The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Price Scanner FAIL: Plausible Deniability

    I always suspect there’s a reason behind a missing price label on a shelf, so I waved a half-gallon of milk under a nearby price scanner:

    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL
    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL

    If you’re thinking that white rectangle doesn’t look like a price, you’re right:

    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL - Warning pop-up
    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL – Warning pop-up

    A 10 digit Phone number?

    I’m don’t know what a “PPC number” is, although the UPC on the milk carton seems perfectly normal:

    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL - offending bar code
    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL – offending bar code

    Admittedly, the number starts with a zero and has 12 digits, so it’s definitely not what the price scanner wants. On the other paw, why is a price scanner not looking for a UPC?

    The placard below the display is amusing:

    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL - DCNY Requiring Scanner Accuracy
    Shop-Rite Scanner FAIL – DCNY Requiring Scanner Accuracy

    Gray’s variant of Hanlon’s Razor: “Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”

    No, I neither asked why the scanners didn’t work nor made a phone call, as I’m old enough to know better.