On this date in 1974, the Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio... that pretty much signaled the beginning of the end of individuality in some ways. While making supermarket check-outs faster for the customer, it increased worker productivity for the stores, and what it did for inventory control for the stores and the product distributors... well... it completely removed the human element and let the digits do the talking in terms of calculating what sold, etc. etc. Bar codes first actually existed as far back as 1966, but the supermarket scanning first happened in 1974. I don't remember when UPCs started appearing on record albums, but I do remember that artists - both the recording artists and the artists who designed the covers were pretty concerned/upset about this. The record album seemed to be the last bastion of individuality and artistic expression and there was some Big ...