On: The world in 1975 (2007)

[intopieces]

I have a feeling that inventory control, price accuracy and the ease of training cashiers are considered reasonable trade-offs for how long it takes to ring customers.

[kuschku → intopieces]

Well, the cashiers memorized the EAN, the barcode.

Even today they often type the barcode faster in than it can be recognized.

For inventory control and price accuracy you get the same advantages as with barcode, but you can be faster and work without a barcode reader.