When you go shopping and purchase a few products from a retail store, you probably don’t really pay much attention to the UPC barcode on those products. In reality, it is likely you do not even notice these barcodes at all. However, in reality, these barcodes are an integral factor in how quickly the process of checkout is and have a huge impact on your shopping experience. These barcodes offer a range of information and data necessary to price your product and also help the retailer keep track of inventory and stock.
What does UPC mean?? UPC stands for Universal Product Code and is but one of multitude of barcodes formats used in the retail and other industries. This code was created and developed by the Uniform Grocery Produce Code Council, which would be the foundation for the UPC barcode. However, it was the scientist George J. Laurer that fashioned the code itself and the first UPC barcode labels.
The original UPC label was used to scan a ten pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum in 1974 at a supermarket in Ohio. Since that day, UPC labels have become a very ordinary part of our food and retail shopping experiences. Depending on the kind of product in question, UPC labels have the ability to tell us at the checkout the mass, the price, and sometimes the amount and sort of savings a coupon encompasses.
After this revolutionary invention, there have also been various other kinds of product barcodes that have been created and the UPC code was even upgraded itself into the EAN code. The science behind barcodes is becoming more complex as they try to contain more and more information and data in the same or even a smaller amount of space. Technology is consistently making these goals a reality as it offers improved methods of generating, reading, and understanding these barcodes.
What you need to know about the UPC Label:
As we already know, the UPC barcode was initially created as an easier and more efficient means by which checkers at retail and grocery stores could ring up items and further, to provide an easier method to keep track of inventory and stock levels. However, the barcode turned out to be such a fantastic and effective system that it provided an unprecedented level of organisation, that now almost every industry that produces or sell any kind of item or product uses it. The mastermind behind who is responsible for developing the UPC codes for purchase by new companies is called the Uniform Code Council (or the UCC). The process goes as follows; when a business makes the decision that they want to make use of the UPC barcoding system, they make an application to that effect to the UCC for permission to do so. If your request is accepted, then you will have to pay an annual fee. However, this annual renewal fee can be avoided, as there are many local legitimate barcode resellers that can provide you with barcodes at a discounted rate without having to pay an annual renewal fee!
Any UPC barcode symbol you find can be split into two parts: the barcode image that is machine readable, and the twelve-digit code that can be read and input manually if the barcode has problems being scanned. Reading the UPC is simple. The first six digits represent the identification number for the manufacturer and the following five digits represent the item number. It is important that one employee at each company be assigned as the UPC coordinator. It will be their responsibility to allocate item numbers for every different product and to maintain an inventory of what numbers have been used so as to ensure that the same item number is not used for two separate products. They will also be responsible for retiring barcodes when the company stops producing the product attached to that barcode. This employee must also make sure to assign different barcode numbers to products that are the same but come in different sizes or colours. For example, a single pack of gum must have a different barcode for each different flavour the gum comes in, and also each different size if that is applicable. The last number in a UPC code is known as the check digit. This is the digit that indicates to the scanner that the number has been scanned correctly. If the number is not scanned correctly, the cashier will have to manually type the UPC code in by hand.
For more information on how to register a barcode in South Africa
