Know the Facts

Did you know that the first product to bear the bar code was a packet of Wrigley's chewing gum.

In June 1974, a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum was the first product to be bar coded and was scanned on the first UPC scanner, made by NCR Corp (then called National Cash Register Co).

The pack of gum was not intended to be the first product with a bar code to be scanned. It just happened to be the first item lifted from the shoppers cart by a cashier and scanned.

Today, the pack of gum is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.