Help identifying vintage toolbox

[L.Hoffee]

I just got this old toolbox that belonged to my grandpa, and my mom says he had it as long as she could remember. Can anyone help me find a year he might’ve bought it?

 

[Leviton]

The label has a UPC code so it has to be 1974 or newer,

 

[L.Hoffee]

The label has a UPC code so it has to be 1974 or newer,

Thanks! I never would’ve known that.

 

[four.cycle]

Vermont / Vermont American Tool / est. 1947 (Louisville KY) acquired by Robert Bosch GmbH 2000 / https://vermontamerican.com / https://vermontamerican.com/vermont-american-history /

can't be older than 1974
doubtful that it's newer than 2000

 

[RTM]

Vermont / Vermont American Tool / est. 1947 (Louisville KY) acquired by Robert Bosch GmbH 2000 / https://vermontamerican.com / https://vermontamerican.com/vermont-american-history /

can't be older than 1974
doubtful that it's newer than 2000

2nd link is 404 on my phone.

Based on the price, I'd put it at late 70s, early 80s. I think 1974 is a bit aggressive, that is first UPC use. I recall many retail establishments not using them when I was in HS, so that makes me think post '78. And certain ones didn't have them when I was in college, thus the early 80s
KMart, as a big retailer might have been earlier. To check my sanity, I did google it.

Google AI says: Kmart started using barcodes on their merchandise in the late 1970s. While the first UPC barcode was scanned in a grocery store in 1974, it was Kmart's widespread adoption of the technology in the late 1970s that significantly popularized it in mass merchandising, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. This helped to streamline inventory management and improve checkout efficiency.

But someone with boots on the ground on FB said:


Two separate issues here. Point of Sale Shelf Edge Marking (as shown in the top left corner of the original email), was the counter label that replaced the labor intensive job of putting a price ticket on each package. The second component to POS involved store registers actually scanning the the Uniform Product Code (UPC) on each customer’s purchase…. to tabulate sales and reorder merchandise. The first Kmart utilizing registers at checkouts to read packaging barcodes, ring up the sale and reorder was Kmart 3308 in Lake Orion, Mich. That original POS system was developed by T Chase’s team at KRC. It went live in KM3308 approximately 1986. For the record Kmart implemented this POS sales register scanned system well before most other general merchandise retailers, including Walmart.

 

[yatg]

Re: scannable codes
Last time I went to Hobby Lobby, probably 11/2024, for each item they manually keyed in the code into the register. Don't think it was a UPC code, but a store item code. There was 1 register open, a dozen people in line, and we walked out.

 

[Beerhippie]

Re: scannable codes
Last time I went to Hobby Lobby, probably 11/2024, for each item they manually keyed in the code into the register. Don't think it was a UPC code, but a store item code. There was 1 register open, a dozen people in line, and we walked out.

Barcodes probably conflict with their religious beliefs.

My first tool box was a Vermont American, bought by my father for my 16th Bday, so '76. He shopped at KMart almost exclusively.

 

[cody1325]

I have a bit larger model.

Inside is the sticker off an oil filter for a Kawasaki ATV my Granddad bought in the mid '80s, so that might add to the date range a little.