Interesting Facts you do not know about Barcodes Barcodes have been around since 1974. The first barcode was printed on a packet of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Gum at Marsh’s Supermarket in Ohio. Since then, they have taken the world by storm. You cannot walk into a store without seeing a barcode. They have made our lives easier in so many different ways. These days, we take them for granted. There are many funny facts about barcodes and this is what this blog is all about. Facts About Barcodes Many conspiracy theories exist relating to barcodes. Some conspiracy theorists claim that barcodes are the mark of the devil – also called mark of the beast. They claim that the evil number 666 is encoded into UPC barcodes in the three sets of double lines. A second conspiracy theory about barcodes is that they are chip cards that governments have been forced to implement by aliens who need a way to identify us. A third conspiracy theory is that barcodes are used by governments in order to control the population of the world. In America, there are people who believe that the government is implanting RFID chips in people via vaccinations. The goal of all this is for the government is to control all consumer behaviour. Barcodes are starting to be placed onto gravestones. When the barcode is scanned it brings up information about the deceased person such as their name, age of death, their family members, their career, their country of origin, etc. Throughout the world, on any given day, over five billion barcodes are scanned. Barcodes in China all begin with the number 8. The reason for this is that this number is pronounced in the same manner as the word prosperity. Due to this, it is considered lucky. Dr. Stephen Buchmann developed the world’s smallest barcode. This barcode was small enough to be attached to bees in order to track their mating habits. Each horizontal line of the bar code was one thousandth of an inch in width. When barcodes were first created, wineries did not want to place barcodes on their labels. The reason for this is that they wanted the bottles to be table decoration and they believed that barcodes would ruin this. Futurologists are of the opinion that bar codes will be replaced by Radio Frequency Tags. These are extremely small and capable of being hidden in the product’s packaging. Rather than having to scan each item, the barcode scanner will simply add up each item as the customer pushes the shopping cart up to the checkout counter. There is a website called https://www.barcodeart.com, where you can barcode yourself. All you have to do is enter in your gender, height, age and country and a personal unique barcode will be created. According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, barcodes save manufacturers, store owners as well as customers R17 billion a year. On average, a typist will end up making one mistake for every 300 keystrokes. On the other hand, the possibility of an error when scanning a barcode is approximately one in every million. Two thirds of all Quick Response codes are scanned by women. Snapscan is a cell phone app that was developed in Stellenbosch, South Africa. It uses QR codes in order to allow us to pay via our Smart phones. It is no longer necessary to use card or cash to pay for items. This makes it a lot safer as well as a lot more efficient and convenient. Barcodes are used in the Medical Industry in order to assist with matching the right medication to the right patient at the right dosage. It is also used for patient identification. All this has enabled the Medical industry to provide top quality care for every patient. Barcodes have even been an inspiration in the Art world. If browsing Google you can have a look at some of the amazing art that has been created from barcode images. Barcodes are also inspiring architects in creating buildings based on barcodes. An example of this is a building that exists in St. Petersburg, Russia. Buy Barcodes is proud to be part of this fascinating world of barcodes. We are South Africa’s only legal reseller of barcodes. We provide fully GS1 registered barcodes that can be used in stores throughout Southern Africa as well as internationally. We provide fantastic customer service and will go the extra mile to give your business wings!
