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"Now, I'll be the first to admit that a website about salt is not the most riveting thing in the world. But that's exactly the point! The costs associated with

"Now, I'll be the first to admit that a website about salt is not the most riveting thing in the world. But that's exactly the point! The costs associated with setting this up are close to zero." Just because we can doesn't mean we should. Why put a QR code on the salt packet if it serves no purpose. What is the cost associated in the number of people who wasted their time scanning that code? I totally agree QR codes are great in that they are cheap to deploy, but I've seen very few uses in the real world for consumers that are actually useful. Only one I can really think of using myself and which was useful is the Google Authenticator app and the BlockChain.info equiv.

nwh 14y ago
Based on the salt comment, I went through my cupboard and scanned several products. Here's the results: • The Red Bull can leads to a full page advertisement for Red Bull Mobile, which is more than useless. • A generic oak lettuce leads to a recipe page containing, you guessed it, salad suggestions. • A cleaning spray lead to the companies Facebook page, with a very large image asking me to like their page. • A bottle of reasonably pricy champagne lead to a page full of gleaming reviews, and a copy of the information that was on the label anyway. • A well known bleach product (scanned weeks back) also contained a link to their Facebook page. It's hardly enough of a reason for me to scan these in the future.
- sageikosa 14y ago
  I was just peeling a banana this morning that had a QR code on its sticker. I suspected it would be a page about bananas, but unless it told me this banana I was about to eat had been recalled, I really couldn't care less.
- visualcsharp 14y ago
  You are correct. It's simply another advertising portal. I completely ignore QR codes for the reasons you mentioned. I think of them as hyperlinks in another form that must be "clicked" with an app.
ctdonath 14y ago
Seems some technology inspires development thereof, but few are interested in using it. Fun to create, boring to use. I've an itch to put a QR code on my business card. Having no illusions that anyone will in fact care enough to scan it or be wowed by the results if they do, I've refrained. Momentum strikes me as a big issue. Not just the effort which goes into using it (dig out phone, fire up app, position camera, read results), but the average payoff in doing so (as adjacent post notes, QR codes give a consistent "so what? WTF did I waste my time for?" experience).

nwh 14y ago

Based on the salt comment, I went through my cupboard and scanned several products. Here's the results: • The Red Bull can leads to a full page advertisement for Red Bull Mobile, which is more than useless. • A generic oak lettuce leads to a recipe page containing, you guessed it, salad suggestions. • A cleaning spray lead to the companies Facebook page, with a very large image asking me to like their page. • A bottle of reasonably pricy champagne lead to a page full of gleaming reviews, and a copy of the information that was on the label anyway. • A well known bleach product (scanned weeks back) also contained a link to their Facebook page. It's hardly enough of a reason for me to scan these in the future.

sageikosa 14y ago
I was just peeling a banana this morning that had a QR code on its sticker. I suspected it would be a page about bananas, but unless it told me this banana I was about to eat had been recalled, I really couldn't care less.
visualcsharp 14y ago
You are correct. It's simply another advertising portal. I completely ignore QR codes for the reasons you mentioned. I think of them as hyperlinks in another form that must be "clicked" with an app.

ctdonath 14y ago

Seems some technology inspires development thereof, but few are interested in using it. Fun to create, boring to use. I've an itch to put a QR code on my business card. Having no illusions that anyone will in fact care enough to scan it or be wowed by the results if they do, I've refrained. Momentum strikes me as a big issue. Not just the effort which goes into using it (dig out phone, fire up app, position camera, read results), but the average payoff in doing so (as adjacent post notes, QR codes give a consistent "so what? WTF did I waste my time for?" experience).