Bar Codes? Could you get product information from everything in your house that had a bar code?

Question

Could you get product information from everything in your house that had a bar code? Is there a way for some business entity with a large investment to create a system and a database that would allow the average person to inventory all their posesions that had a bar code? (I'm thinking it would be nescessary to compile a large (user compiled) database with different retailer data (because of different retailers)). Also, is there one scanner that reads all bar codes?

In case your wondering, I am thinking of an ebay-style idea, but more local based.

Answer 1

1. Many items have their bar code on their packaging rather than on the product. If we throw away the packaging, then there wouldn't be a bar code to swipe. None of my clothing, TVs, stereos, or alarm clocks have bar codes on them anymore...

2. I believe most of the barcodes are in the UPC style, especially those in retail. And I imagine Walmart requires every product sold in their stores to have the same kind of bar codes.

3. If I shop at Walmart a lot, I'm sure that they could look for all transactions with my credit card and put together a long list of items that they might find in my house or my office...