Shopping has really changed over the past few decades. In the past, buyers around the world had to go through a lengthy process of checking product prices. Manufacturers and resellers went through the same process. Adding prices or tags to each product takes a long time. Now everything has changed. This is perhaps a huge contrast to what most people have experienced in the past decade.

As the pricing process has changed, so has the way people shop and sell their products. Customers can now leave the store a few seconds after making a purchase and receive an invoice from the store. The reason for this is the presence of barcode numbers. A barcode is a product search code made up of the strings and numbers you see. There is no information in the barcode. Most products made by manufacturers and products sold by retailers have a barcode attached to them either directly on the product label or on a sticker. Barcodes are for scanners connected to a computer that reads and tracks product price information. This process allows the seller to issue a receipt for the buyer in no time. Gone are the days when cashiers manually entered prices for items that used to be time consuming and troublesome for most customers.When you go to the grocery store or open the refrigerator, chances are you will see that almost every product has a printed barcode.