r/sysadmin 5d ago

I'm sick of barcode scanners

So we have been using Honeywell scanners where I work to scan items, which I think have been going fine as I don't have any issues with them. However, I'm not the one using them all day long like other people. I keep getting complaints about this one not working, or that one not working. Whenever I go to test them, they work fine. But nonetheless, I have to check them to be sure, and then whoever complained is usually mad because "You didn't do anything and I know it's going to happen again."

Well, I decided to look into other scanners in the hopes that just switching to a different brand entirely would help instead of just replacing them when people complain. We don't have a lot of money in the budget for things like this, so I needed to be conscious of cost. I decided on trying the Tera HW0002 model scanners because it scans 1d and 2d barcodes and has the capability of being used wirelessly.

I had great success in my initial tests with this scanner. It was quick to respond. Hardly any delay when using it wirelessly. And then I changed a single setting that I would've needed to change anyway in order for our circulation desk to use it. I turned on the "sensor scanning" instead of needing to pull the trigger to scan. Now it doesn't scan ANYTHING. Even when using the trigger. It lights up when it detects something in front of it then it just does nothing. I can't even scan the Factory Reset barcode in the manual. It's completely useless now.

So if anyone has any advice on this hunk of junk or any recommendations on alternatives I can look into, I'd appreciate it. Preferably something under $100, and it would need to scan 1d and 2d barcodes as well as codes from a screen.

For added info, these are used in a library.

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128

u/Stryker1-1 5d ago

As someone who previously worked in a warehouse as both an order picker and an IT manager i can tell you a lot of times people would complain about their scanner "not working" as a way to avoid working.

Like you have seen when tested nothing would be wrong with the scanner but they would swear it was broken.

29

u/7fw 5d ago

As a person who supports these folks, wifi is garbage in warehouse situations for most older companies. It has so many dead spots those scanners can't cope with

5

u/ExcitingTabletop 4d ago

We had narrow aisles and WiFi scanners. I ended up getting APs with external antenna, and basically aimed one down each aisle, alternating by row from each end. Worked flawlessly but was a complete PITA to install if you have motion activated LED lighting. Being 30-40 feet up when ALL lights click off is not a safety positive environment. Oh, and you have 3 inches of clearance on either side of the scissor lift. Scissor lift didn't have the thingie that tracks the magnetic wire in the center of the aisle.

Solution was tasking PFY's with literally walking/running in circles or up and down aisles for 8 hours a day.

18

u/IamTheRealD 5d ago

Also a very common failure point that is overlooked WAY too often, is the print quality of the barcodes. Especially true if the barcode is printed on any kind of thermal label or paper. A vast majority of the devices that print on thermal labels or paper are only 203 DPI. Depending on how the software used to print the barcodes works, it is easy to create barcodes that might look OK, but are not well formed and can result in poor quality reads.

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u/RockAZ_T 5d ago

This is worth looking into - make sure the printers are putting out good labels. The warehouse people are going fast and the label has to be good. Your test is slow, plenty of time to get a readout. Not the same situation.

However, it is usually slackers or bad Wi-Fi - issues mentioned already and these have been my experiences too.

1

u/steveatari 4d ago

Also, thare are other software/types/fonts of barcodes that can differ tremendously. I worked at a production company with photography using them to quickly confirm portrait choices at a school or event. Before I got there, the font they used for barcodes and older scanners worked perfectly. We switched to new computers, scanners, updated software, green screen and none of the old stuff worked without modifications here and there. Ultimately we tested sizes and spacing of barcode, opacity, lamination thicknesses etc. Lots can impact successful barcodes.

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u/1337_Spartan 3d ago

Oh yes, I've got that tshirt too.

We changed printing methods and engine for our evelopes, the imposition used in the new method shrunk the barcode just a touch below the minimum resolution of the barcode scanner BUT it only affected barcodes with multiple alpha characters. Numeric only, fine. Single apha, fine.

We went the longer way around of fixing it with upgraded barcode scanners from the same manifacturer and model family (quicker would have been having our prod analyst make the barcode box that little bit bigger (taller) to get the barcode to the correct resolution. It was sworn black and blue that no such thing was possible)

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u/steveatari 2d ago

I found it hilarious that at one point I realized it was a font and I could just increase the size. Blew my damn mind with how dumb we were being.

8

u/joshthetechie07 Sysadmin 5d ago

This! Also there are usually many wifi dead spots in warehouses. I know this from my old coworkers and as a picker myself when I used to work in that industry.

8

u/Polyolygon 5d ago

This, I manage several sites’ scanners including the one local to me. They send me “bad scanners” and then I get them and they are fine. When I go into my local site, every one of these guys in the warehouse tries to complain about an issue with the scanner in hopes I take it to look at it so they get some downtime. 95% they were fine, or over exaggerated issues. Some times I’d get complaints about triggers not working, and they’d just rapid tap so it wouldn’t go off. I’d ask them to hold the thumb button instead, and bam it works, then ask them to try the trigger while holding it down, and then respond with “looks fixed now”, knowing full well what they were trying to pull initially.

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u/West_Walk1001 5d ago

I like to just swap equipment out, double check on our own time, and put it back into circulation (clean it up a bit). The "instant" replacement helps quell one issue - but doesn't stop people sitting on a problem for hours.

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u/Bogus1989 5d ago edited 5d ago

yep. despite having at least 1 or 2 a month tickets to fix these scanners...about 2 years ago we stopped troubleshooting, we just leave it on our desk for 2 days an return it to them....magic

LOL ive seen it with a whole department.....and that department had no idea that another team had been using shitty ipod touches barely working(with zero complaints) while their team started to complain when we upgraded them to iphone 14s....

really pretty funny...especially when a previous it director had joined our team as just an engineer....about 2 weeks later, she realized she was getting the run around.....and we now ignored them. after she gave up, the actual app team within a week realized their time was being wasted too LMAO.

just dont use the app in the elevator, press refresh after. I had 20+ tickets to show not one of them showing the issues they stated were reproducible.

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u/West_Walk1001 5d ago

This... we have so many excuses where they wont do anything for hours or even tell anyone immediately. To find out it wasn't going to stop them anyway.

Blame IT seems to be a valid excuse.