A Register reader named Rowan Archer photographed a self-service scale at a Tesco supermarket in Coventry showing nothing but the number 404, the HTTP status code for a missing resource. The unit had effectively clocked out, leaving shoppers unable to weigh their produce.

A second image from Archer showed another scale displaying 403, the code for Forbidden, along with a request for a staff member to fix its label feed. Whether the numbers are error codes or device identifiers is unclear.

The hardware looks like a model from the Avery Berkel XT series, possibly an XTi100, i101, x100 or x101. The terminals have a large color touchscreen for selecting produce and can also play video ads designed to increase basket value. The scales run Linux; the i variant ships with 2GB of RAM, while the x version carries 8GB.

Mechanical scales once managed the same job without an operating system at all, requiring only a shop assistant with basic arithmetic.