Accuracy in inventory counts and speed of shipping is paramount to us, we’ll dive into why barcoding largely would not benefit our clients.

---

Why is Kotis different than a traditional warehouse 

Location of items. 

In a traditional warehouse, such as Amazon, an order can contain a product from anywhere in the warehouse.  

In a Kotis warehouse, items placed on an order are not anywhere in the warehouse, but all together where the program items exist as orders are only by program. 

Pre-Barcoded 

In a traditional warehouse, such as Amazon, the products arrive to their facilities have barcodes already applied. 

In a Kotis warehouse, most items would arrive without barcodes, requiring us to apply them before they go on shelves.  

---

Why are items we sell different from a traditional retail site

The items being sold in retail are for direct-to-consumer purchases that might be made in a store or online. The vendor designs the packaging from the start to include the bar code. They know the stores need it, they may need it for reporting (as multiple different stores sell the item), etc. The items Kotis produces aren’t going to multiple stores. A price does not need to be associated with the item upon purchase as they aren’t in retail. We sell stickers, pens, t-shirts, etc and every single item would now need a bar code when in most of the scenarios, a bar code is unnecessary.  

---

Why we do not barcode

Increase cost 

Every single item that would enter our warehouse would need to be barcoded. Our estimate is each item (for the application & the bar code itself) would cost approx $.25.

What does that cost over the year: 

Items	Per Bar Code	Added Cost
5,000	$0.25	$1,250
25000	$0.25	$6,250
50,000	$0.25	$12,500
100000	$0.25	$25,000

We are confident we will NOT lose product even close to the cost listed above  

Increased time 

Unlike suppliers who are selling into retail who barcode everything, our industry are making items in bulk for events, tradeshows, conferences, etc. It is not standard to apply a barcode. We know some of our vendors can apply barcodes, however, this will increase production time. For those vendors that will not, once the item arrives at our distribution center, our receiving team will now be required to apply barcodes to every time.  

In a scenario where it’s 960 bottles in boxes of 24, we’ll now need to open all 24 boxes, take out all 960 bottles, apply a bar code to each. Our goal is to REDUCE check in time, this will drastically increase the time we are able to get your product onto our shelves.  

We are confident we will lose MORE time in the receiving, than the time it saves for picking / shipping by using barcodes 

Difficult in barcoding items. 

There is a tremendous variety in our industry from branded stickers, pens, bags, apparel and beyond. While larger items are better suited for a hangtag with a barcode applied, there are challenges with smaller items, like pens or stickers, and how to effectively affix the barcode label. Many items may not even be able to be barcoded. All items either need to be barcoded or not barcoded. If they are not, our team would need to look up bar codes on each order (like a checker does at a grocery store) adding time and the potential for mistakes.