by 
The Curious Bag
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In a world increasingly dominated by technology and automation, bar codes have become nearly ubiquitous. Despite the abundance of bar codes, though, many people find themselves wondering just what purpose a bar code serves. From tracking inventory to automating retail transactions, bar codes are useful tools for all types of business.
Definition
A bar code is a pattern of bars, spaces, dots and sometime characters designed to be printed and read by computers.
Uses
Bar codes apply to nearly every use in which automation can be beneficial. Retail transactions, shipping, transportation, dispatching, luggage-sorting operations and even identification badges use bar codes.
Types
According to ID Automation, a technology company specializing in automation, at least 21 types of bar codes exist as of November 2009.
History
Railroads first used bar codes to identify railroad cars in the 1960s. In the 1970s, manufacturers began applying bar codes encoded with each product's universal product code (UPC) to automate retail transactions. By the 1990s, shipping companies created a three-dimensional bar code, which use white space and a series of dots rather than traditional bars, for use in tracking packages.
Considerations
Computers generate and read bar codes, but reproduction by fax machines and copiers can distort codes and inhibit the technology's effectiveness.
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