Inventory Control • Because nearly every package features some sort of barcode, businesses can use the technology to maintain tight and accurate control over inventory. Warehouses, for example, can scan barcodes on packages as they enter and exit the facility to maintain a record of every package housed at the warehouse. When these packages arrive at retailers, store staff can scan the products as they go on shelves and compare those records with records of barcodes scanned at the register to maintain inventory data.