“Wand” Speeds Checkout (Jul, 1964)

I guess this was an alternative to barcodes, though it doesn’t seem too practical. I’d think that the labels would get lost, and would be easy to spoof. Plus you only get to scan it once.

“Wand” speeds checkout.
To move supermarket lines faster, this recent IBM patent would use a flexible tube and a vacuum pump to suck up magnetically printed stickers and feed them to a register. The register would read the magnetic code and total the purchases quickly. The tabs would also serve for the store’s stock and inventory control.