They fixed that fairly quickly in supermarkets when they introduced the star-shaped scanning surface with 6(?) lasers that could scan MOST items with a single swipe so long as the barcode was pointing down. And the big ol' red and green lights that flashed when you did it right or wrong.

Like this one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/42444189@N04/18522348892

I barely remembered it it's been so long since I worked a checkout one summer.