The barcode has been around for 50 years, but the end is approaching.
A cheerful bleep at the checkout: a sound that has become an integral part of the supermarket. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the barcode. But soon it will come to an end. From 2027, the barcodes will be replaced by QR codes.
Mirjam Karmiggelt is director at GS1, the company that manages barcodes of products: from peanut butter jars to garments. She explains that a barcode is made up of dashes that in turn represent a unique set of numbers. Usually, that sequence has thirteen digits, the first three of which represent a country code. The other figures refer to the company and the article, among other things.
By scanning the barcode, the physical product is linked to a digital system. "That helps with searching, sharing and ordering product information," says Karmiggelt. "A barcode represents hundreds of pieces of data, such as the size and ingredients of a product, as well as photos."
Barcode celebrates its 50th anniversary: That’s when the first bleeps were heard in the supermarkets.
The barcode was coined in 1949 by Americans Joe Woodland and Bernard Silver. Inspired by the concept of Morse code, Woodland drew out his idea on Miami Beach with a finger in the sand. But it would be many years before the invention was put into use. A computer and a scanner that could read the barcode did not yet exist.
It wasn't until 1974, on June 26, that the first product at an American supermarket was given a barcode. About two years later, the code also made its appearance in the Netherlands. The first product to be scanned was a pack of Douwe Egberts coffee in an Albert Heijn store in Heemskerk.
In January 1977, De Telegraaf described the switch from the supermarket to the computer, a "piece of technical ingenuity" that "keeps track of the entire ins and outs of this branch". Thanks to the "stickers with a number of stripes", the cashier no longer had to type in the prices by hand. Because the lines are read "through an electronic eye by the computer", many errors would be prevented, the newspaper wrote. In addition, long waiting times at the checkout would be a thing of the past.
Noortje van Genugten of Albert Heijn knows that the barcode caused a lot of change at the time: "Nobody was used to having to bleep something. In fact, it was such a revolution that a number of suppliers found it exciting and therefore we only stuck barcodes on our products in the store."
After more than fifty years, the familiar barcode will disappear from the packaging. In 2027, it will make way for the checkered QR code. The main reason is that the new code can contain a lot more information in addition to an identification code. And the code can be linked to all kinds of information sources. In addition, consumers can scan QR codes themselves with their smartphones.
"This allows you to share an infinite amount of information," says Karmiggelt. For example, about the sustainability aspects of products. "Think of certificates, origin or recycling information."
In any case, Van Genugten of Albert Heijn is enthusiastic about the upcoming change. For example, she wants to put recipe tips and allergy information in the QR codes. "The most frequently asked question from Dutch people is: what are we having for dinner tonight?"
It will be quite a job to replace all packaging barcodes with a QR code. There are an average of 17,000 items in a supermarket, says Van Genugten. By the end of 2027, Karmiggelt and Van Genugten expect all cash registers to be ready to scan QR codes.
Source: NOS-link
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