On June 26, 1974, a small pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum made retail history when it became the first grocery item ever scanned with a Universal Product Code, or UPC, barcode. The scan took place at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, and marked the beginning of a technological revolution that would transform shopping, inventory tracking, and modern commerce.
The idea behind the barcode dates back decades. In 1949, inventor Joe Woodland sketched an early version of the concept in the sand on Miami Beach, drawing inspiration from Morse code. Instead of dots and dashes, Woodland imagined information being communicated through patterns of thick and thin lines. He later patented a circular “bull’s-eye” barcode design, but the technology needed to read such codes had not yet caught up with the idea.
That changed with the development of lasers and smaller, more affordable computers. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, grocery industry leaders were searching for ways to speed up checkout lines, reduce pricing errors, and better manage inventory. To make barcode scanning practical across stores and manufacturers, the industry needed a standardized system. In 1970, grocery executives formed a committee to develop a universal code that could be adopted nationwide.
Early tests used Woodland’s circular barcode design, but it proved difficult to print accurately and could become distorted. IBM engineer George Laurer eventually developed the rectangular UPC design, combining vertical black-and-white stripes with a 12-digit number. This version was easier to print, scan, and apply to products of different sizes, making it the winning format for widespread use.
At 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974, Clyde Dawson, head of research and development for Marsh Supermarkets, scanned the first UPC-marked item: a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum. The moment proved that barcode technology could work even on small, inexpensive products and opened the door to a new era of automated checkout.
Public reaction was not immediately enthusiastic. Some shoppers worried that barcodes could allow stores to overcharge customers or hide prices. Others viewed the mysterious lines and numbers with suspicion. Consumer groups raised concerns, protests occurred, and adoption was slow. By the end of the 1970s, only a small percentage of grocery stores had installed barcode scanners.
Over time, however, the benefits became impossible to ignore. Barcodes made checkout faster, improved pricing accuracy, helped stores track inventory, and allowed businesses to gather better data on consumer demand. Within a decade, barcode scanners had become common in supermarkets, and the UPC soon spread far beyond grocery aisles.
Today, barcodes are nearly everywhere—from retail packaging and shipping labels to hospital records, airline luggage tags, and library books. What began with a single pack of gum in an Ohio supermarket became one of the most widely used technologies in the world, quietly shaping the speed and efficiency of everyday life.
