First scanned in Miami Valley, barcode marks 50 years

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The black and white barcode found on most products is celebrating its 50th anniversary since the first scan right here in the Miami Valley.

The first ever Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was scanned on a pack of gum at Marsh’s Supermarket in Troy on June 26, 1974.

Jordan Frith, a professor at Clemson University, said after the first scan many people had doubts the barcode would catch on.

“Over and over again, people predicted that stronger and more powerful identification technologies would replace them, and it hasn’t happened,” Frith said.

The black and white bars have stood the test of time, now playing a crucial role in shopping, traveling, shipping and more.

“Without barcodes and the ability to identify individual objects, billions of them moving through the global supply chain, it’s almost impossible to imagine the level of globalization that we have today because there would be no way to actually quickly identify and scan the location of objects,” Frith said.

Frith said since the first barcode was scanned in Troy 50 years ago, new identification technology has emerged, including RFID and facial recognition.

However, Frith said that none of them have been able to replace the barcode fully.

“They’re used everywhere, and they’re a fairly simple system that works really well,” Frith said. “So, one of the challenges in replacing them is that we’ve invested 50 years’ worth of infrastructure spending, training all of that into barcode infrastructure.”