Q&A for How to Read 12 Digit UPC Barcodes

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Question

Will a UPC code tell you what store a product came from?

Community Answer

No. Products with the same UPC code are sold at a variety of stores.

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Question

What information do barcodes contain?

Community Answer

They contain the manufacturer and the item number. When a barcode is scanned, the computer system recognizes these numbers and associates them with a product.

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Question

Can I tell the price of a product just by reading a bar code?

Community Answer

No, but there are smartphone apps that allow you to scan a bar code and compare prices with the same product in other stores. RedLaser and ShopSavvy are two examples of these apps.

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Question

How do I find an expiration date with the bar code numbers?

Community Answer

UPC barcodes (and most other types) do not include expiration dates. GS-1 "DataBars" can encode expiration dates, but each seller may use a different system, so there's no easy way to read them. DataBars look like extra long barcodes, or two codes stacked on top of each other.

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Question

How do I find out whether a wine is dry or sweet?

Community Answer

This information is not on the barcode, but you may see a "sweetness code" on the bottle, the store shelf, or on online wine databases. The most common scale ranges from 0/XD (Extra Dry) to 5/S (Distinctively Sweet).

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Question

If the bar code doesn't have any longer lines, but they are all parallel, can I still interpret the code without the numbers, as noted in method two?

S J

Community Answer

Yes. Ignore the first three and last three lines. When you have six rows of four digits, ignore the next five lines and continue.

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Question

How can I tell a product's country of origin from the barcode?

Community Answer

Unfortunately, 12-digit barcodes do not include this information. 13-digit barcodes do start with a two or three digit country code. You can look these up on a "EAN-13" country code chart, but even this only tells you where the barcode was assigned, not necessarily where the product was made.

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Question

Would the serial number of an appliance be on the barcode?

Community Answer

The barcode is just an identification for what sort of product it is, not what product in that series it is.

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Question

Can a barcode tell you if a product is farm raised or GMO?

Community Answer

This information is not part of a UPC bar code, but may be encoded in a separate bar code on the packaging. Generally this information will be present in a human readable format if it is required/desired that it be made known, such as on health food products.

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Question

How do I know the expiration or production date on a U.S. product by its bar code?

Community Answer

This information is not part of a UPC bar code, but may be encoded in a separate bar code on the packaging. Generally this information will be present in a human readable format if it is required/desired.

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Question

Why would I want to read a UPC barcode?

Community Answer

One reason might be if the numbers on the barcode are illegible or another might be just out of interest. For example, many companies that make private label products for other companies use their own company information in the barcode rather than the retailer's. Sometimes if you can find the common company code you can see where the product is manufactured. It can also help you to see that a generic product was made by the same manufacturer that made the brand name product, allowing you to save money!

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Question

How do I know where a product came from on a 12 digit UPC barcode?

Community Answer

You can sometimes tell from the first 6-10 digits which company made it, other than that, the information is not present in a UPC barcode.

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Question

Can a bar code tell me the age of an item?

Community Answer

This information is not part of a UPC bar code, but may be encoded in a separate bar code on the packaging. Generally the date will be present in a human readable format if it is required.

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Question

Can a 12 digit bar code tell the shape of an object?

Community Answer

This information is not part of a UPC bar code, but may be encoded in a separate bar code on the packaging. Generally this information will be present in a human readable format if it is needed.

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Question

What does it mean when the product code starts with 5 on a UPC barcode?

Community Answer

It means that the product is identified as a coupon, the numbers “0” and “7” are general product categories, the number “2” identifies a random weight item marked at the store, and the number “3” indicates that the item is an over-the-counter drug. The number “4” indicates that the product is a non-food item.

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