What you see here is a USB Camera sitting in a coffee cup, pointing down at a blank sheet of paper. The cord is not actually in the way, it's above the paper.
Draw a small X on the paper where the code is supposed to go.

The coffee cup is resting on a book because that particular model of webcam does not have auto focus and needs a little extra height.

The blank piece of paper gives a plain white background.

When you slide the code card under the camera, it doesn't take a couple seconds to adjust the light, which results in faster scanning.
This is the best method I know for scanning the codes.

Tips:

• Use soft lighting. Harsh glaring lights create shadows which confuse the software.
• Bright is not always better. Try turning down the brightness on the camera controls.
• Blurry may be better. Many of the cards have defective printing, a slightly out of focus image helps blur these defects and makes the cards easier to read.