[NikolaNovak]

I am an it professional.

I've used qr codes maybe... 6 times, ever?

With probably 50% success rate before I give up.

I know for a fact that literally nobody else in my in law family of middle class Canadians has ever used a single one.

Anecdata of course, but if we're sharing assumptions... :-)

[SteveGerencser]

I'm the same. I've been in IT in one form or another 30+ years and have actually scanned a QR code maybe as many times as you have, probably less. I watched my usually brilliant wife spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to scan a QR code with her Android before she gave up and just typed in the URL.

The number 1 reason I don't bother is that, in my experience, they rarely work.

[washadjeffmad]

We've started doing nothing but QR for links and portals. People on the whole don't type in URLs, but they always have a smartphone or tablet. Designing for mobile is the only way to easily allow a room full of people to actually visit a page, and until laptops have cameras that can face backwards, there's not a lot of competition.

[basch]

If you were out at all during / after Covid, restaurant menus were all QR codes on tables around me.

They are on posters all over. Commonly used for sign-ups and event entrance. It’s a mid assumption to think they are more popular in tech circles, I actually think the reverse is true.

[bdw5204]

There's a reason why restaurants quickly returned to physical menus: most of their customers hated QR code menus and the restaurant business is extremely competitive so you have to be responsive to what customers want to stay in business.

It's only in markets that lack competition that a company can do unpopular changes that reduce its costs without losing customers. For example, stadiums all went cashless "for your safety" and then never brought cash back. Which they can do for the same reason they can charge $5 or more for a bottle of water: they're basically a monopoly with a large captive audience.

[KineticLensman]

One issue with QR codes in restaurants is that they force everyone to get on their phones which is sometimes exactly what you are trying to avoid by going out in the first place

[cozzyd]

Or your phone can die...

I went to a place recently where you ordered on your phone and it kept your tab open until you closed it... I had to race against my phone dying to pay.

[NikolaNovak]

As I mentioned in another comment:

I see QR codes everywhere too. But I never see them used , and nobody in my circle uses them. And the only times I hear about them is when people complain about them in Restaurants etc.

May very well be different in other locations (I'm in small town in Canada, just outside of Toronto, traveling to Ottawa frequently). I would guess without any evidence that downtown NY or Boston may see more use :).

[dlkmp]

That sounds almost impossible to me. I feel like half of everything I purchase which has a manual doesn't ship with a physical manual, but instead comes with a printed QR code to "get instructions". If it's a gadget that comes with an App, there will be a QR code linking to that app. I know multiple bars/ restaurants which won't send waiters to your table but expect you to scan the QR code on the table and order with your phone.

[squeaky-clean]

The last monitor I bought had a QR code to scan for quick start instructions. The QR code went to the wrong monitor! After that I searched for mention of that in existing reviews and only found one person in Amazon who mentioned it. People didn't really read manuals before and I don't think they're scanning QR code manuals nowadays.

[jacobr1]

But for the qr-code manuals, how often do you refer to them? I see those regularly too, but pretty much never use them.

Similarly for restaurants - in my area, while there temporarily were big a few years ago - I don't really see any place that uses them now. The exception is when I travel to other cities.