The Universal Product Code

A series of meetings between trade associations representing the two branches of the food distribution system culminated in September 1969 with a decision to seek a standard "interindustry product code." The result of this meeting and four years of research was the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.). On June 26, 1974, a 10-pack of Wrigley's chewing gum was passed across a scanner at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. It was the first item to be scanned at a check out, and it would change the world of commerce forever.

Today there are about five billion scans every day. The U.P.C. has allowed supermarkets to control their inventory more efficiently, provided a faster and more accurate check out for customers, and made gathering information for accurate and immediate marketing studies incredibly simple.

The effect has been felt in other industries as well. Barcodes are used in the medical industry to encode patient information and in the shipping industry to track and deliver packages. The uses of the U.P.C. have spread to all facets of the food and beverage industry, the government, the industrial/commercial industry and the transportation industry.

The Uniform Code Council (UCC) celebrated the first 25 years of the U.P.C.'s existence on September 30, 1999 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. A symposium was followed by dinner and the unveiling of the museum's new exhibit dedicated to the U.P.C.

The Universal Product Code

Barcode Origin
Key Facts
U.P.C. Uses
Pricewaterhouse Research
Ad Hoc Committee
Developers of the U.P.C.