Then your tech support simply changes to guiding people in the use of QR codes.

Those numbers have to be very low now that we are post 2020.

Really? I've been in the tech world for over a decade but think I've personally scanned only a single QR code in the wild.

For people outside our bubble they basically don't exist, though I'll admit this is probably quite location dependant.

I’m sitting here eating a chicken katsu curry in London and each seat at the bar has a QR code to scan and see the menu.

For the past 3 years a lot of restaurants switched to QR based menus for obvious reasons. So I’d wager to say that anyone that went out to eat in the last 3 years has interacted with at least a handful of QR scans :)

I’ve also seen hotels adopt “scan this code to get our WI-FI details”. Which is a pretty seamless experience and great

Oh I SEE qr codes everywhere. But I never see anybody using them. People do, obviously, but most of my friends and family never have.

For 3 years, when confronted with such a scenario, the people in my life who dislike QR codes have theatrically said something like "what are these stupid computer squares! I want a paper menu damn it!" Whereupon the staff and I share a knowing look, everyone rolls their eyes, and a paper menu is brought forth.

I always ask for a paper menu. Why should I trust them enough to visit an unknown URL on my personal device? Why should they trust the 3rd party service they're likely using to not be malicious? Why should I even be arsed to pull my phone out of my pocket? Plus, paper menus are way easier to see and navigate. Of course, most people aren't "theatrical about it", but I suppose there are a few that are.

Very true and valid points! I'm just not that security conscious with my mobile device I guess. I go to all sorts of unknown URLs on this thing all the time. It's practically the only thing I do with this thing.

To be clear, the eye rolling is about the theatricality of my family members' behavior rather than the request for a paper menu. I would also add to the benefits of the paper menus that it's much more socially cohesive than everyone at the table sitting around staring at their phones, even if there's a common reason to do so.

FWIW - I wouldn't call them "stupid computer squares", but I would be even more snarky and sarcastic and say "Oh... I thought I visited a restaurant, not fast food / door dash / uber eats. Am I in the wrong place? So sorry!" :P

Seriously - if I want food efficiently and robotically, there are many ways to obtain that. If I'm going to a restaurant with my friends, it's to pay too much money for a modicum of a social experience :P.

I don't want to spend first 5 minutes trying to get QR code to work, then next 10 minutes trying to read a menu on 5" screen (usually with poor scrolling and ads and whatnot, sometimes they make me install an app I'll never use again, etc), then another 5 min trying to order on a phone. I do not want to pay for anti-social experience. I DEFINITELY don't want my kids to try to figure out their food on my phone :D

I may be a cranky old grouch, and you're welcome to roll your eyes at me, but gimme a 20" menu rather than a poorly made bespoke 5" app :-/

I've even been to a few restaurants where they go a step further. Each table's QR code is unique and you can see the current tab for the table. You can then split and pay the check straight from that QR code. Pretty nice.

Heh. I just experienced that when I paid at the restaurant above! It was powered by Sunday https://sundayapp.com/en-gb/

In the UK during lockdown they became quite common as a way of ordering food to your table in a restaurant or pub. I think that's the only time I use them though.

They became popular in LA during 'Rona. They're still around in a lot of places but definitely less. We like real menus.

I am an it professional.

I've used qr codes maybe... 6 times, ever?

With probably 50% success rate before I give up.

I know for a fact that literally nobody else in my in law family of middle class Canadians has ever used a single one.

Anecdata of course, but if we're sharing assumptions... :-)

If you were out at all during / after Covid, restaurant menus were all QR codes on tables around me.

They are on posters all over. Commonly used for sign-ups and event entrance. It’s a mid assumption to think they are more popular in tech circles, I actually think the reverse is true.

There's a reason why restaurants quickly returned to physical menus: most of their customers hated QR code menus and the restaurant business is extremely competitive so you have to be responsive to what customers want to stay in business.

It's only in markets that lack competition that a company can do unpopular changes that reduce its costs without losing customers. For example, stadiums all went cashless "for your safety" and then never brought cash back. Which they can do for the same reason they can charge $5 or more for a bottle of water: they're basically a monopoly with a large captive audience.

One issue with QR codes in restaurants is that they force everyone to get on their phones which is sometimes exactly what you are trying to avoid by going out in the first place

Or your phone can die...

I went to a place recently where you ordered on your phone and it kept your tab open until you closed it... I had to race against my phone dying to pay.

As I mentioned in another comment:

I see QR codes everywhere too. But I never see them used , and nobody in my circle uses them. And the only times I hear about them is when people complain about them in Restaurants etc.

May very well be different in other locations (I'm in small town in Canada, just outside of Toronto, traveling to Ottawa frequently). I would guess without any evidence that downtown NY or Boston may see more use :).

That sounds almost impossible to me. I feel like half of everything I purchase which has a manual doesn't ship with a physical manual, but instead comes with a printed QR code to "get instructions". If it's a gadget that comes with an App, there will be a QR code linking to that app. I know multiple bars/ restaurants which won't send waiters to your table but expect you to scan the QR code on the table and order with your phone.

But for the qr-code manuals, how often do you refer to them? I see those regularly too, but pretty much never use them.

Similarly for restaurants - in my area, while there temporarily were big a few years ago - I don't really see any place that uses them now. The exception is when I travel to other cities.

The last monitor I bought had a QR code to scan for quick start instructions. The QR code went to the wrong monitor! After that I searched for mention of that in existing reviews and only found one person in Amazon who mentioned it. People didn't really read manuals before and I don't think they're scanning QR code manuals nowadays.

I'm the same. I've been in IT in one form or another 30+ years and have actually scanned a QR code maybe as many times as you have, probably less. I watched my usually brilliant wife spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to scan a QR code with her Android before she gave up and just typed in the URL.

The number 1 reason I don't bother is that, in my experience, they rarely work.

We've started doing nothing but QR for links and portals. People on the whole don't type in URLs, but they always have a smartphone or tablet. Designing for mobile is the only way to easily allow a room full of people to actually visit a page, and until laptops have cameras that can face backwards, there's not a lot of competition.

Tech changes decently quickly so sometimes it is easy to just stick with what you know. Today I was standing in my driveway trying to open the garage door with my phone. After about a min of going thru random menus and whatever I said 'whatever' and just went thru the house and pushed the button. I will figure it out when I am not in a rush. Also you hand me a QR code I am going to be a little annoyed but also grateful at the same time. The annoying part is getting out the app to do it. The grateful part is not having to type something like that into the tiny interfaces we like to use for phones.

Also time to share one of my favorite shortcuts I use all the time. ctrl enter while in the title bar will add https://www. and the .com bit on the end of any string. Works in firefox and chrome.

On iPhones you swipe right from the Lock Screen. Android has a shortcut to double tap the power button.

I don’t know if I ever go searching for an app to open a QR code.

Think both of those actions are open camera app?

And then you point the camera app at the QR code, and then click the link that appears over the QR code. Neither Apple nor Android require a QR code reader app.

Open camera and point here. Done.

Until you realize grandma has a spam version of camera she installed that doesn't support QR codes