By contrast, the bar-codes printed on supermarket products cost less than half a cent each.

ECONOMIST: Tech.view

That will do a lot to stamp out doping in sport, and most of those major codes can easily afford the cost of running that program.

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The exorbitant fees charged by some localities look more like taxes than honest calculations to simply recover the cost of ensuring an installation meets local codes.

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Then, in 2012, Marvel announced the acclaimed Season One graphic novels would also include similar codes making them the first graphic novels to ever include codes for free digital copies at no extra cost.

ENGADGET: Marvel Comics greets true believers with free digital copy for select print titles

Splitting Manhattan geographically would alienate half the borough and cost Nynex a fortune: when British Telecom split London's codes in 1990 it had to distribute 75m explanatory leaflets.

ECONOMIST: The sexiest code on earth

You can minimize the cost of things that eat away at your bottom line by registering for membership sites and rewards programs, applying discount codes, comparison shopping, and simply watching your spending.

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