In previous decades many department stores and record chains developed a pricing code system. They'd have a few different letters, each signifying a different pricing tier. There would be a little chart around the store giving you the price break down. I never really understood how this made things simpler or more efficient, maybe someone out there knows?

                     

A late entry in the vinyl yesteryear was the barcode. When exactly did they start appearing on the back of album jackets? I'm not exactly sure myself, but it appears to have been very early in the 80's. I've seen copies of the 1st Dickies on original yellow vinyl with one, and that album is from 1979. It might be that they had old copies of the vinyl lying around and had to repress covers in the early 80's though. Sometimes certain records can be difficult to track because a company might press up a ton of covers while pressing smaller batches of the actual vinyl, or vice versa. Coltrane on Atlantic is notorious for that-- you'll see covers clearly printed in the mid 60's with 70's label designs and such. Anyhow, I digress...This is not a gallery of barcodes off of the actual albums; it's a collection of price tags, primarily from the 80's-90's...

Here at Amoeba, customers know to look for the red tag. Red tags = bargain. It looks like red was also used to tag deals at the Bargain Circus, Jive Time and Licorice Pizza, as well as many more retail outlets. Anyone out there know what "the Dalles" was? I know that it's a place in Oregon, but was there a chain named that as well?