Coupons are changing...

Have you noticed coupon bar codes are starting to look a little funky? It's OK, they are supposed to, it's not your printer.

Coupons that were issued before 2008 had two UPC bar codes on them like this:

Then in 2008, the bar codes changed to look like this:

You can see how the actual bar code size has shrunk and the second bar code is now a Databar Barcode.  In 2010, coupons are gradually converting to look like this:

 There is a good reason for all this... The CommonSenseBlog says the purpose for this is that the DataBar barcode contains a lot more information that will ultimately make your shopping trip go faster, such as the expiration date, weight of the products accepted, exact products, quantity and any other information or restrictions that the manufacturer would like to put in the coupon.

Thoughts?