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If there’s something many folks take for granted, it’s barcodes – those little boxes containing a series of (usually) black-and-white lines, shapes, or dots on the packaging of virtually everything from snack bars to televisions. Barcodes encode data that allow anyone with the right scanning technology to understand the price of an item, how many of these items might be in inventory, details about the product, or a variety of other information.
Barcodes came to the fore on a commercial scale in the 1970s, a time when computer technology was infiltrating daily life more and more. The digital revolution was taking shape when, on June 26, 1974, a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum was scanned with a Universal Product Code (UPC) reader at Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. It became the first product successfully scanned by barcode. The modern UPC system was invented by IBM engineer George J. Laurer and the scanning technology used to scan that fateful pack of gum was developed by Spectra Physics, a company now operated under the tutelage of Datalogic.
The barcode has become a part of everyday life, and the related QR code and even the scannable Near-Field Communication devices that PCGS uses in all of its encapsulation holders – the only numismatic third-party grader to do so are - all here thanks to computers. Certainly, computers have a fascinating story of their own to tell. One of the most important chapters of computer history was written by Steve Jobs, whose work on the technology in the 1970s helped bring computers and other digital devices into the public’s hands.
Jobs was honored on the 2026 American Innovation Dollar honoring the Apple Computer titan’s home state of California. Adding the 2026 American Innovation Dollar, with its youthful, future-forward depiction of Steve Jobs, to a PCGS Registry Set makes a fitting way to honor National Barcode Day.