Do Your Bar Code Scanners Parse Driver's License Bar Codes?

Written by: Dave Sullivan, senior VP, sales and marketing, Datalogic Scanning

Support Retail Customers in Selling Regulated Items
Retailers who sell regulated goods such as alcohol and tobacco must follow U.S. local, state, and federal requirements to accurately verify a customer's age and identity. To enable Retailers to more effectively comply with government regulations, it is important to offer your retailers a choice of bar code scanners which can simplify (or automate) the verification process by reading and sending the pertinent data found within the bar codes on Government issued identification cards including most state driver’s licenses.

Reading and sending the data found within the bar codes on Government issued identification cards, including most state driver’s licenses to the point-of-sale, quickly verifies and assures the customer’s legal age. This helps in protecting the retailer from fines and the potential loss of their license to sell age restricted goods. In addition, the burden of decision making and proof is removed from the cashier when your customers scan an approved ID before selling restricted items.

Some retailers with lower volume, smaller item count transactions or with a high percentage of large/awkward sized SKU’s will prefer handheld scanning, and in other applications with higher volume and more items per transaction and generally smaller sized SKU’s hands-free scanning will be a better option.

Additional Benefits to Retailers
A residual benefit of using imaging based bar code scanners for reading driver’s licenses is that the extracted information can also be used for many other value added applications beyond just verifying age and ID expiration dates. For example you can auto-populate many types of forms including credit card applications, loyalty programs, product return forms, hunting/fishing licenses, and bridal registration applications. These additional applications can provide a return in customer loyalty as well as capturing customer data to understand your customer base more effectively. Using an imaging bar code reader eliminates manual data entry, increases efficiency at the retail point-of-sale, and prevents errors in the sale of controlled items such as alcohol and tobacco.

Things to consider in selecting the right bar code scanner
Resellers and VARs can also do their homework to learn which scanners work “out of the box”, and which require programming prior to use. How simple or complex are the programming and installation? Can the reseller do the programming before delivery to the customer? Which scanners are most durable and reliable? Can the scanners also accommodate the other needs of the retailer, such as reading the new GS1 DataBar codes?

About Datalogic Scanning
Resellers can take advantage of Datalogic Scanning’s expertise in the retail segment with both hands-free and handheld scanners with capacity to decode stacked PDF417 bar codes on state drivers’ licenses. A new drivers’ license parsing application is available with each handheld scanner at no extra charge.

Datalogic Scanning offers both in-counter and on-counter fixed retail scanners and the most complete line of general purpose and ruggedized handheld scanners available today. The company serves multiple industries throughout the retail supply chain and distribution channel as well as manufacturing, government, healthcare, banking and finance sectors.