How the First Bar Code Scanner Changed Retail

In Episode 142 of Tech History with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna revisit the morning of June 26, 1974, when a pack of Wrigley's gum became the first product to be scanned at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio. They explore how the bar code—a technology originally developed for railroad cars—found its way into retail, the engineering race between RCA and IBM, and the quiet revolution that turned a simple pattern of lines into the backbone of modern inventory. The episode drills into the specifics: the 10-pack of Juicy Fruit, the scanner built by NCR, and the decades-long adoption curve that followed. It's a story of patience, standards, and the unglamorous infrastructure that shapes everyday commerce. Lucas and Luna also touch on how the bar code's success hinged on a single-company bet and what that means for today's tech giants. Expect a focused narrative with one concrete takeaway: the bar code didn't just speed up checkout—it created a new form of data that changed how businesses see their own operations. #BarCode #RetailTech #TechHistory #MarshSupermarket #WrigleysGum #NCR #IBM #RCA #InventoryManagement #Logistics #Technology #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #SiliconValley #Innovation #RetailRevolution #DataRevolution Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo