Editing Barcode (section)

===Universal Product Code===
{{Main|Universal Product Code}}

In 1966 the [[National Association of Food Chains]] (NAFC) held a meeting on the idea of automated checkout systems. [[RCA]], which had purchased the rights to the original Woodland patent, attended the meeting and initiated an internal project to develop a system based on the bullseye code. The [[Kroger]] grocery chain volunteered to test it.

In the mid-1970s the NAFC established the Ad-Hoc Committee for U.S. Supermarkets on a Uniform Grocery-Product Code to set guidelines for barcode development. In addition, it created a symbol-selection subcommittee to help standardize the approach. In cooperation with consulting firm, [[McKinsey & Co.]], they developed a standardized 11-digit code for identifying products. The committee then sent out a contract tender to develop a [[barcode system]] to print and read the code. The request went to [[Singer Corporation|Singer]], [[National Cash Register]] (NCR), [[Litton Industries]], RCA, [[Pitney-Bowes]], IBM and many others.<ref>{{cite web |first=George |last=Laurer |author-link=George Laurer |url=http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/a/laurergj/UPC/upc_work.html |title=Development of the U.P.C. Symbol |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925105745/http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/a/laurergj/UPC/upc_work.html |archive-date=25 September 2008 }}</ref> A wide variety of barcode approaches was studied, including linear codes, RCA's bullseye concentric circle code, [[wikt:starburst|starburst]] patterns and others.

In the spring of 1971 RCA demonstrated their bullseye code at another industry meeting. IBM executives at the meeting noticed the crowds at the RCA booth and immediately developed their own system. IBM marketing specialist Alec Jablonover remembered that the company still employed Woodland, and he established a new facility in [[Research Triangle Park]] to lead development.

In July 1972 RCA began an 18-month test in a Kroger store in Cincinnati. Barcodes were printed on small pieces of adhesive paper, and attached by hand by store employees when they were adding price tags. The code proved to have a serious problem; the printers would sometimes smear ink, rendering the code unreadable in most orientations. However, a linear code, like the one being developed by Woodland at IBM, was printed in the direction of the stripes, so extra ink would simply make the code "taller" while remaining readable. So on 3 April 1973 the IBM UPC was selected as the NAFC standard. IBM had designed five versions of UPC symbology for future industry requirements: UPC A, B, C, D, and E.<ref name="Nelson">{{cite book | last = Nelson | first = Benjamin | year = 1997 | title = Punched Cards To Bar Codes: A 200-year journey |publisher=Helmers |location=Peterborough, N.H. |isbn=9780911261127}}</ref>

NCR installed a testbed system at [[Marsh Supermarkets|Marsh's Supermarket]] in [[Troy, Ohio]], near the factory that was producing the equipment. On 26 June 1974, a 10-pack of Wrigley's [[Juicy Fruit]] gum was scanned, registering the first commercial use of the UPC.<ref name="Varchaver">{{cite journal | last = Varchaver | first = Nicholas | date = 31 May 2004 | title = Scanning the Globe | journal = [[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] | url = https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/05/31/370719/index.htm | access-date = 27 November 2006 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061114065720/https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/05/31/370719/index.htm| archive-date= 14 November 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In 1971 an IBM team was assembled for an intensive planning session, threshing out, 12 to 18 hours a day, how the technology would be deployed and operate cohesively across the system, and scheduling a roll-out plan. By 1973, the team were meeting with grocery manufacturers to introduce the symbol that would need to be printed on the packaging or labels of all of their products. There were no cost savings for a grocery to use it, unless at least 70% of the grocery's products had the barcode printed on the product by the manufacturer. IBM projected that 75% would be needed in 1975.

Economic studies conducted for the grocery industry committee projected over $40&nbsp;million in savings to the industry from scanning by the mid-1970s. Those numbers were not achieved in that time-frame and some predicted the demise of barcode scanning. The usefulness of the barcode required the adoption of expensive scanners by a critical mass of retailers while manufacturers simultaneously adopted barcode labels. Neither wanted to move first and results were not promising for the first couple of years, with ''Business Week'' proclaiming "The Supermarket Scanner That Failed" in a 1976 article.<ref name="Varchaver" /><ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/t-magazine/womens-fashion/28talk-rawsthorn.html| title= Scan Artists| work= New York Times| last= Rawsthorn| first= Alice| date= 23 February 2010| access-date= 31 July 2015| archive-date= 18 November 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161118202704/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/t-magazine/womens-fashion/28talk-rawsthorn.html?_r=0| url-status= live}}</ref>

[[Sims Supermarket]]s were the first location in Australia to use barcodes, starting in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|title=World hails barcode on important birthday|url=http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/news/logistics/1407/world-hails-barcode-on-important-birthday/|website=ATN|date=1 July 2014|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=23 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723051540/http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/news/logistics/1407/world-hails-barcode-on-important-birthday/|url-status=live}}</ref>