1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: show for those interested in the big and small moments 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: of history. I'm Gabeluesier, and today we're celebrating a grocery 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: innovation that most of us take for granted, a humble 6 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: strip of black and white lines known as the bar code. 7 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: The day was June twenty sixth, nineteen seventy four, products 8 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: marked with bar codes were sold for the first time 9 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio. These days, you'll find 10 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: a bar code on nearly every product you buy, even 11 00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: fresh produce. These universal product codes, or UPC's, allow a 12 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: store to keep track of its inventory and easily pull 13 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: up information on each and every item it sells. The 14 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: system is so ingrained in society that it's easy to 15 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: forget not only how revolutionary it was, but also just 16 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: how necessary it became for the growing grocery industry. Of course, 17 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,759 Speaker 1: we now use barcodes for just about everything, not just groceries, 18 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: but the supermarket really is where the idea started. Way 19 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: back in the late nineteen forties. One stop supermarkets had 20 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: only been around for about a decade. By that point, 21 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: but grocers were already lamenting the slowdowns caused by their 22 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: ever growing inventories. They were now stocking hundreds or even 23 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: thousands of different items, and every one of them had 24 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: to be individually price tagged. Then at checkout, the increasingly 25 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: frazzled cashiers had to key in each price by hand, 26 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: and for products that didn't have price tags, they had 27 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: to look them up one by one. Those delays became 28 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: more frequent as time went on, leading grocers to pine 29 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: for the good old days when they could stock two 30 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: hundred items or less and get customers through their stores 31 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: much more quickly. Eventually, one store manager in Philadelphia got 32 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: so desperate he went looking for help at the local 33 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: Drexel Institute of Technology to see if they had any ideas, 34 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: and while the dean of the school ultimately turned him away, 35 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: word of the grocer's troubles caught the attention of a 36 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,799 Speaker 1: student named Bernard Silver. He outlined the problem to his friend, 37 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,639 Speaker 1: Norman Joseph Woodland, who was an inventor and a graduate 38 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: student at a different college. Woodland thought it was an 39 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: interesting challenge and started brainstorming potential solutions right away. Gradually, 40 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: he got so engrossed in the project, he dropped out 41 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: of grad school to focus on it full time. It 42 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: was a bold move, especially since it meant giving up 43 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: access to campus labs and resources, but in the end, 44 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: Woodland's inspiration struck far outside of a laboratory. After quitting school, 45 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: he moved to Miami Beach, where he lived rent free 46 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: in an apartment owned by his grandfather. And it was 47 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: during that Florida getaway, sitting right there on the beach 48 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty nine, that Joe Woodland had an epiphany. 49 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 1: He thought about Morse code, which he had learned in 50 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: the Boy Scouts as a child, and then, without thinking, 51 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: he began drawing vertical lines in the sand with his finger. 52 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: Years later, Woodland reflected on that moment, saying, quote, I 53 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: remember I was thinking about dots and dashes when I 54 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: poked my four fingers into the sand, and for whatever 55 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: reason I didn't know, I pulled my hand toward me 56 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: and I had four lines. I said, golly, now I 57 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: have four lines, and they could be wide lines and 58 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: narrow lines instead of dots and dashes. Now I have 59 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: a better chance of finding the dog. One thing. The 60 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: lines were a good but Woodland and Silver would still 61 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: need a way to read the code they formed, and 62 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: since there were no lasers in nineteen forty nine, that 63 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: posed a steep challenge. Back in Philadelphia, the pair built 64 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: and patented a rough prototype of the system Woodland had 65 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: envisioned on the beach. The resulting scanner was the size 66 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: of a desk and used a five hundred watt light 67 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,280 Speaker 1: bulb and an acilloscope to read a code formed by 68 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: the lines. Sadly, the device didn't work very well, and 69 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: although the idea itself was sound, there just wasn't a 70 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: way to execute it with the technology available. Even after 71 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: lasers were developed about a decade later in the early 72 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, there was still a long period when the 73 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: public wanted nothing to do with them. Most people thought 74 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,720 Speaker 1: lasers were like the death rays of science fiction stories, 75 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: so the idea of installing them at every check lane 76 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: in America wasn't on anybody's mind just yet. Thankfully, the 77 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: public'sphere of lasers had diminished by the early nineteen seventies, 78 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: and that's when a research team at RCA dusted off 79 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: Woodland and Silver's old patent and set to work. To 80 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: be clear, though the patent wasn't for the rectangular bar 81 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: code that Woodland had dreamt up on the beach. Instead, 82 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 1: he and Silver had patented a different design, shaped like 83 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,679 Speaker 1: a bullseye. They thought that shape would be better because 84 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: it could be read accurately from any angle. However, representatives 85 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: of the grocery trade weren't convinced. RCA had successfully tested 86 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: the bulls eye in its lab, but the concentric circles 87 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: of the design made it difficult to print without imperfections. 