Farewell Magnetic Stripe

For decades, the magnetic stripe has been ubiquitous on everything from credit cards to tickets to ID badges. But the BBC reports — unsurprisingly — that the mag stripe’s days are numbered. Between smartphones, QR codes, and RFID, there’s just less demand for the venerable technology.

IBM invented the stripe back in the early 1960s. The engineer responsible, [Forrest Parry], was also involved in developing the UPC code. While working on a secure ID for the CIA, his wife suggested using an iron to melt a strip of magnetic tape onto the card. The rest is history.

The new technology rapidly took over, and by 1969, in the United States, there was a standard that has remained largely unchanged. The BBC post notes that a card reader in 1970 could read a credit card out of your pocket today if it still had a magnetic stripe. Infamously, IBM’s CEO at the time was not a fan, reportedly because “Mom doesn’t like credit cards.”

So, while you’ll still find mag stripes on a few cards here and there, in a few years, they’ll probably vanish completely. Don’t worry! You can still make your own. Don’t have a reader? Grab a flatbed scanner.