From The Editor Back in the 1980s, while uniform product codes were the "lingua check stand" in supermarket chains, discount stores were a bit tardy mastering the lingo.

Some, like Wal-Mart and Kmart, recognized the efficiencies in ordering, stocking and planning that bar code technology supplied. But they often found themselves haggling with soft goods and other suppliers to make them affix the black-and-white icon on packages or labels.
Some retailers, vexed by the situation, did it themselves. But they warned manufacturers to get with the program or face expulsion from their stores. Retailers held the clout. As such, in 1986, a uniform product code was endorsed by the then National Retail Merchants Association for discount and department stores.