Symbol LS2208 Scanner: As good as they get?

What’s it for?
It’s a bar code scanner. Essentially this little device makes life easier by helping retailers with accuracy and speed of ringing up items. A scanner can also assist in taking inventory.

You see, most items come with a UPC code on them these days. It’s the funny little striped box that looks like a referee’s uniform. No doubt, you’ve noticed this as the way your groceries are rung up, even if you don’t get outside often.

How does it help?
Once you’ve set your inventory up, employees can simply shoot the code on each item with this little device. This ensures that they are ringing up your item at the right price and that the proper item is coming out of inventory. In a shop with a significant number of inventory items, employee error is the biggest reason for inventory discrepancies.

The old fashioned way of doing things, of course, is using a cash register and tracking inventory by hand, or by regular inventory counts. Newer methods involve using a computer POS system to track each item from purchase to sale. However, if the inventory is listed and retrieved by item description, employee errors will occur. Enter the scanner.

Setup
This scanner was included in the Quickbooks POS bundle that I purchased. As part of the bundle, installation was very simple. I have installed other Symbol scanners on other POS systems and found the install very easy as well.

In this specific case, the unit is a USB port scanner. All the user needs to do is plug it in and chose it from the directory in Quickbooks. The Point of Sale program selects and installs the appropriate driver and you are good to go. In other POS systems, you will have to set up the drivers externally then select the scanner from a list in your POS program later. It’s still very easy.

Design
The scanner works in a couple of ways. First it is a handheld unit that can be operated by pointing it and shooting it at the appropriate UPC. Alternatively, you can use it for smaller items by simply passing it under the scanner from its gooseneck holder. The holder can be permanently mounted and the gooseneck is adjustable.

While the gooseneck seems like a great idea, in my experience they never work very well. The adjustment is never quite right for whatever you’re ringing up to fit under it. The scanner seems to fall out more often than it stays in the holder.

How well does it work?
This model is one of the better scanners that I’ve used. It scans accurately and quickly. While some other models and brands that I’ve used have taken several tries to scan items on occasion, after five months of use, the Symbol has hit the mark first try every single time. This has to be some kind of record. I’ve never had a scanner that worked this well.

Other uses
A scanner can also help with inventory. Mistakes employees make ringing up items can also become problems at inventory time. Using a scanner to ensure that the proper item is being counted is a great way to solve the problem. Of course proper inventory leads to more accurate ordering, better tacking of profit and losses and happier owners.

Parting Thoughts
Being the only employee at my business, for now, I haven’t had as high a need for a scanner as my business owners might. However, it does come in handy sometimes if only for quickly ringing up a transaction. For companies with employees, a scanner is highly recommended.

The Symbol is easily the best handheld scanner that I’ve ever used. While it doesn’t tend to stay put on the stand as well as I would like, none of them do. It is however, easy to use, simple to install and reliable to scan every item on the first try.