A barcode is a series of wide and narrow bars that can be scanned. There are many different types of barcodes you can put on your plastic cards; the most common one seen is the Universal Product Code or UPC code that you see on items that you purchase at stores. You can scan the barcode with your barcode scanner and it will then bring up the information that is stored in your system from the barcode. A number can also be printed that is associated with the barcode as a human readable number on your plastic cards. So if your barcode did not scan you can also manually type in the barcode number in which it would bring up the same information that is stored. The type of barcode you will need will be dependent on the type of system you have. This information would be found through your product provider. There are many different types of barcodes that are used today so all we would need to know is the type of barcode you will need and the number sequence that you would like to use on your plastic cards.

Membership cards are a staple of many businesses these days – with plastic cards of all colors and varieties filling the wallets and pocketbooks of America. For many consumers, keeping a membership card can be a hassle – it’s just one more thing to carry around, and there’s not much value attached to it.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have your business’ membership cards become something that your customers love to carry around and bring to your cash register again and again? You can – all you have to do is get a little creative when it comes time to get your plastic membership card printing done. Here are a few tips to help you along.

• Spice up your membership cards by making it a special offer card, with a different discount or bonus for every day of the week. Little perks like “5% Off Fridays” or “Double Coupon Weekends” can encourage shoppers to come by your store over and over during the week. Place your deepest discounts on the days where you do the least business and you can get business flowing on what otherwise would be a dry day.
• Use your plastic membership cards as a way to trigger customer visits via a loss leader. For example, if you are a gas station, consider printing an offer on your membership card like “Present this card to get a free 2 liter soda with every purchase of 8 or more gallons of gas.” If you are a grocery store, offer a free magazine of the customer’s choice every visit. Since customers who come in for something “free” tend to make significant impulse purchases at the same time, giving away a low-value item can reap a bevy of increased sales.
• Take advantage of thermal printing technology and create a barcoded plastic card that is tied to your customer’s member account. Have it scanned each time that they make a purchase and store their customer data for marketing purposes. As your customer database grows, you can get a feel for what kind of products sell best, as well as what kinds of products tend to be bought at the same time. You can use that data to craft special offers for combinations of products, tempting your customers to come in for an irresistible deal (and naturally, buy plenty of other items while they’re around).

Membership cards don’t have to be boring or inconvenient – it isn’t too difficult to come up with unique and effective ways of turning them into marketing tools that call out to your customers every time they reach into their pockets.
All it takes is a little creativity, some knowledge of your customers’ needs, and access to plastic card supplier to create a sales tool that transforms an occasional customer into a steady source of revenue. Add a dash of marketing know-how to your plastic membership cards and see how much it can improve your sales year-round.

Being a BARCODE member has many benefits. Not only does the programme help trainees develop knowledge of good bartending and serving practice, giving them confidence in their work, but it also provides an official qualification recognised by employers. The BARCODE training scheme offers a clear path for progression within the industry and a chance to be part of the BARCODE community.

To the Cardholder:
The chance to gain relevant, practical skills in alcohol retailing and an understanding of the industry you work in and the products you serve.

Gaining a foundation from which to develop your knowledge and skills and take on further learning.

Having new opportunities to progress and succeed in your chosen area, with a clearly defined career path that is available to all.

Having your hard work, commitment, learning and creativity rewarded with an official qualification recognised by employers across the alcohol retail sector.

Becoming a member of the barcode community and being part of a nationwide industry initiative.

To Operators:
Having access to a training programme for your staff, which is accredited and cost covered by Barcode.

Having a more knowledgeable, skilled workforce

Benefiting from safer working environments for everyone

Ensuring all staff are aware if their responsibilities selling alcohol and understanding legislation and licensing.

There are four levels of Barcode qualifications, and every member is given a unique membership card to show their level of competency. In Red, Silver, Gold and Black, these denote skill level and act as a pocket-sized portfolio and CV.

Scroll over each card to learn more about each Barcode card level. The cardholder can update details of work experience, employment history, references and qualifications, as well as other personal information cardholders can then invite potential employers to view their portfolio.

As an operator, keeping training and qualification records of employees ensures that you are adhering to your licensing objectives as set out in the 2003 Licensing Act.

A bar code is a pattern of dark bars and white spaces of varying widths that represent numbers, letters or punctuation symbols.
The encodation scheme defining the data represented by the bars and spaces is called a symbology, there are many symbologies available.
Bar code labels are read with a scanner, which measures reflected light and translates the code into numbers and letters that are then passed on to a computer.

• Fast data collection. A bar code scanner typically can record data five to seven times as fast as a skilled typist. (Just think of the speed improvement over the hunt and peck method.)
• 10,000 times better accuracy. Keyboard data entry creates an average of one error in 300 keystrokes. Bar code data entry has an error rate of about 1 in 3 million.
• Reduced labor cost. Skilled workers don't have to spend time manually entering long item numbers.
• Reduced Revenue Losses from Data Entry Errors. This benefit often surpasses the savings in labor costs. Bar codes help prevent incorrect part numbers from being entered on to invoices and sale receipts.
• More Accurate Inventory Levels. Using bar codes is one of the best ways to reduce inventory levels and save on capital costs. Keeping a tight handle on inventory can save significant amounts of money.
• Better Decision Making. A bar code system can easily gather information that would be difficult or impossible to gather in other ways. This allows managers to make fully informed decisions.

