Barcodes are a familiar feature of product packaging today. On June 26, 1974, the first product with the Universal Product Code barcode was scanned at a checkout counter. It was, historians say, a 10-pack of Wrigley's chewing gum.

The adoption of the U.P.C. would transform bar codes from a research project into a requirement for business. The effect this little patch of black and white vertical lines would come to have on the distribution industries of every major economy on the globe would be staggering
Source(s):
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_images.jsp?cntn_id=100278&org=NSF


Permalink | Report