UPC stands for Universal Product Code. It is type of linear barcodes and mostly widely used for retail applications.
There are two variations of UPC
· UPC-A
· UPC-E
UPC-A
UPC-A is a variation of UPC and uses 12 digits for information encoding. Out of these 12 digits, 11 digits contain the product information while the last digit is the checksum digit. The eleven product digits are further divided into three logical categories. The first digit represents the information regarding the type of the product. The next five digits contain information about the manufacturer of the product while the last 5 digits contain information about the specific product being encoded.
UPC-A
UPC-E
UPC-E is a shorter version of UPC-A. UPC-E contains 7 digits in total of which 6 digits contain the product information whereas the last digit is the checksum digit. UPC-E is also referred as “Zero Suppressed” version of UPC-A because it suppresses all trailing zeros in the manufacturer’s information digits and all leading zeros from product information digits along with number system digit.
UPC-E
History
UPC was designed by an IMB Engineer named George Laurer in 1971. IBM has originally asked him to base his barcode design on bull’s eye pattern but he developed a barcode with pattern of vertical strips. With certain modifications and up-gradations, in 1974, the first UPC was pasted on a pack of Wrigley’s gum which marked the paradigm shift in the way people use to shop.
Purpose
It is one of the oldest and most widely used barcodes. The purpose of developing UPC was to develop such a shopping or buying system where salesperson does not have to manually enter the information of a product in the database. This saves time and minimizes human error unlike manual information entry. For this purpose, IBM developed UPC in order to ensure, quick, easy and reliable information encoding for the retail products.
Advantages
· One of the oldest barcode types, extremely portable.
· Contains only numerals; simple and easy to encode and decode.
· Self-checking mechanism through checksum digit.
Limitations
· Only numeric data encoding/decoding. Can’t encode characters and special characters.
· Little tolerance for damage. Cannot be decoded even if slightly damaged.
· Require close contact scanners to decode information.
Usage
· UPC-A is mostly used in USA, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Canada for encoding larger and simpler information.
· Used mostly in retail stores and small products. UPC-E is even shorter, and used mostly for food products.
Conclusion
UPC barcodes should be used in simple and retail stores product which do not require complex information encoding.