On Monday, Neil Lindsheid presented on QR Codes in Jackson Minnesota. Neil is an Extension Educator, the class is offered by the University of Minnesota Extension through their partnership in the MIRC project. I’ve heard great thing about the class – and I know Neil is sharp. But it was the article that talked about the class that captured my attention.
The Jackson Pilot featured QR Codes last week – including a big ol’ QR Code in the article that promotes a coupon for the paper. They talked about the benefits and drawbacks to QR Codes. The benefits include the ability to connect folks to information at their fingertips and the opportunity to be first in your industry or town or publication to use QR Codes. The drawback is that not everyone recognizes a QR Code yet – or has a smartphone to read them.
QR codes where a hit to talk about, but the really interesting part of the discussion came when we discussed taking payments using Square and other similar devices. Doing business using the internet doesn’t just need to be about marketing, it can also make operations more efficient. One of the participants talked about using Square at her farm!
Nice! It’s great to hear about how it’s been used in the field. As I recall QR Codes got their start in the auto industry (Toyota?) – it’s fun to see how innovative folks have become with the technology.