Point of sale (POS) terminals, price scanners, and handheld devices used by sales associates in places like retail establishments often incorporate dedicated bar code readers (or bar code scanners) to optically sense a bar code image and produce an electronic signal corresponding to the sensed image. A variety of dedicated bar code readers exist. Dedicated bar code readers typically include one or more illuminating light sources, an aiming light source, an imaging sensor, and electronics to process and interpret the data received. Generally, these readers can operate quickly and reliably for scanning bar codes on merchandise, but have limited interactive and communication capabilities and can be expensive, particularly when they are of the 2D variety.