Happy Anniversary. You've come a long way Barcode!

Google features a Code 128 bar code as its logo today, in honor of the bar code patent's 57th "anniversary." The creators were originally granted a patent on a bar code that consisted of concentric circular lines, instead of the parallel lines we are so familiar with today. Bar codes are printed or tagged on virtually every product we use each day.

Bar codes in the ID industry have been largely used as tracking or accounting keys for measuring payroll time & attendance or access control to a building.

Without the bar code, time tracking would still rely on analog time clocks that stamped the date and time, as well as clerks who tallied each card every week, and then adjusted employees' time sheets.

Leading workforce and talent management companies like Kronos and ADP have migrated some users away from bar codes in recent years, favoring more expensive contactless technology.

We say, even though many time-card users have switched to contactless smart or proximity cards, there is really no more durable, inexpensive choice than a laminated bar code badge. Read more about bar code time badges here