An Ordinary Purchase That Made History
At 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974, a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum became the first product scanned using a Universal Product Code (UPC). The scene unfolded at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, where Clyde Dawson, a Marsh executive, handed the gum to cashier Sharon Buchanan.
This moment, carefully staged with newly installed scanners and barcoded goods, marked the start of a global transformation in commerce. The technology behind it, however, had been in development for over two decades—originating with an idea sketched in sand.
Inspired by Morse, Drawn in Sand
In 1949, Joseph Woodland had left graduate school and was staying at his grandfather’s apartment in Miami Beach. One day, thinking about ways to speed up supermarket checkouts, he recalled his Boy Scout knowledge of Morse code.
While sitting on the beach, he drew four lines in the sand and then swept them into a circle, inspiring the concept of a barcode. He and colleague Bernard Silver filed a patent that year and were granted it in 1952. Their early prototype used a 500-watt light and oscilloscope and took up the size of a desk. Despite the innovation, it was too far ahead of its time and languished without application.
From Bull’s-Eyes to Black Bars
By the late 1960s, the invention of the laser provided the missing piece. RCA tested a circular “bull’s-eye” barcode system in a Cincinnati Kroger store in 1972, showing real performance gains. Yet in 1973, a technical committee charged with selecting a universal code design made a surprising decision.
Despite RCA’s functioning system, IBM, which had only recently entered the race, won. Its engineer George Laurer developed the rectangular barcode still in use today. Although Woodland was employed by IBM at the time, it was Laurer’s design that prevailed.
A Slow Start, Then a Worldwide Spread
Though revolutionary, the UPC didn’t gain immediate traction. Its breakthrough came when large retail chains like Kmart and Walmart adopted it in the 1980s. As barcodes spread, they transformed not just retail but manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare.
What began as a response to grocery-store delays evolved into a universal tool for tracking and managing goods. By 2004, Fortune estimated that barcodes were used by 80–90% of the top 500 U.S. companies. Woodland, whose original concept drew on dots, dashes, and beach sand, received the National Medal of Technology in 1992, the same year a presidential checkout photo brought unexpected attention to the very scanner he helped inspire.
At 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974, a pack of Wrigley’s gum was scanned at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
It was the first item marked with a Universal Product Code, the result of decades of invention, a story that began with a man dragging his fingers through beach sand…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/vzoj55pzBs
— Detective Tiger’s Stories (@TigerDetective) June 8, 2025