I Reject Good Products Every Week: Why Coding Quality Is Your Brand’s Best Signaling

I Reject More Products for Bad Codes Than Bad Ingredients

Here’s a statement that gets me odd looks at industry meetups: most quality issues I catch are not product defects — they’re code quality defects. The product itself can be perfectly fine. But if the batch code is faint, the best-by date smudges, or the QR code doesn’t scan, I send it back. That might sound harsh. But after four years as a quality and brand compliance manager, I’d rather be the one catching it than the retailer who decides your product looks like a factory second.

I review more than 200 unique label and packaging iterations every year. In our Q1 2025 quality audit, 11% of first-run samples were rejected because of marking legibility — not because the filling line was off, but because the ink or laser mark wasn’t consistent enough for the real world. That pattern changed how I buy coding equipment. It should change how you buy it too.

The Equipment Choice Is a Brand Choice

When someone asks me which printer they should get, they usually expect a spec comparison — print speed, IP rating, fluid cost per code. I tend to go in a different direction. The real question is: can this machine hold a quality standard at your line speed, on your substrate, for the entire shift?

That’s why I keep coming back to Videojet. The Videojet #1620 continuous inkjet printer has been in our plant for three years. It’s not the newest and flashiest, but the consistency is remarkable. Yet even a reliable printer can fail. One night last winter, we were pushing a rush order through, and the codes started drifting about 1/16 of an inch. I knew we should stop and clean the nozzle. Instead, I thought, “we’ve run it for two days straight and it’s basically the same substrate — what are the odds?” Well, the odds caught up with us. 320 cases went out before the operator noticed the codes were unreadable at a six-foot distance. Good thing we caught it before it shipped to the customer. That was a $2,000 rework and a lot of explaining.

We didn’t have a formal mid-shift code verification protocol then. The third time a faint-code problem came up, I finally created a simple checklist: check contrast drift, scan with a handheld reader, photograph a sample at line speed. It should have been there from day one.

The Videojet XL 170i Printers Changed My Expectations

When we simplified our packaging to include direct marking on more recyclable materials, we moved some lines to laser coding. I was skeptical at first. But the Videojet XL 170i printers are honestly a different class. No ink to dry, no nozzles to clog, and the mark holds up to handling. One thing I’ve learned is that laser power isn’t the only spec that matters — the delivery system, focus optics, and ventilation all determine whether you get a crisp mark every time. A machine with plenty of watts can still create an inconsistent code if the scanner is miscalibrated.

The Hidden Cost of a “Great Deal”

Now, let’s talk about money. Quality decisions often get cut when budgets tighten. I get that. But some cost-cutting moves cost more than they save.

A couple of years ago, we evaluated a China 2 kW laser cutting machine for a packaging enhancement project. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the equipment. It had the right power and a good price, and the sales rep was enthusiastic. But the biggest cost wasn’t the machine — it was the setup, service logistics, and consumables quality. When your production line is down, waiting three days for a technician from another continent is an expense nobody puts on a quote.

Consider a softer example. I ran a blind test with our packaging team: same label, same product, two different ink formulations. One was cheaper by about $0.04 per unit. 74% of the team identified the higher-priced ink as “more professional” without knowing which was which. On a 50,000-unit run, that’s $2,000 extra to measurably change how our product was perceived. Is that a cost or an investment?

I’m not saying cheapest is always bad. To be fair, there are inexpensive fluids that perform fine for some substrates. But you can’t make that judgment from a spec sheet alone. The risk is that you save on a consumable and lose a retailer’s trust over a code that rubs off in cold storage.

What Regulators and the Mail System Teach About Output Quality

One of the least glamorous arguments for code quality is compliance, and I take it seriously. Per the FTC’s Green Guides, if you make environmental claims like “recyclable” on your packaging, the claim must be substantiated and clear. That’s not my interpretation — that’s FTC guidance at ftc.gov. If your mark fades and a consumer can’t read the claim, you’ve undermined the legal basis for the claim. The same holds for ingredient or origin claims.

Even the postal service has something to say. According to USPS Business Mail 101, barcode and address contrast on a mailpiece needs to meet scanning thresholds. If a shipment’s label is blurred or too faint, automation machinery may reject it, causing delays and extra fees. I like to point to this when someone tells me “a code is just a code.” On the contrary, the code is often the only thing the automated world uses to identify your product.

But What if the Customer Never Sees It?

I frequently hear: “The code is only for internal traceability. Customers don’t read it.” That is comfortable, and it’s wrong.

For food, beverage, and pharmaceutical packaging, the date code is one of the most-read pieces of text on the package, second maybe to the logo and product name. Customers absolutely judge a best-by date that looks like it was printed by a worn-out ribbon. And in e-commerce, the shipping label represents your brand before the box even opens. A faded or crooked label reads as a sign of careless handling.

Granted, the core product quality matters first. I would never argue that coding quality replaces product excellence. But it is a component of product excellence. When a customer sees a clean, consistent mark, they get subconscious proof that your whole operation is precise. When they see a smudge or a partial code, they wonder what else is off on the inside.

Regional Support Is a Quality Decision

One more thing, because it’s the hardest to evaluate before you buy: service responsiveness. The physical quality of your mark is only as good as the maintenance and calibration your equipment receives. A CO2 laser in Spokane, WA doesn’t care about a national support center that’s only open during business hours. Same for a CO2 laser in Cleveland, OH. I’ve seen line managers in both cities lose a full day waiting on a remote support queue for a machine that needed a quick local fix. The quality of support, and the availability of original parts and cleaning solutions, ends up being a quality issue.

That’s actually why I’ve come to appreciate the Videojet ecosystem. It’s not just the hardware. It’s the fact that service engineers are trained, parts are original, and cleaning solutions are formulated to keep the printhead consistent. You can buy cheaper supplies, and you might be fine — until you aren’t. With a high-speed line, that “until” can be catastrophic.

The Bottom Line: Your Code Is Your Signature

Let me leave you with this: on a store shelf, your code is part of the product’s face. It’s a signature of the factory that made it. If it’s smudged, unreadable, or misplaced, no amount of beautiful packaging design can make up for the instinctual impression that this brand doesn’t sweat the details.

In my department, we’ve stopped treating code quality as a finishing detail. It’s a first-line quality checkpoint. That shift, implemented in 2022, reduced customer complaints about product identification by 34%. It also made our internal audits calmer, because a code that looks right at the start of the shift is more likely to look right at the end of the shift.

If you’re choosing between a coding solution and hoping it doesn’t matter, I’d respectfully suggest you’re missing the point. Every decision about equipment, fluids, parts, and service is a decision about the brand your customer sees. Make it a conscious one.