The invention of barcodes started in 1948 when a supermarket chain expressed interest in being able to have an automated checkout system in their stores. This sparked the humble beginnings of what we know today. The problem was finding a system that was inexpensive to implement, worked quickly and would be applicable to many different types of products.

Some of the first versions of barcodes were very similar to the type that we see today. These innovative ideas involved drawing patterns with ultraviolet ink or making circular patterns to describe the numeric sequences. However, this technology was hindered by the fact that, at the time, engineers were unable to produce a cheap, reliable and easy to use scanner.

It took until 1969 to develop an inexpensive, accurate and fast scanning system. The helium-neon laser scanner proved to do everything that was necessary to read barcodes. It was small and used a mirror to capture and read codes that were some distance from the scanner itself.

Even though the barcodes and scanners were in place, testing and refinement would continue until the late 1970s. At this time, it had become something that was affordable for a business and was easy to use and install. By 1980 most grocery stores in the country were using laser scanners or were waiting to convert to them. Standards were also made, giving rise to the Universal Product Code or UPC, which is still in use today.

Innovations continued in the following decades including hand held scanners and wireless scanners. The codes themselves diversified. From the simple string of lines came two-dimensional barcodes which appear as a series of dots inside of a square or circle allowing more information to be encoded in a smaller area.

The applications expanded as the technology became more accessible. From scanning supermarket food items it was then used for other types of retail sales. Then came use by the post office to help automatically sort mail. The technology was used by warehouses to track and move inventory. They became useful for medical identification of drugs, records and patients themselves when printed on a bracelet. The Defense Department even adopted barcodes.

Today, barcodes are everywhere. They help to process information quickly and accurately. They reduce errors and make changing large amounts of information very easy. They can even be seen in art and as tattoos. They are a symbol of the information technology age. Without them, today's modern world would slow down dramatically.

Imagine having to label every item in a grocery store with a price tag before putting it out on the shelves. Large pallets of merchandise would have to broken down by hand and checked for accuracy before shipping. Postal mail sorting would have to be done manually.

Fortunately, barcodes are a part of everyday life that will not soon go away. Although their form may change over time, what will remain is the efficiency and accuracy of a simple and inexpensive system that allows information to be gathered quickly from a dynamic source.

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