So, you've got some labels or tags with bar codes on them and you can scan them with the little Brand X Model Y scanner you’ve obtained from Aurora Bar Code Technologies. How do you know those symbols are readable with other bar code scanners? If your bar codes are going to go beyond the four walls of your business, then you need to know that they're "within spec" — or else you may have a significant and costly liability problem!

The way you determine the quality of a given symbol through a nifty device called a bar code verifier. Note that it's more than just a scanner, since having your scanner successfully read your bar codes only confirms that your scanner is capable of doing so. A verifier is a kind of a "referee" that analyzes a given symbol against a number of industry benchmarks to determine whether it meets a given set of standards.

Verifiers basically come in two different flavours: mobile and fixed. A mobile verifier allows its user to take the device to where the bar codes are located. Through multiple scans of given test symbol, the verifier displays the results on the device's LCD screen. The operator might then print a brief report of the analysis on a mobile printer, interfaced with the verifier, as written proof of the symbol's quality.

Fixed verifiers typically attach to a desktop or laptop PC. While that doesn't make them as mobile as the other type, it offers a couple of advantages: the ability to store the verification results in a database, and the added function of potentially printing the report on a standard report printer (e.g. laser), interfaced to the PC.

There is a wide range of prices with verifiers. In short, the more you pay, the greater the number of analyses that are conducted by the verifier and the more exacting they are.

Virtually all modern verifiers use GS1 bar code standards as their reference when verifying symbols.