88 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: The need for legible codes eventually led back to the rectangle, 89 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,239 Speaker 1: but the final design didn't come from RCA At the time. 90 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: Joe Woodland was working at IBM, and when he heard 91 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: the bullseye had been rejected, he convinced the company to 92 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: take up the challenge of finding a replacement. It would 93 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,559 Speaker 1: be no easy task either, as during all that time 94 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: of trial and error, members of the grocery trade had 95 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: formed a symbol selection committee, which had its own strict 96 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: criteria for deciding whether to adopt a UPC or not. 97 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: It may be surprising to hear that grocers were so particular. 98 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: Given how desperate they were for a solution to their 99 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: inventory troubles, you might assume they'd take whatever they could get, 100 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: and honestly, grocery store owners and managers probably would have. 101 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: But the committee also included manufacturers, and they were historically 102 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: resistant to the idea of a universal product code. Their 103 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: chief concern was the extra cost and inconvenience of having 104 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 1: to print a code on every cardboard, box or tin 105 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: can they produced. But after four years of back and forth, 106 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: the committee finally came to an agreement. The requirements they 107 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: settled on were that the code had to be small 108 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: and neat no more than one point five square in 109 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 1: US to save money. It had to be printable with 110 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:07,280 Speaker 1: the existing technology used for standard labels, and it had 111 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: to be calculated so that only ten digits were needed 112 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: to represent it. Lastly, the barcode had to be readable 113 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: from any direction, at great speed, and with fewer than 114 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: one in twenty thousand undetected errors. It was quite a 115 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: tall order, but an IBM employee named George Lower eventually 116 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: delivered a workable rectangular bar code. In the end, about 117 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: ninety percent of the symbol selection committee said they had 118 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: high confidence in the symbol they selected, and rightfully so, 119 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: as the barcode worked so well that less than one 120 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: year after its selection, it was ready to be rolled 121 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: out to the public. The first store to test the 122 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: new technology was the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. On 123 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: June twenty sixth, nineteen seventy four, a cashier named Sharon 124 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: Buchanan scanned the very first item marked with a UPC. 125 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: The first shopper that day was a man named Clyde Dawson, 126 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: the head of research and development for the Marsh store. 127 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: And because I know you're wondering, yes, we do know 128 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: what items she scanned. It was a pack of Wriggly's 129 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Clyde Dawson reportedly chose it on 130 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: purpose because Wriggly's had helped solve how to print a 131 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: barcode on something as small as a pack of gum, 132 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 1: a major concern during development. Choosing that product for the 133 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: inaugural scan was a way for Dawson to show off 134 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: just how well the UPC technology worked, as well as 135 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: a way to say thanks to Wrigley's. The upfront costs 136 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: of adopting the barcode system weren't recouped as quickly as predicted, 137 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: but over time, as more stores began to use the system, 138 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: the cost of the hardware fell significantly, encouraging even more 139 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: stores and customers to get on board. And it's a 140 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: good thing they did, since the average American grocery store 141 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: now stocks about already thousand unique items, a level of 142 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: variety that just wouldn't be possible without barcodes. The scanning 143 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: of the first UPC was a major milestone in retail history, 144 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: but it is a little bittersweet that it wasn't Woodland's 145 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: design that won out in the end, even if the 146 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: final product was based on his original concept. That said, 147 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: it still must have been a thrill for him to 148 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,559 Speaker 1: see his idea come to fruition all those years later, 149 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: and because Joe Woodland lived until the year twenty twelve, 150 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,839 Speaker 1: he got to see the full impact his invention had, 151 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,359 Speaker 1: not just on the grocery industry, but on modern society 152 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: in general, because, in addition to retail goods, barcodes are 153 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: now used to track all sorts of important things rental cars, 154 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,440 Speaker 1: airplane luggage, package shipments, even wild animals. From a few 155 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 1: lines in the sand to one of the handiest tools 156 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: of the digital age, bar codes have come a long way, 157 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: Gabe Lucier, and hopefully you now know a little more 158 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you have 159 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: a second and you're so inclined, consider keeping up with 160 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find us 161 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: at TDI HC Show. You can also rate and review 162 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can get in 163 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: touch directly by writing to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. 164 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for producing the show, 165 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 166 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class.