If you get a tattoo of an actual UPC barcode can it be scanned with a barcode scanner?

If you get a tattoo of an actual UPC barcode can it be scanned with a barcode scanner?

A friend and I were debating about this earlier. She says it is not possible I say it is. She says that the ink would be to light (if it were an old tat) and with the layer of skin the way it just wouldn’t. I say it would because I work with a bar scanner every day scanning in boxes with water, plastic, and some times the lines are not all there (sharpie fixes that) and I know boxes are nothing like skin but I don’t see how or why a layer of skin would get in the way. Either way I would really like to know if it could work.

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5 Comments for If you get a tattoo of an actual UPC barcode can it be scanned with a barcode scanner?

  • 1. Cara  |  December 9th, 2010 at 8:07 am

    Yeah, because the scanner scans the numbers

  • 2. sara  |  December 9th, 2010 at 8:52 am

    hahaha thats an interesting question made me wonder too hmm maybe try it ? with a fake tattoo obviously but copy it an transfer it to your skin an try scannin it youd obviously have to take a barcode from work though …. an take it home an all that stuff dunno if thats legal but oh well haha

  • 3. Brent  |  December 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am

    yeah why wouldnt it? why would your skin be any different from paper to a scanner reading lines?

  • 4. 0kaybaby  |  December 9th, 2010 at 10:23 am

    Barcodes are put into systems and have special digits etc. as well as being unique to each different product so it would be extremely rare, or almost impossible, for the barcode you had to be the right one in your stores system or even a product that actually exists.

  • 5. Jay D  |  December 9th, 2010 at 10:32 am

    That is too funny you ask. I got ONLY ONE tat when I was younger, and I drew it onto transfer paper, and my boy Matty from NY inked me. Overlooking ten floors of the Atlantic Ocean nonetheless. No we’re not gay.
    Anyhow, I drew a barcode and a character pissed off because it seems like in this country, we’re all numbers, you know, Social Security #, Birthdate #, Phone #, etc….
    NO, UNFORTUNATELY, IT DOES NOT SCAN.
    I know because many a times have grocery and store clerks (girls) tried to scan my arm, just for flirt and fun. And the thing about my tat is it’s pretty damn good, I mean my friend used a 7-pin gun and used shading and what he called New York shadowing and Marbling. It looks freaking cool, with the weird tribal-like around the arm, but the centerpiece is the pissed-off dude and he is made of a barcode. He even wears a digital necklace of 0s and 1s!! Yeah, I was probably stoned in 200? whatever year it was, maybe even before the year 2000.

    It took almost 3 long hours to finish and I almost passed out in the first 20 minutes…remember to breathe!! The closer the gun is to your ears the worse it gets, unless you like swarms of bees or something :)

    Awesome question!

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