Fidel Viegas wrote:

> This particular client wants to use the
> barcodes that come with the products, so I found myself in this
> situation where I don't know how to manage sales o items that share
> the same barcode, and that can be sold individually or together as a
> pack.
>
> Have you ever done something similar?
>

No, but I buy a lot on super-markets :) And I pay attention how the
thing works...

There are 2 distinct cases:

1.) A pack of 12 cans of beer the pack it-self has a distinct barcode
from the one printed on the beer can, let's supose

ProductID ProductCode Description Price BarCode
1 001.001 Beer 350ml 2,00 1234567890
2 001.005 Pack of 12 Beer 350ml 24,00 1234567888

2) The pack itself has not a distinct barcode, example milk
ProductID ProductCode Description Price BarCode
3 001.010 Milk 1 liter 1,50 9876543210
(note that there is not a product for a pack of 12 liters of milk)

In the case (1) if the check-out person scans the beer sold alone, he
must supplies how much cans of beer I am buying, or scan it can
individually, if she scans the barcode on the pack it's treated as a
distinct product with a distinct code/price.

In the case (2) the chek-out person MUST provide the quantity on the
package and scan the barcode that is linked to a single box of milk, if
she forget to supply the quantity I will be billed as I had purchased
just 1 liter and not a box with 12 liters packet together, believe me
it's not a trivial thing but I had told the check-out girl a bunch of
times that I was buying a box of 12 liters and not a single liter alone.

If you have products packet togheter and the package has a distinct
barcode the person should be trained to read the package barcode and not
the the barcode of the individual item, if it's not the case, the person
should scan the individual item and supply the quantity on the package.
Yes, it's error prone ! This is how it works here in Brazil.

You could have another approach:
Every package SHOULD have a barcode that indicates a package of
something that could be sold individually, if the supplier does not
provide that code on the package you could put a label for yourself,
thereafter you will always have two distinct barcodes, one for the
package and one for the individual item, the check-out person would be
trainned to do the following:
If the product is not package, scans the barcode on the product, if the
product is package, scans the barcode on the package, I think it's much
more safe than the approach used on the super-markets here in Brazil,
but I think because of the volume would be impractical to label every
box of 12 milks with a distinct barcode, perhaps the mistake rate don't
justify the cost (and labor) to label each package.


see you !

--
Alexandre Benson Smith
Development
THOR Software e Comercial Ltda
Santo Andre - Sao Paulo - Brazil
www.thorsoftware.com.br