By 2004, 'Fortune' magazine reported, up to 90% of the top 500 companies in the United States use barcodes.
Inspired by the Morse code, Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver collaborated to build the first barcode reader in 1952. "Bob" Silver and Joe Woodland were credited for developing a system "20 years ahead of its time. They had the right idea but lacked the technology." As noted, "The vision was there but the difficulties in the way of its realization were daunting."
Joe Woodland recounted, "I remember I was thinking about dots and dashes when I poked my four fingers into the sand and, for whatever reason — I didn't know — I pulled my hand toward me and I had four lines. I said 'Golly! Now I have four lines and they could be wide lines and narrow lines, instead of dots and dashes. Now I have a better chance of finding the doggone thing.' Then, only seconds later, I took my four fingers — they were still in the sand — and I swept them round into a circle."
Eventually history was made in 1974 at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, when a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum became the first retail product sold using a barcode scanner. Gavin Weightman of 'Smithsonian.com' reported in September 2015, "Every few years, the small town of Troy in Miami County, Ohio celebrates an historic occasion that for a few giddy weeks puts it on the world map of the grocery trade. It was here, at just after 8am on June 26, 1974, that the first item marked with the Universal Product Code (UPC) was scanned at the checkout of Troy's Marsh Supermarket."
'Barcoding.com' added in 2004, "For more than four decades, barcodes have helped companies, large and small, more efficiently and accurately identify, track and inventory a variety of products, assets, supplies and more." Ten years after history was made, in 1984, some 33% of grocery stores were equipped with barcode scanners. Another ten years, in 1994, Toyota subsidiary, Denso Wave created QR Codes to assist in promptly tracking vehicles and parts.
Gavin Weightman continued, "The first 'shopper' was Clyde Dawson, who was head of research and development for Marsh Supermarket; the pioneer cashier who 'served' him, Sharon Buchanan. Legend has it that Dawson dipped into his shopping basket and pulled out a multi-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Dawson explained later that this was not a lucky dip: he chose it because nobody had been sure that a barcode could be printed on something as small as a pack of chewing gum, and Wrigley had found a solution to the problem. Their ample reward was a place in American history."
'Digimarc.com' reported, "The Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode might not be as universally recognizable as the Mona Lisa, but millions across the globe know it instantly.
The birth of the barcode is a story of imagination, persistence and ingenuity. The story has it all: lasers, Morse code and inspiration on the beach. And if that wasn't enough, don't forget bull's eyes, bean bags and a surprise appearance by Big Blue (IBM).
"To make the barcode universal, a consortium of grocery leaders created the Ad Hoc Committee of the Universal Product Identification Code. The committee then put out a Request for Proposals. International Business Machines (IBM) made a surprise bid, and they did it with Joe Woodland, who was then working for IBM. In the end, George Laurer developed a rectangular code because it could hold the necessary data, while being smaller than a bull's-eye and eliminating ink smearing. The Ad Hoc Committee was enthusiastic and decided to adopt the proposal in March 1973."
'Slate.com' reported in April 2014, "When George Laurer goes to the grocery store, he doesn’t tell the checkout people that he invented the barcode, but his wife used to point it out. 'My husband here's the one who invented that barcode,' she'd occasionally say. And the checkout people would look at him like, 'you mean there was a time when we didn't have barcodes?' A time without barcodes is hard to imagine now (in 2014). But it wasn’t that long ago, and the story doesn’t start with George Laurer. It starts with an engineer named Joseph Woodland.
"… In 1973, a group of supermarket executives led by Alan Haberman decided they needed to get some kind of scannable symbol in place to move people through checkout lines faster. They laid out a list of specifications that their ideal symbol would have and asked 14 companies, including IBM, to come up with a solution. That's where George Laurer comes into the story. Laurer was working at IBM at the time and was tasked with making Woodland’s circular 'Classifying Apparatus and Method' work.
"Laurer didn't think the bull's-eye would fulfill the specifications set forth by the grocery industry so he set out to make something that would. Eventually, Laurer came up with a rectangular design that fit more code into less space and didn’t smear on the presses (like Woodland’s bull's-eye symbol did). The 'Symbol Selection Committee' voted unanimously for Laurer’s rectangular symbol and code, which they named the Universal Product Code, or UPC. A year later, in 1974, a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum became the first item to be scanned with a UPC barcode. According to GS1 (Global Standards One), the agency which issues barcode numbers, there are now (in 2014) about 5 billion barcodes scanned every day around the world."
"To make the barcode universal, a consortium of grocery leaders created the Ad Hoc Committee of the Universal Product Identification Code. The committee then put out a Request for Proposals. International Business Machines (IBM) made a surprise bid, and they did it with Joe Woodland, who was then working for IBM. In the end, George Laurer developed a rectangular code because it could hold the necessary data, while being smaller than a bull's-eye and eliminating ink smearing. The Ad Hoc Committee was enthusiastic and decided to adopt the proposal in March 1973."
'Slate.com' reported in April 2014, "When George Laurer goes to the grocery store, he doesn’t tell the checkout people that he invented the barcode, but his wife used to point it out. 'My husband here's the one who invented that barcode,' she'd occasionally say. And the checkout people would look at him like, 'you mean there was a time when we didn't have barcodes?' A time without barcodes is hard to imagine now (in 2014). But it wasn’t that long ago, and the story doesn’t start with George Laurer. It starts with an engineer named Joseph Woodland.
"… In 1973, a group of supermarket executives led by Alan Haberman decided they needed to get some kind of scannable symbol in place to move people through checkout lines faster. They laid out a list of specifications that their ideal symbol would have and asked 14 companies, including IBM, to come up with a solution. That's where George Laurer comes into the story. Laurer was working at IBM at the time and was tasked with making Woodland’s circular 'Classifying Apparatus and Method' work.
"Laurer didn't think the bull's-eye would fulfill the specifications set forth by the grocery industry so he set out to make something that would. Eventually, Laurer came up with a rectangular design that fit more code into less space and didn’t smear on the presses (like Woodland’s bull's-eye symbol did). The 'Symbol Selection Committee' voted unanimously for Laurer’s rectangular symbol and code, which they named the Universal Product Code, or UPC. A year later, in 1974, a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum became the first item to be scanned with a UPC barcode. According to GS1 (Global Standards One), the agency which issues barcode numbers, there are now (in 2014) about 5 billion barcodes scanned every day around the world."
