It was met with more criticism than even Michael Moore could have mustered.
Union representatives said it would steal American jobs. Conspiracy theorists believed it was intrusively "Big Brother." Some Christians thought it hid the number 666, representing the Antichrist. TV talk-show host Phil Donahue called it a corporate plot against consumers.
It survived all of that to mark its 30th year this month.
Happy birthday to the Universal Product Code.
The UPC, the most common version of the so-called bar code, wasn't as warmly embraced nor as breathtaking as some emerging technologies, but its impact on retailing has been enormous. It saves $17 billion a year in inventory costs by one estimate, not to mention carpal tunnel syndrome for countless cashiers.
Other technologies, such as radio-frequency identification tags, might one day replace it, but the lowly UPC improved efficiency and supply-chain control almost invisibly.
One of the few times it gained media notice at all was in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush marveled at it during a campaign visit to a grocers convention in Florida. His reaction cemented a perception that he was out of touch with the public - many people were by then well acquainted with the technology.
The rectangle of stripes and numbers has even fused its way into pop culture: In the former Fox television series Dark Angel, Jessica Alba starred as a genetically altered fighting machine with a bar code branded on the back of her neck.
Human bar-coding is thus far the stuff of science fiction, but the United States government uses the symbol in Homeland Security efforts and airlines keep track of luggage with it. Several months ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required a version of the bar code to be put on medications to cut errors.
"I'm really proud of the fact what was originally designed to help move people through the checkout counter now actually helps to save lives," said Michael Di Yeso, a former Lutherville resident and president of the Uniform Code Council, which regulates the UPC and has offices in New Jersey and Ohio.
The code came about after a group of grocers got together in Ohio in the late 1960s to look for a faster way to serve customers, track inventory and make better use of employees who were stamping prices on individual products.
After consulting with several Dayton-based technology companies, the group, which would later become the Uniform Code Council, settled on the bar code and set about creating standards for its use.
