Message 24722 in TODAY.WW
From: KF5JRV
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 26 09:25:00 Z
Newsgroups: TODAY.WW
Subject: Today in History - Jun 26
Message-ID: <27365_KF5JRV>
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On the morning of June 26, 1974, at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum becomes the first
grocery item scanned with a Universal Product Code, or UPC. The result of years of scientific experimentation and industry coop
eration, the UPC barcode would go on to be used well beyond the grocery checkout counter, becoming a ubiquitous feature of mode
rn commerce, with billions of barcodes scanned daily.
The first version of a barcode was drafted by inventor Joe Woodland in the sand on Miami Beach in 1949. He designed a pattern o
f thick and thin lines arranged in concentric circles, readable by a scanner from any angle. Woodland took the inspiration for
his design from Morse Code, but instead of communicating through dots and dashes, the barcode relayed information through thick
and thin lines. He applied for a patent for his invention in 1949 and received it in 1952.
It took two decades to translate Woodland's idea into a functional barcode scanning system. In 1949, there was no practical way
to "read" a barcode's image. The invention of the laser in 1960 created new possibilities for scanning technology. At the sam
e time, computers became smaller and more affordable. Barcode scanners took advantage of both these advances. The new scanners
used the ultra-bright light of a laser to sweep across the black-and-white image of a barcode, communicating information about
the product and the price to a computerized cash register.
Grocery industry executives recognized the potential of these new technologies to improve efficiency and keep costs down in the
ir stores. They also realized that they needed a standardized system to effectively introduce barcodes industry-wide. The "Ad H
oc Committee of the Grocery Industry" convened in 1970 to develop a plan for implementing barcodes and scanners at the nation's
grocery checkouts. Kroger, independently, became the first store to install a pilot program of barcode scanners in their store
s in 1972. Kroger and RCA collaborated on an automated supermarket check out stand, which used Woodland's "bull's-eye" barcode
design.
The round design proved somewhat unreliable, however, because it tended to get smudged coming out of the printer. The Ad Hoc Co
mmittee selected a different design, based on a last-minute submission by IBM engineer George Laurer. He redesigned the barcode
as a rectangle, rather than a bull's-eye, which made the image easier to print accurately. Laurer's winning design, named the
Universal Product Code (UPC), combined vertical stripes with a row of 12 digits. Clyde Dawson, head of research and development
for Marsh Supermarkets, ceremonially scanned the first grocery item with a UPC on June 26, 1974, at 8:01 a.m. It was a pack of
Wrigley's chewing gum, proving that barcodes could work on even the smallest items.
The new barcodes and scanners in grocery stores garnered mixed reactions from shoppers, however. Some thought the lines and num
bers represented the "mark of the beast" from the biblical Book of Revelation. More widespread was the belief that barcodes wou
ld provide stores with a new way to rip off customers. The Consumer Federation of America launched a campaign against barcodes
nationwide, and protesters picketed stores with barcode scanners. The U.S. Senate even held a "symposium on the Universal Produ
ct Coding System." Due to the push back from customers, grocery stores were slow to embrace barcode scanners, with only 1 perce
nt adopting the new devices by the end of the 1970s. A decade later, however, the consumer backlash had ebbed, and more than ha
lf of U.S. grocery stores relied on UPC scanners. Since then, it has become arguably the most pervasive technology of the retai
l shopping experience.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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