Love them, hate them, don’t care about them, it doesn’t matter.

QR Codes are going to be around for awhile.

Saturday my friend and co-worker at Cirrus ABS, Kevin Mullett tweeted a link to a story on Mashable that shared 10 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes.

One of my favorites from the list was this one:

This past holiday season, retailer JCPenney allowed customers to add a personal touch to their gifts. When you purchased a gift from any JCPenney store, you received a “Santa Tag” with an accompanying QR code. By scanning the code, the giver could record a personalized voice message for the recipient. The the giver stuck the code on the package like a gift card.

 

Here’s the complete list:

1. Reinventing the Shopping Experience

2. Enhancing the User Experience

3. Streamlining the Customer’s Visit

4. Noting the Things You Enjoy

5. Give Customers Something They Want

6. Providing Real-Time Information

7. Initiate Share-worthy Competitions

8. Personalized Gift Giving

9. Help Your Customers Grow Their Businesses

10. Share Modern Day Mixtapes

Read the whole story for examples of each of these.

Tomorrow I’ll dig in depth my experience with a QR code at a supermarket, and then Thursday, one of the worst examples of QR code placement.