Nonprofit makes $90 MILLION per year selling barcodes

Name: Nonprofit makes $90 MILLION per year selling barcodes
Uploaded: 2026-03-28T11:31:19+00:00
Duration: 1 min
Channel: Sam Parr
Description: The video explains the evolution of the barcode, beginning with its invention by Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver, who were inspired by Morse code’s…

28 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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The video explains the evolution of the barcode, beginning with its invention by Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver, who were inspired by Morse code’s thin and thick lines to create a system capable of generating countless unique tags. It notes the parallel development of laser technology, which made rapid scanning possible, and describes how grocery stores, overwhelmed by manual inventory tracking, formed an ad‑hoc committee that created the Uniform Grocery Product Identification Code, standardizing the rectangular barcode we recognize today. This committee eventually became GS1, a nonprofit that now controls barcode issuance. The speaker criticizes GS1’s pricing power, highlighting that the organization charges substantial fees for barcode assignments and generated roughly $81‑$90 million in revenue last year, effectively monetizing a ubiquitous product used billions of times daily.

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Here's a product that is used, I believe, 6 billion times a day. It's a barcode invented by these two guys, Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver. And these guys are inspired by Morse code. With thin lines and thick lines, we can create like an infinite number of unique tags for something. At the same time, in another part of the world, you get the invention of the laser. Really great way to scan something. And then in the third part of the world, grocery stores are having a really tough time. They're sort of by hand keeping track of all the inventory they have. There's so many units, it's taking so many hours of labor, it's so slow. So they create the ad hoc committee for the Uniform Grocery Product Identification Code. And they come together and they create the barcode and they change the shape of it. They change it to the rectangular shape that we all know and love today. And there became what's known today as GS1. GS1 is the nonprofit that issues these barcodes. You now need to use their system, which means they have infinite pricing leverage and they charge a shit ton for these barcodes. Last year, $81 million in revenue, a set of lines that they're selling for $90 million a year.