Talk about a hidden value.
Walmart shoppers are losing their minds after learning that the store’s budget-friendly Great Value items come equipped with invisible barcodes — a secret hiding in plain sight since 2019.
In a viral TikTok clip posted by Walmart worker @beatsbycait, the employee used a handheld scanner to zap six products right in their middles — far from the obvious barcodes — revealing that the goods are plastered with covert codes.
“Real ones know almost all great value items have hidden bar codes,” she wrote in the caption, sending jaws to the self-checkout floor. The clip has racked up over 287,000 views and left viewers stunned — and slightly paranoid.
In the video, the content creator is seen scanning a Walmart product from all angles while checking out, showing that you don’t have to scan the designated barcode to ring up an item.
How it works is that bar codes are hidden so self-checkout scanners can recognize products even when customers aren’t aiming directly at the traditional barcode — making theft harder, since traditionally it’s easy for people to skip scanning at item at self-checkout registers.
The tech was developed by barcode company Digimarc and has been around for five years.
“Walmart is a forward-thinking technology leader with an unwavering focus on customer experience,” Digimarc CEO Riley McCormack said in a statement in 2022.
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with them and look forward to sharing more details about this expansion in the coming months.”
While the retailer cracks down on checkout cheaters, it’s also doing some internal cleanup.
Walmart recently announced more than 1,000 corporate job cuts in a bid to tighten belts and streamline its sprawling empire.
In a company-wide memo this month, Walmart US CEO John Furner and Global CTO Suresh Kumar said the move was to “remove layers and complexity, speed up decision-making, and help associates innovate rapidly.”
“The world of technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and reshaping our structure allows us to accelerate how we deliver and adapt to the changing environment around us,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, tariff tensions are adding pressure. Earlier this year, Walmart execs met with President Trump, who slashed duties on Chinese imports — but not enough for Walmart to eat the cost.
The company couldn’t “absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon — prompting Trump to fume on Truth Social that the chain should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”
Eventually, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed a truce of sorts: Walmart would “absorb some of the tariffs while some costs will get passed on to consumers.”
Turns out the real hidden code is knowing when prices will go up — or disappear entirely.
