Often people do not know how to read the barcode on products that they buy in stores, and after all, these obscure black bars with spaces can tell not only about the country of manufacture, but also some important parameters of the product.
In the symbols of this designation, a person understands only the numbers that are at risk. What is a country barcode? This term refers to a special graphic image of digital information. It is a collection of strokes and spaces that are designed to be read by appropriate devices. In this case, the first two or three digits indicate the country of origin.
It is worth noting that the barcode was invented and patented in 1949 by Woodland and Silver. This invention allowed for a more accurate accounting and control of material assets during their journey from the manufacturer to consumers.
Today, they most often use the American universal product code or the European coding system. The most popular is the 13-bit code, which was introduced in Europe in 1977.
In Russia, two types of bar coding are used:
• European coding system with 13 digits;
• barcode system of settlement and payment documentation.
What can such coding tell ? The country’s barcode is the European product number that indicates the place where it was manufactured. Depending on the origin of the product, the figures under the first risks differ. It is worth noting that the barcode of the country is assigned by a special international association. It must be remembered that this code cannot include one digit.
Important: the bar coding system is the same for all countries except the USA and Canada. At the same time, the books may contain a barcode of the country with the so-called prefix, and some products may contain two types of coding at the same time using strokes and spaces of different thicknesses.
Buyers are always interested in the manufacturer of the products. Defining a country using a barcode is quite simple. It is enough to know the numbers that indicate the origin of the goods.
Barcodes of the countries of the world are very diverse. So, on the packaging of products from the USA or Canada, the first figures are 00-09, from Germany - 400-440, Poland - 590, China - 690, and from Russia - 460-469.
I must say that the definition of a country by a barcode is not the only information that can be obtained using this graphic image on goods. It also speaks of an enterprise that manufactures products. The barcode also indicates the individual parameters of the product itself - its name, consumer properties, dimensions and weight, ingredients and color. There is also a check digit. It serves to verify the correct reading of coding using special scanners. Sometimes another figure may be entered, which indicates the production of goods under license.
Bar coding is extremely important. It helps to easily keep track of goods through a network of computers, to know the volume of their daily sales, and also to prevent the transfer of unpaid products outside stores and supermarkets.