Oh yeah - I've heard this tune. Not for profit - whatever! We acquired a company in 1994 that had a UCC manufacturer number. We already had one, so we didn't do much of anything with it. Now we have a sister company that we want to use it for. We thought that we had misplaced the number, so I called them about it. Long story short, according to the service rep, they have a policy NOT TO TELL YOU WHAT YOUR IDS ARE - ONLY TO CONFIRM THEM IF *YOU* TELL THEM WHAT THEY ARE.
How does this make sense? I would think they are interested in "reclaiming" your forgotten IDs after years of no use - but they have been assigned to your company, so they really can't tell if you are ever going to use them. They can't sell them to someone else and hope your company really doesn't use them! Their purpose for existance was to keep codes unique, but I'm not sure what it is now - I'm guessing to make $$. We were lucky and realized that we had actually documented the other number, and GS1 "confirmed" it was correct. ------------------------------ In the begining, there was no cost for the ID, then they started charging for them when more were in use and they were harder to keep organized (and were beginning to become scarce). Then there was a lawsuit, and they ruled that companies that obtained IDs before they were charging for them (sometime in the early 90s - I think 1992 or 1994) could not be charged, period. I know they desperately would love to get their hands back on some of the IDs they gave out long ago. Just 1 full 100,000 product ID they can seperate into 1,000 IDs with up to 1,000 products each for at the very least $1,000.00 per year each! ($1,000,000.00) Not to mention the $2,000.00 setup fee for each of those 1,000 companies. ;) Travis- -----Original Message----- From: Earl Wertheimer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 8:53 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [EDI-L] Getting a UPC prefix Here's the latest in extortion... One of our clients is starting to test with a Trading Partner that uses UPC codes. This will be their first 850/810/856 implementation. They had obtained a UPC number in 1994, but have never used it, and have lost all records of it. When they called GS1 (Canada) to get the number, they are being told that 'they do not keep records prior to 1997, and must become a member to obtain a (their?) prefix'. This sounds extremely fishy. There are only 99,999 UPC prefixes. This is not a big file. How can they are claim that they have no records of numbers issued before 1997? How can they issue new numbers without knowing ALL the current owners? I see absolutely no reason to join GS1 at this point, for a single TP. The cost would be in the thousands, for something that they have already paid for, and were told would be free... Anyone have a similar experience? Earl Wertheimer [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.spe-edi.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links *** Email Confidentiality Notice *** This message is private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and remove it from your system. ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
