenge here isn't the QR code, it's the place where all that data is maintained. An app could scan the barcode, or you could manually enter the UPC into a website. If you think this is worthwhile, you could build this.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  Barcodes aren't unique.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
https://www.unileverusa.com/brands/smartlabel/ https://www.unileverusa.com/brands/smartlabel/ (I am sure that, since this is controlled by manufacturers, they will use this to remove as much information as possible from the actual product labels.)
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  Spitballing here, but I'm pretty sure stores maintain a local database of their product prices in order to attach them to POSes. My knowledge may be outdated with the advent of things like Square, though... But it seems to me that, given the fact the stores in the article were the ones supporting the move, that this would be a viable way to track and display price changes over time independent of information manufacturers control. It wouldn't do to pull data from a hostile source.
nebula8804 3y ago
In this day and age the best you can do is to fight back against business but indirectly benefit some other. In this case an AR app that you wear on say Apple Goggles could benefit from its advanced cameras to ID all this stuff in real time as you walk through the store. Sure it might be weird walking around with those goggles but that will probably become the norm soon. The real winner is Apple though(as they usually tend to be)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

robertlagrant 3y ago

Mostly bad for business because of the massive data and engineering effort required.

thefurdrake 3y ago
If businesses weren't so intent on lying to customers, I'd feel some empathy for them. But I don't. Liars deserve to suffer.
scarmig 3y ago
A job guarantee for software engineers.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  Really terrible ones, if they think that using data already tracked by the store's internal systems (you know, the database attached to the POS, the one that stores all the pricing data and names, the one you could conceivably track changes in, that database, the one with the pre-labeled data available for one to parse) is something that would genuinely adversely affect business on engineering cost and complexity.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    It might be worth thinking for a second about this. You have to link subjectively, not objectively. How do you know a smaller product at the same price should be linked, or not? You don't. Someone has to do that, and over time (should the 4th iteration still be linked through from the 1st, or only from the 3rd, because they're sufficiently different?)

ptspts 3y ago

To combat this, manufacturers can just rename the product.

thefurdrake 3y ago
Cool, as a customer I'd stop purchasing products that had short records.
no_time 3y ago
They are putting billions into ads just so they can stay recognizable. I can't imagine pepsico or mcds renaming a single product, ever.

makeitdouble 3y ago

Coming up with unique identifiers for every single specific recognizable product would be an incredible feat, that would have huge impacts beyond this. Now I'd totally expect a brand to just renew identifiers at random and break any tracking that doesn't help them.

thefurdrake 3y ago
Cool, as a customer I'd stop purchasing products that had short records.
gambiting 3y ago
>>Coming up with unique identifiers for every single specific recognizable product would be an incredible feat You mean like....barcodes that are on pretty much every item ever?
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  Might be surprising but those are not inherently unique to a product, the maker does whatever they want (if Chupa Chups decide to only ever use 100 barcodes and recycle them across products in time, they can). And they're also not completely unique internationally but I don't remember if there are any namespaces in the first place [edit: EANs are namespaced internationally, but nothing stops a maker from putting random codes if they're not going through standard distribution.]

delecti 3y ago

Like a barcode? Effectively every product in grocery stores has a UPC on it already. So you wouldn't need store buy-in, because the challenge here isn't the QR code, it's the place where all that data is maintained. An app could scan the barcode, or you could manually enter the UPC into a website. If you think this is worthwhile, you could build this.

thefurdrake 3y ago
Barcodes aren't unique.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

https://www.unileverusa.com/brands/smartlabel/ https://www.unileverusa.com/brands/smartlabel/ (I am sure that, since this is controlled by manufacturers, they will use this to remove as much information as possible from the actual product labels.)

thefurdrake 3y ago
Spitballing here, but I'm pretty sure stores maintain a local database of their product prices in order to attach them to POSes. My knowledge may be outdated with the advent of things like Square, though... But it seems to me that, given the fact the stores in the article were the ones supporting the move, that this would be a viable way to track and display price changes over time independent of information manufacturers control. It wouldn't do to pull data from a hostile source.

nebula8804 3y ago

In this day and age the best you can do is to fight back against business but indirectly benefit some other. In this case an AR app that you wear on say Apple Goggles could benefit from its advanced cameras to ID all this stuff in real time as you walk through the store. Sure it might be weird walking around with those goggles but that will probably become the norm soon. The real winner is Apple though(as they usually tend to be)