A method for enhancing the reliability of output data from a label reader adapted to read a bar code consisting of a plurality of bars. Each bar in the bar code is scanned at a plurality of points and sets of binary symbols representative of the scanned points along each bar are obtained. Two sums are then formed for each bar, the first being the number of binary "1"s in the set and the second being the number of binary "0"s in the set, and the ratio of two sums is computed. If the ratio is larger than (1+.alpha.) for .alpha.>0, then the data corresponding to the numerator sum is regarded as reliable. If the ratio is less than (1-.beta.) for 0