UPC-A Explained
These acronyms change by their country of origin; i.e., JAN: Japanese Article Number; APC: Australian Product Number. However, ALL are UPC-A. UPC-A is an assigned retail product symbology requiring a fee paid to the UCC (Universal Code Council) in Dayton, Ohio. UPC-A is a numeric-only, self-checking symbology. The code is split into four sections. The first character is a code identifier. The next five digits are assigned by the UCC. The next five digits may be assigned by the manufacturer, which can be unique by commodity or commodity size; i.e., a twelve-ounce can of Coca-Cola would carry a different code than a sixteen-ounce can of Coca-Cola.
Applications For UPC:
- All products to be marketed in a retail store
