PLU code being torn off cases of beer and juices

[snugglegirl05]

For some reason customers or employees are tearing off the plu codes located on the bottom of cases of beer and juices at the Kroger I work at.
It is either customers or employees doing this.

[Dreamstalker]

...I'm at a loss to explain that one. If I want a barcode/PLU for reference I just take a photo on my phone.

Normally I'd say it was part of a poorly-executed barcode-switching scam (I assume the PLUs are torn off of the retail packaging, shipping case codes generally don't scan) but I can't think of what they'd try to switch it with...wouldn't the beer barcode prompt for ID?

[Rosco the Iroc]

It's there some sort of rebate or cool promo going on?

The parts store was hit bad then oil maker had some sort of gift card promo and you just had to send in the foil seals. So assholes tore through the bottles and didn't recap them and motor oil was everywhere and people who did get them got boned.

[Dreamstalker]

Forgot about that angle. We dealt with one of those for applesauce awhile ago. Luckily(?) the manufacturer only wanted the barcode on the outer cardboard, so the sauce cups themselves were intact...although for some reason we weren't allowed to sell them on the reduced table even though the sell-by date was printed on the individual cups.

[EricKei]

I could see someone doing this on their own purchase in hopes of a new (or lazy) cashier falling for "Oh, just scan one bottle, UPC's the same"...Or someone doing this who thinks he's clever, and not having to pay the case price if NONE of them have UPCs.

[Dreamstalker]

At my old store, if the case itself didn't have a barcode each unit would scan at the full pack price. This led to a few interesting situations of one person breaking up a pack (stealing one), a cow-irker putting the rest of the bottles/cans in with the loose drinks because hey they're all 20-ounces anyway, and someone else flipping their shit when they grab a single soda from the cooler only to have it ring up at $5 (we also got customers who didn't even notice the massive upcharge).

If the case did have a barcode, it was 50/50 whether the single items would not scan, or they would scan at the full pack price. I guess that depended on how the manufacturer assigned everything.

[mhkohne]

...I'm at a loss to explain that one. If I want a barcode/PLU for reference I just take a photo on my phone.

Normally I'd say it was part of a poorly-executed barcode-switching scam (I assume the PLUs are torn off of the retail packaging, shipping case codes generally don't scan) but I can't think of what they'd try to switch it with...wouldn't the beer barcode prompt for ID?

Ripcode from cheap beer, tape to more expensive beer? Then the id prompt isn't a surprise.

[mhkohne]

Forgot about that angle. We dealt with one of those for applesauce awhile ago. Luckily(?) the manufacturer only wanted the barcode on the outer cardboard, so the sauce cups themselves were intact...although for some reason we weren't allowed to sell them on the reduced table even though the sell-by date was printed on the individual cups.

I could see not selling them individually-no ingredients list. But if you've got the rest of the package, I don't see the harm.