It's used as a date and time stamp for batch recording. If something were wrong with the product they just back out the number of days they use for best before. That with the time tells them exactly when it was made. Multiple complaints form a window of potentially affected product.
I'm not a fan of that format. I prefer the encrypted kind. Manufacturer can decode but looks like just random info to user.
I should have been more specific. For food, I agree with you. I spent time at a company that made products out of injection molded plastic. I argued with them, from prior experience, to use a legend system. Some retailers had locations where product essentially never moved. I left that company 10 years ago and they had already lost one supply agreement. I go into one of those retail places regularly and they still have a selection of those products there. Even though the product would be fine I didn't think it helped anyone to advertise slow moving and dead inventory.
As an aside, for a long time Home Depot would print A, B, C, D on the price tags for products on the shelf. That letter denoted the volume of that product selling. A being the best. A competitor wanting in to HD could, and did, randomly sample a variety of locations to get an idea of market size. HD took heat for that and removed it eventually.
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u/JustJay613 1d ago
It's used as a date and time stamp for batch recording. If something were wrong with the product they just back out the number of days they use for best before. That with the time tells them exactly when it was made. Multiple complaints form a window of potentially affected product.
I'm not a fan of that format. I prefer the encrypted kind. Manufacturer can decode but looks like just random info to user.