• JonC@programming.dev
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    10 months ago

    I still remember the code for Braeburn Apples, over 25 years after I worked in a supermarket.

    For some reason, their code of 6969 sticks in my mind.

  • Shoe@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Worked in a stationers over 20 years ago, still remember the barcode for this one pencil eraser we sold all the time that would never scan - 4007817526040.

    … Still can’t remember a single damn birthday or important appointment. Why, brain, why?

    • dan@upvote.au
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      10 months ago

      I still remember my ICQ user ID 208646779 even though I haven’t logged in for 20 years.

          • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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            10 months ago

            Nah mine was unique. Unique enough, there was actually a formula. It was the OEM key that was printed on the upgrade CD that came with my Packard Bell. I reinstalled windows on that fucking shit box so many times that it’s tattooed on my brain stem.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        It probably wouldn’t work if you did. The last time I looked at ICQ I believe that there was a situation where they either chose to, or were forced to, essentially purge all the dormant/old ICQ accounts.

        I don’t have all the details, but once I saw that, I just noped out. I can’t get back in and look at all my old, now permanently offline contacts? No thanks. I was here for the nostalgia, and I can’t even get that.

      • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        51501242

        But I can’t remember if my niece’s birthday is next month or the month after… And I’ve been to her birthday every year…

  • Thanks4Nothing@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Worked in retail many moons ago. Back when organic was just becoming a thing. I can tell you one thing.: A lot of people were getting a deal on organic food -because cashiers would just key in the code for non-organic. The lines were too long, and you look foolish looking things up in the “book” haha.

    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Isn’t it usually just the same code with a “9” concatenated at the start? I.e. tomatoes are #4664, organic tomatoes are #94664.

      • uis@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Are those tomatoes made from metal? Or sand? If you can chew it then it’s organic. Technucally if it has carbon-based compounds.

        Fun fact: acetone is organic too. And you don’t want to drink it. Seriously, don’t do it.

        • Mo5560@feddit.de
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          10 months ago

          MSc in chemistry here

          Just because chemistry utilizes words and defines them with specific criteria it doesn’t mean these words can not be used in other contexts with different meanings (e.g. vinyl)

          Oh and you probably know, but diamond, graphite, CO2 and all sorts of carbonates are excluded from being organic.

          • uis@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            And you are right. They need to have orbital hybridisation. SP{,2,3}.

            And in other meaning as produced by organism nearly all food is organic too. Some stuff like sugars should be possible to make without organisms(but you know it better than me), but too expensive compared to produced by organisms.

            Sorry for awkward sentences, English is not my native language.

            EDIT: there are apparently more meanings

            When people use the word “organic” for food, they’re specifically referring to particular certifications, like the National Organic Program in the USA, and foods that are “organically farmed”. I agree that the naming isn’t ideal, but the word “organic” is very commonly used for this, and therefore it’s a legitimate definition of “organic”. That’s just how language works :)

            • Mo5560@feddit.de
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              10 months ago

              Sorry for awkward sentences

              Don’t be sorry, you’re communicating quite clearly.

              And, just for the record, I do agree that the term “organic” is daft when referring to food. The term is entirely arbitrary and I wish we had a food certificate that was actually based on scientific factors (like impact on environment etc.)…

              They need to have orbital hybridization

              This one is often cited as a factor (because it excludes carbides like e.g. WC, TiC, TaC) but afaik it’s not true. Carbon in graphite is sp2 hybridised, in diamond it’s sp3 hybridised, both are explicitly excluded from the definition of organic.

              Side note: I am unsure whether graphene falls under the definition of organic. Depending on how you look at it, it’s just a huge aromatic molecule. Don’t get me started on nanoribbons which are synthesized from organic precursors…
              But I know people doing research on graphene, and I don’t think they would care about that definition. It simply doesn’t matter.

              Side note^2: While CO_2 is also explicitly excluded from being organic, it can be used as an educt in organic reactions (e.g. Preparing Phenylacetic Acid from Benzyl chloride and CO_2)

              • uis@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Carbon in graphite is sp2 hybridised, in diamond it’s sp3 hybridised

                Didn’t expect this.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I still do this if I have to go through self checkout. Look man, I don’t work at a grocery store. If they force me to do two completely separate jobs (cashier and bagger), and still raise my food prices, I’m going to give myself some employee discounts.

