Today, we're celebrating a technological innovation that’s integral to our everyday life but often goes unnoticed: The Barcode! Yes, you heard it right! It's National Barcode Day!
This special day is celebrated on June 26th each year, honoring the day in 1974 when the first barcode was officially used on a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio. This little pack of gum made history, and its scanned barcode resides at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History today.
Believe it or not, barcodes have a fascinating history. Their conception traces back to 1948, when a local grocery-store owner asked Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia for a system to automatically read product information during checkout. This led to the birth of the barcode, invented by Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver. The first barcode was a bullseye symbol made up of a series of concentric circles – quite a departure from the familiar stripes we know today!
Here are some barcode facts:
- There are different types of barcodes, and the most commonly used are the Universal Product Code (UPC) and the Quick Response Code (QR Code).
- The longest barcode ever scanned had 138 bars and was scanned in Germany in 1997.
- The first 2D barcode, known as a QR Code, was invented by Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, in 1994 to track vehicles during manufacturing.
Now, for some fun! Engage with us on the following prompts for a chance to win a gift card! Make us laugh, cry, or just be creative. Winners announced end of week.
- Share with us the most interesting Barcode facts you have
- Share your thoughts on how barcodes have impacted global trade and commerce.
- Snap a pic of a barcode of something you have around the house - let us guess it!
- Speculate on what might eventually replace barcodes and explain why
- Earliest or most memorable experience involving a barcode - mine was a toy that wouldn’t scan
- What do you think of QR codes? Do you like restaurants still making you scan them for a menu?
