Walk into nearly any retail store today, from a tiny corner bodega to a sprawling big box retailer, and you‘ll encounter a familiar sight at the checkout counter – the barcode scanner. A quick beep and a flash of red light, and your groceries, clothes, electronics, and more are instantly accounted for. Barcodes have been the standard for retail transactions and inventory management for decades now. In fact, they‘re so ubiquitous that it‘s genuinely surprising when a store doesn‘t use them.
One notable barcode holdout is Hobby Lobby, the popular arts and crafts chain. If you‘ve ever made a purchase there, you likely noticed the lack of scanning and longer than normal wait to check out. So why does Hobby Lobby stick to this increasingly antiquated way of ringing up sales? Let‘s investigate the rationale behind the retailer‘s barcode barricade, the impact it has on the shopping experience, and whether it‘s a sustainable policy in the Amazon age.
The Massive Adoption of Barcode Technology
First, it‘s important to put into perspective just how firmly barcodes have become standard operating procedure in the retail world. The barcode as we know it today, the Universal Product Code (UPC), was first introduced in 1974. By the early 1980s, over 90% of grocery stores had adopted barcode scanning at the register. Today, that number is a scarcely believable 100%. Yes, every single grocery store in the U.S. rings up your food using those ubiquitous black lines and numbers.
Barcodes have become equally essential across every other retail sector as well. From big box stores to apparel boutiques, auto parts suppliers to home improvement chains, it‘s nearly impossible to find a register without a barcode scanner. A recent survey by Wasp Barcode Technologies found that over 95% of all retailers use barcodes in some form or another. So Hobby Lobby‘s refusal to jump on the barcode bandwagon really does make them an anomaly.
The Benefits of Barcodes for Retailers and Shoppers
This near-universal adoption of barcodes isn‘t just a case of retailers jumping on a technology trend. Barcodes provide a slew of benefits for both store operations and the customer experience. On the operations side, barcodes drastically improve inventory management. By tying each physical item to a digital record, retailers gain incredible visibility into what‘s selling, what‘s not, and what needs restocking. This real-time tracking enables better forecasting, fewer out-of-stocks, and smarter purchasing.
Barcodes also tighten up the supply chain from the manufacturer to the sales floor. Scanning items as they arrive lets retailers quickly reconcile shipments and identify any missing products. This receiving process is up to 99% faster with barcode scanning versus checking items manually. Considering Hobby Lobby stocks over 70,000 different items, it‘s hard to fathom how they efficiently process new inventory without barcodes.
Shoppers may take it for granted, but barcode scanning makes checking out much faster too. By most counts, scanning is at least 5 times quicker than punching in manual codes. For high-volume retailers, this added speed is essential for keeping wait times down. Walmart, for instance, can clock up to 40 transactions per minute thanks to barcode scanning. While crafting supplies may not fly off the shelves quite as fast, there‘s no doubt Hobby Lobby‘s check out speed lags well behind its barcode-based competitors.
Hobby Lobby‘s Justification for Barcode-Free Shopping
So with all these clear advantages, why exactly does Hobby Lobby insist on bucking the barcode trend? The company has been quite upfront about it, stating that barcode scanning doesn‘t align with their focus on offering a personalized, human-centric shopping experience. In his book, founder David Green elaborates that he believes barcodes make it too easy to ignore issues like damaged goods and customer concerns.
There‘s certainly some truth to this perspective. Having cashiers manually enter codes does require them to examine each item more closely. If a product is broken or missing pieces, they‘re more likely to catch it than if they simply scanned and bagged it. This manual method also gives the cashier a brief moment to interact with the customer and make sure they found everything they needed.
However, most retailers have found ways to balance barcode efficiency with attentive service. Having greeters, roaming associates, and self-service kiosks are all ways to add a human element without sacrificing checkout speed. Trader Joe‘s is a great example of a chain that has maintained a quirky, personalized feel while still embracing barcode scanners. The argument that barcodes automatically sap the humanity from retail just doesn‘t hold up to scrutiny.
The Downsides of Hobby Lobby‘s Barcode-Free Approach
For all of Hobby Lobby‘s talk about the benefits of not using barcodes, the policy comes with a fair share of downsides for both shoppers and the company itself. Most glaringly, it leads to long lines and slower service. This is especially true during peak hours and holidays when the checkout queue can snake through the aisles. No matter how much Hobby Lobby might believe in the human touch, it‘s hard to imagine shoppers prefer waiting in line just so their cashier can hunt and peck for the right item code.
The lack of real-time, granular inventory data likely also leads to more frequent out-of-stocks and a less optimized product mix. If Hobby Lobby can‘t track which clay is flying off the shelves in Phoenix or which yarn is tangled up on the shelves in Miami, it‘s impossible for them to keep the right items flowing to the right stores. This could mean more lost sales and frustrated customers in the long run.
On the loss prevention front, not having barcodes makes it easier for dishonest customers (and employees) to pull off tag swapping tricks. It‘s not uncommon for crafty shoplifters to peel the barcode sticker off a cheap item and place it over a more expensive product‘s tag. Unless a cashier is carefully examining each item, they can easily be duped into ringing up the lower price. Hobby Lobby‘s code system makes this kind of switcheroo even simpler since the cashier has no product-level visual to compare against.
The Big Question: Is Hobby Lobby‘s No-Barcode Stance Sustainable?
Up until now, Hobby Lobby has been able to make their barcode-free philosophy work. The company has grown from a single store in 1972 to over 900 locations today, becoming a go-to destination for crafters and sewers of all stripes. But as Hobby Lobby continues to scale up and face stiffer competition from the likes of Amazon, JOANN, and Michaels, one has to wonder how long they can stick to their analog guns.
At a certain point, the inefficiencies of manual code entry and decentralized inventory management could put Hobby Lobby at a serious disadvantage. If their competitors can consistently offer lower prices, better in-stock positions, and faster checkout, Hobby Lobby may see their loyal customers start to stray. This is especially true as younger, digitally-native shoppers become a bigger part of the market. To them, a barcode-free store may just seem bizarre and antiquated.
Even if Hobby Lobby isn‘t ready to do a complete 180 on barcodes, there are ways they could start to modernize their operations without fully abandoning their values. Adopting 2D barcodes or RFID tags on products would allow for more sophisticated inventory tracking on the back-end without necessarily changing the front-end experience. They could also experiment with a hybrid approach, using barcodes for some high-volume items while keeping manual codes for others. This could strike a balance between efficiency and the human touch.
Final Thoughts on Hobby Lobby‘s Barcode Holdout
At the end of the day, Hobby Lobby‘s aversion to barcode scanning is clearly about more than just preserving a particular kind of customer service. It‘s a manifestation of the company‘s old-fashioned values, prioritizing people over technology at every turn. In many ways, it‘s an admirable stance in an era where human interaction is increasingly being digitized and automated away.
However, as the retail landscape continues to evolve, Hobby Lobby may find its barcode-free philosophy harder and harder to justify. The competitive advantages of lightning-fast checkouts, real-time inventory tracking, and tighter loss prevention are only going to grow. While barcodes may seem impersonal, they unquestionably make shopping faster, prices lower, and product availability better. That‘s a hard formula for any retailer to resist forever.
Will Hobby Lobby eventually cave and embrace the barcode like nearly every other store? Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure – the next time you‘re standing in a sluggish checkout line watching a cashier fumble for the right product code, you‘ll have a new appreciation for that humble barcode and the beep of a scanner.