Faster Access to Information. This benefit goes hand in hand with better decision making. With better information, you can gain opportunities and get the jump on competition

There are two ways to create a bar code.
The first, and preferred, method is using label design software. There are many different software packages available to suit different needs. Software allows control over the barcode and human readable. In most cases label design software also allows easy integration of incrementing numbers, linked fields, graphics and databases.
The second option is to use a barcode font. This works like any other True Type font on your pc and can be used with any program that allows TT Fonts. The disadvantage is that the font allows no control over bar code height and the human readable information which usually appears below.

A symbology is equivalent to a language. Each symbology has its strengths and weaknesses. Some symbologies have restrictions on the type and/or amount of data they can encode into a bar code.
The following is a list of some of the most common symbologies:
• UPC-A
UPC (Universal Product Code) is the standard code for items for sale to the public. This is the code that is seen on items in the supermarket. UPC-A encodes 12 numeric digits, the twelfth being a check digit.
• UPC-E
Also known as the "zero suppression version UPC", the UPC-E is used in the retail industry for smaller packages where the UPC-A would not fit. The data must contain 7 numeric digits with the software calculating the 8th, which is a check digit.
• EAN 8
Used in the international retail industry. The data must contain 7 numeric digits. The software will determine the 8th digit.
• EAN 13
Also used in the international retail industry. The data must contain 12 numeric digits. The program will calculate the 13th digit, which is a check digit.
• Code 39
This code is also the most popular symbology in the non-retail world and is used extensively in manufacturing, distribution, military, and health applications. It can be read by almost any bar code reader. Alpha-numeric.
• Code 128
Used by many industries for inventory control. Data is of variable length and can be alpha-numeric. Code 128 is more condensed than Code 39, and therefore preferred when longer information needs to be coded.
• UCC/EAN 128 / Multi
This is a specialized application of the Code 128 symbology which requires data to be numeric only. The exact specifications of what each piece of the data means varies between industries. The Multi option requires more exacting input; but as a result allows data entry functions to be automated.
• Interleaved 2 Of 5
Used in many types of industry, the data can be of any length but must contain an even number of characters, otherwise the printer will add a leading zero. It accepts only numeric values.

Codabar
Used primarily in the library and medical industries, this symbology allows data of variable length and can contain both numbers and characters.

Having training records of your employees easily accessible and filed on line.

A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card. The magnetic stripe, sometimes called a magstripe, is read by physical contact and swiping past a reading head.
A number of International Organization for Standardization standards, ISO/IEC 7810, ISO/IEC 7811, ISO/IEC 7812, ISO/IEC 7813, ISO 8583, and ISO/IEC 4909, define the physical properties of the card, including size, flexibility, location of the magstripe, magnetic characteristics, and data formats. They also provide the standards for financial cards, including the allocation of card number ranges to different card issuing institutions.

Magstripes come in two main varieties: high-coercivity (HiCo) at 4000 Oe and low-coercivity (LoCo) at 300 Oe but it is not infrequent to have intermediate values at 2750 Oe. High-coercivity magstripes are harder to erase, and therefore are appropriate for cards that are frequently used or that need to have a long life. Low-coercivity magstripes require a lower amount of magnetic energy to record, and hence the card writers are much cheaper than machines which are capable of recording high-coercivity magstripes. A card reader can read either type of magstripe, and a high-coercivity card writer may write both high and low-coercivity cards (most have two settings, but writing a LoCo card in HiCo may sometimes work), while a low-coercivity card writer may write only low-coercivity cards.
In practical terms, usually low coercivity magnetic stripes are a light brown color, and high coercivity stripes are nearly black; exceptions include a proprietary silver-colored formulation on transparent American Express cards. High coercivity stripes are resistant to damage from most magnets likely to be owned by consumers. Low coercivity stripes are easily damaged by even a brief contact with a magnetic purse strap or fastener. Because of this, virtually all bank cards today are encoded on high coercivity stripes despite a slightly higher per-unit cost.
Magnetic stripe cards are used in very high volumes in the mass transit sector, replacing paper based tickets with either a directly applied magnetic slurry or hot foil stripe. Slurry applied stripes are generally less expensive to produce and are less resilient but are suitable for cards meant to be disposed after a few uses.

A gift card is a restricted monetary equivalent or scrip that is issued by retailers or banks to be used as an alternative to a non-monetary gift. Highly popular, they rank as the second-most given gift by consumers in the United States (2006) and the most-wanted gift by women, and the third-most wanted by males.[1] Gift cards have become increasingly popular as they relieve the donor of selecting a specific gift.[2] In Canada, $1.8 billion were spent on gift cards and in the UK, it is estimated to reach 3 billion (GBP) for 2009 whereas in the United States, about $80 billion were paid for gift cards in 2006. The recipient of the gift card can use it at his or her discretion within the restrictions set by the issuing agency.

All of our plastic luggage tag are produced with a hole to accommodate every type of key ring attachment. Each plastic key tag is printed with high-resolution images from your provided custom artwork. Each tag has a protective over laminate to ensure that the printed image and bar code does not scratch or rub off. Your brand and image is protected.

A high-quality thermal barcode with human readable number below it can be pre-printed for 100% readability.

Designed as a convenient replacement for traditional plastic cards, plastic key tags offer the following benefits.

* Every day the key tag holder is reminded of the valued services you provide
* Key tags fit easily on key chains
* Tags snap apart easily with clean edges
* Multi-color offset printing
* Fast delivery
* Gloss or matte finishes
* High-resolution ink-jet or thermal printed bar codes or variable data