U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for June 26: Setting the Bar

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2017  /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

SETTING THE BAR

Profile America — Monday, June 26th. Whoever bought a pack of chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, on this date 43 years ago was making history. It was the first purchase of an item to be scanned into a cash register by using the Universal Product Code — much better known as the bar code. The 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit is now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., along with one of the early scanners. The price-scanning concept actually dates from the early 1950s, employing a bull's-eye type mark. But it proved cost prohibitive. Today, the bar code is part of everyday life for the $4.2 trillion worth of annual transactions in America's nearly 1.1 million retail trade establishments, and the 14.7 million people who work in them. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
First bar code scan/accessed 3/29/2017: www.cbsnews.com/news/say-happy-40th-birthday-to-the-upc-code/ 
Early scanner/accessed 3/29/2017: http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventions/a/Bar-Codes.htm 
Retail trade/NAICS 44-45: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/00A1//naics~44-45

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).

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