Forty years ago, on June 26th, 1974 at 8:01am,
the first UPC barcode was scanned. This marked the Marsh Supermarket of
Troy, Ohio as the first grocery store to use barcode technology and landed
Wrigley’s 10-pack of gum in the Smithsonian Museum.
The journey of the barcode began years before its first scan
as a result of a need for efficiency and error minimization. In 1932,
customers could purchase items by selecting punch cards from a catalog.
Store clerks would place the cards through a reader and give customers a receipt
and purchase items. This simple idea grew to become the first barcode,
which was in the shape of a bullseye.
Since its humble beginnings, barcoding technology has
developed to offer many benefits to users. With barcoding technology,
data collection is error-free, inventory is always accounted for, and
productivity is maximized.
