SELAH, Wash. -- Ranier Fruit based here plans to be among 13 produce growers and shippers participating in a 500-store test of Reduced Space Symbology (RSS) bar codes by a large Canadian retailer this summer.
the smaller space provided by produce, other perishables like meat, as well as other small categories like HBC and greeting cards.
The chain, which he declined to name, has "outfitted its front-end scanning system to scan the RSS codes," Mathews said.
Ranier will apply the bar codes, supplied by its price look-up (PLU) sticker maker, he said. UCC has also confirmed that the test will take place.
Loblaw Companies, Toronto, which is the only retail member of the UCC's RSS Implementation Work Group from Canada, declined to comment on whether it was the chain conducting the produce test.
To date, RSS codes have only been tested by three-store Dorothy Lane Market, Dayton, Ohio, which has focused its test only on meat products. The Canadian test would be the first centered around produce. RSS codes offer grocers the opportunity to scan produce for the first time, cutting front-end shrink, reducing cashier training costs and speeding checkout throughput, say industry observers.