This document is the recommended Floral Industry Bar Code Standard. It is provided to WF&FSA members and other floral industry companies to facilitate commerce between floral wholesalers and suppliers. This document was originally written in 1990 following the standards set forth by the UCC (Uniform Code Council), now GS1 US, and is being updated to meet the current GS1 standards.
This standard provides guidance for floral wholesalers, manufacturers, growers and distributors/shippers concerning the use of barcode technology for package and product identification during receiving, inventory tracking and point of sale functions. It makes use of the GS1 US, formerly the UCC (Uniform Code Council) standards for package identification and point of sale systems. Therefore, portions of the "UPC Shipping Container Code and Symbol Specifications Manual", which was developed by the UCC and updated by GS1 US, are incorporated verbatim, into this document.
Permission to reproduce portions of those manuals in this document was requested by WF&FSA and granted by GS1 US.
WF&FSA recognizes that this standard is not a “stand alone book on bar coding". The standards do however, adopt the proven Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) identification system and provide the necessary additional guidelines which, when combined with electronic scanning, automated data base entry and other electronic technologies, will facilitate commerce between floral wholesalers and suppliers.
Because of the economic benefits to participating companies associated with bar coding, all WF&FSA members are urged to make a critical assessment of the impact on their companies. This document has been updated to include the changes made over time by GS1 to accommodate the increase in number of companies requesting the ability to create shipping container identification numbers.
Source: Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association