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A little reason to celebrate

National Barcode Day

History · June 26

A look at the barcode, the striped label scanned at checkouts, libraries and warehouses, and how its simple lines carry a product's number.

National Barcode Day falls on Saturday, June 26, 2027. That is 242 days away.

Look at almost any package in a kitchen cupboard and you will find a small block of black bars on a white background. That is a barcode, a way of writing a number so a machine can read it in a fraction of a second.

The idea is simple. The bars and the gaps between them come in different widths, and a scanner reads the pattern of light and dark as digits. Most store barcodes carry a product number, not a price. The price lives in the store's computer, which looks up the number when the item beeps past the register.

The printed digits under the bars are there for people. When a scanner refuses to cooperate, a cashier can type them in by hand, which is the barcode's quiet backup plan.

Barcodes show up far beyond the grocery aisle. Library books, shipping boxes, hospital wristbands and boarding passes often carry them. Square codes made of tiny blocks, the kind phones can read, are a close cousin that stores more information in a small space.

Marking the day can be as plain as paying attention. Count how many barcodes are within reach of where you sit. Notice the different shapes and sizes, from long thin stripes on a magazine to stubby ones squeezed onto a pack of gum.

The next time a checkout scanner beeps, that sound means a pattern of stripes just turned back into a number.

Ways to celebrate

• Count the barcodes within reach of your chair.
• Compare the barcodes on a book, a cereal box and a shipping label.
• Read the digits under a barcode and match them to a receipt.
• Look for a square phone code on a poster or menu.
• Watch a self checkout scanner read a crumpled label.

Dates

All national days on June 26

Also on June 26

• National Chocolate Pudding Day
• Forgiveness Day

Categories: History days