Welcome to Day 2 of the Learn How to Coupon Series! This is a monthly series to help you along your journey of learning to use coupons.
Yesterday we talked about the Anatomy of a Coupon, and that post can be read HERE.
As a couponer, you may or may not know that barcodes are all in the middle of a major upgrade and change in the old way that they look. There are many reasons for this change including allowing the manufacturer more options when it comes to what the coupons are for, and also to prevent fraudulence.
Here’s an example of what the current or standard UPC code looks like:
Each set of numbers in the bar code represents a different function.
The first number is usually a 5 or 9. This is a classic way to let you know that this is a “manufacturer’s coupon”. If the first number is any other number than a 5 or 9, then you probably have yourself a “store” coupon. (We will discuss store coupons later in this series).
The next set is a specific “Manufacturer” code that helps identify that company.
The last few numbers are the “Family” and “Value Codes”. This tells you what the value of the coupon is, and other information about the product you are buying.
Before I go any further, I wanted to touch on an important note about “barcode deciphering”. Some people have used the information of the numbering system on barcodes against what the manufacturer intended it to be used for. This means that people have learned the “number code” for certain manufacturers and see if they can take a higher value coupon and use it on something completely different.
This is fraud and is not what the manufacturer intended. While I do not think it’s necessary to know every piece of code and what it means, I do think it’s important to know when you have a “Manufacturer’s coupon” and a “Store coupon”. It’s also important to notice what they look like so that you can see them as they change into the new codes.
GS1 Databar
The reason I wanted to bring this up in learning more about barcodes is because the entire look of this classic coupon barcode is changing as we speak. Starting July 1,2011 standard UPC barcodes, began being transferred to what’s known now as the “GS1 Databar”.
So why even show you the old barcode? During this transition, you may accumulate coupons that have the standard barcode,then you might have some with what’s called a “transition interim barcode” and then the new GS1 Databar. So knowing all about these different types will help you in identifying why the coupons are changing. It will also help you to know that the barcodes are changing incase you have problems with them scanning at the stores.
In the above picture you can see the interim code. This is what you may see on a lot of coupon barcodes while that manufacturer transitions. It just shows both the old UPC and the new GS1 Databar together on one coupon to test the new code and still have the old one to help prevent any problems while stores update their systems. Then the bottom picture shows what coupon codes are switching over to (GS1 Databar).
Why are they using this new system?
The new system comes with many benefits for manufacturers AND consumers.
-Coupon values can now be up to $999.99, whereas the old system only aloud for 100 different types of price combinations.
-The new barcode is now presented in a format that is no longer “human readable”. This will greatly reduce what we talked about earlier (barcode deciphering).
-It also prevents fraud because they can now specify more what product the coupon is intended for.
What does this mean for you as a Couponer?
Well even though we won’t be able to tell if the coupon has a “5” or “9” on it to determine if it’s a manufacturer coupon, it also means that we really won’t have as many problems to worry about anymore. Coupon fraud will also be way less-likely!
We will just have to go solely by the wording on the coupon (which is how we should use coupons anyways!).
During this transition, some of the stores may see problems with these new coupons beeping or not being accepted. So this is why it’s important to know about this new code, so that if you need to, you can explain this to a store or cashier!
As all of the stores continue to update their systems, you should see less problems!
So to sum up, the older “human readable” barcodes that were limited in the values and codes they could use, are now being slowly changed over to what’s called the GS1 Databar. This new code will cut down on fraudulence and allow the stores to have more control when it comes to identifying what products the coupon is intended for.
I know this is a lot of info about plain, old barcodes 
But this is a major change that affects couponers and is important to know. It can be very confusing to a new couponer or even to a veteran couponer who has learned how to identify the old barcodes. But knowing all of this will help you feel more confident in the store and with seeing the change as it happens.
I hope that you all feel more confident in what a coupon is and how the system is changing for the better!
Stay tuned for Day 3!
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