USA, Ohio, the city of Troy: June 26, 1974 08:01. Cashier Sharon Buchanan scanned for the first time at cash register in production standard barcode on the product packaging. This simple act have changed the retail world.
Did she know at that moment that after 40 years it will be the exercise, accompanied by a characteristic beep, performed 5 billion times a day, in more than 150 countries around the world?
Retail chains in the U.S. want to find a simple solution for coding of products and the possibility of automatic decoding at the box office. Several technology companies want to help them. After twenty years was developed the oldest barcode (called a bullseye) by IBM developers in form of symbol UPC (Universal Product Code).
Linear Barcode UPC in 1973 was chosen by the industry leaders in the USA for a uniform standard for product identification.
The first product with a UPC bar code, automatically decoded at the box office, was multipack of Wrigley's chewing gum.