Sure-QR guide
QR codes on product packaging
Packaging has the longest tail of any print job. A carton printed this year can still be in a cupboard in five years' time.
The print run is the constraint
Packaging is ordered in tens of thousands of units and used until the pallet is empty. You cannot correct a mistake mid-run and you cannot recall what is already on shelves.
That makes packaging the strongest case for never encoding a destination directly. Print a code that points at an address you control, and keep control of where it resolves for as long as the product exists.
What people actually want when they scan a pack
- Instructions, assembly steps, or a how-to video — the most scanned destination on physical goods.
- Ingredients, allergens, sourcing, or compliance detail that will not fit on the label.
- Registration or warranty activation.
- Reordering, refills, or spare parts.
Printing on curved and flexible surfaces
- On a bottle or tube, keep the code on the flattest available panel. Curvature across the code distorts the pattern and cuts read rates.
- On flexible film, allow more size than you think — creasing across the finder squares in the corners is the most common failure.
- Never place a code across a fold, seam, or perforation.
- Check the code after the varnish or lamination pass, not before. Coatings change contrast.
What happens if you stop paying
This is the scenario most brands never plan for: the product is still on shelves, the marketing budget has moved on, and the QR subscription quietly lapses. With most providers that means a dead link or an interstitial advert on your own packaging.
Sure-QR makes you answer that question when you create the code. Set the fallback to your main product page and a lapsed subscription becomes a redirect to your own site rather than an error in a customer's hand.
Frequently asked questions
- What size should a QR code be on packaging?
- For a code scanned at arm's length, 2cm square is a sensible minimum and 2.5 to 3cm is safer on textured or flexible material. Scanning distance matters more than absolute size: as a rule of thumb the code should be at least a tenth of the distance it is scanned from.
- Can I change where the code goes after the packaging is printed?
- Only if it is a dynamic code. Dynamic codes resolve through a short Sure-QR address that you can repoint at any time. A static code has the destination inside the printed image and cannot be changed.
- Does a coloured code still scan?
- Usually, provided there is strong contrast between the pattern and the background, and the pattern is the darker of the two. Test the exact print, on the exact substrate, before signing off.
- How long do QR codes last?
- The printed pattern does not expire. What expires is the thing it points at. A static code lasts as long as its destination does; a dynamic code lasts as long as you keep its destination current — and if you stop, it goes to the fallback you chose.