      • DrPop@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        That’s stealing, says the person who also does this. Also I have some saffron I nicked from Wally world too if you want to try it with our ill gotten gains.

    • Nanomerce @lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      last time I didn’t use self checkout, the cashier keyed in all my stuff as organic when it wasn’t :(

    • Fish [Indiana]@midwest.social
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      10 months ago

      As expensive as organic food is, I’m sure that they already factor incorrect item entry into the cost of organic produce items.

    • uis@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The only inorganic compounds in food I can imagine are salts. It is beyond me how they not understand that almost everything everyone eats is organic.

      • dan@upvote.au
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        10 months ago

        I get what you’re going for, but not everything is literal. People refer to their computers as “rigs” even though they can’t drill for oil.

        When people use the word “organic” for food, they’re specifically referring to particular certifications, like the National Organic Program in the USA, and foods that are “organically farmed”. I agree that the naming isn’t ideal, but the word “organic” is very commonly used for this, and therefore it’s a legitimate definition of “organic”. That’s just how language works :)

        • uis@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal

          Guano wars, anyone?

          and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting.

          Isn’t this a thing everyone always does? Isn’t monoculture turns soil into shit?


          Maybe. I’m just tired of seeing “GMO-free” soda kind of idiocy.

  • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Well sir, as a former one of these, I can say with confidence, the code provided is not a valid PLU.

    • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      I’ve had cashiers not recognize jackfruit, plantains, ginger root, star fruit, pomegranates, and dragonfruit. All of which grow in South/central America and are regularly shipped to the US just like bananas.

      Plantains and casava (or yuca if you’re Puerto Rican) can even grow locally here in Texas, so idk what the deal is.

  • AscendantSquid@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Are the codes all unified across stores and POS systems? Is it an extension of the UPC? I assumed the code was like a part number from that store chain’s inventory.

    • 2ncs@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      They are called PLU numbers and I’m assuming they’re regulated because bananas are the same code everywhere I’ve been, as with grapes. Maybe certain produce between regions or chains is different but I think most are similar.

      • dan@upvote.au
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        10 months ago

        Yeah I think the PLU codes (like 4011 for banana) are the same practically everywhere. The codes used in Australia are the same as those used in the USA

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Most produce you find at larger grocery stores, have stickers applied before they arrive to the store. Nobody there gets paid enough to care if the apples all have their stickers (or bananas, or pears, or - insert food item here)… So many are fairly standardized.

      I’m not sure where in the production and distribution chain that the stickers end up on the produce, but it’s before the stores.

      I worked produce department for a few years when I was a teenager, and we got shipments from our own internal distribution, and the manager would suppliment anything they couldn’t provide with a smaller, more local distributor. AFAIK the local guy had more reliable stock, but cost more (not enough to create a loss, as far as I was aware - but enough to reduce profit margins); so the thinking was: get it cheap from distribution, if they can’t or won’t, then fill in whatever is lacking with this other guy. It was almost always the same stuff regardless (in the same boxes, from the same growers, etc) and everything from both sources always had the exact same labels/stickers/codes on them. The workers only needed to get it from the truck to the shelf for the most part. The only produce we touched any more than that, was the stuff that went on the wet display; mostly lettuce, celery and such.

      I’ve worked at several stores and I’ve noted the few codes that I actually know are consistent among different local stores.

      IMO, it might change from country to country or something, but largely, the numbers are the same.

    • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Most use the PLU system. There’s a handful of (imo stupid) smaller stores that have their own system/ codes, but then it doesn’t even match the sticker on the fruit/ vegetable. For the most part, it’s universal.

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    And then there’s the poor kid who started counting how many habaneros I had in the bag when they’re sold by weight. I let him finish, and he rang up like $60 for 8 habaneros.

  • seth@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Limes are 4048 and half a lime will clean the heck out of a garbage disposal