The Future of Shopping 163
Hugh Pickens writes "The WSJ reports that a new device, now in use at about half of Ahold USA's Stop & Shop and Giant supermarkets in the Northeast, is making supermarket shoppers — and stores — happier. Looking like a smartphone, perched on the handle of your shopping cart, it scans grocery items as you add them to your cart. And while shoppers like it because it helps avoid an interminable wait at the cashier, retailers like it because the device encourages shoppers to buy more, probably because of targeted coupons and the control felt by consumers while using the device. Retail experts predict that before long most of these mobile shopping gadgets will be supplanted by customers' own smartphones. As more customers load their smartphones with debit, credit and loyalty card information, more stores will adopt streamlined checkout technology."
I always liked this concept (Score:2)
IBM createda commercial that explored what a grocery store without checkout lines. I'd love to live in a world in which I could optionally make all my purchases that way.
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Goddamn comment ate my anchor tag. The commercial [youtube.com].
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AT&T's commercials that ran in 1993 [youtube.com] (skip to about 2:00 to see) had something similar, too. But both of these seem more like what we'd use RFID for than scanning items one at a time.
Re:I always liked this concept (Score:5, Insightful)
Stores assume people will buy more, which won't happen, because people have no money and are avoiding spending as much as possible. I did my job, I cut all my expenses really hard, every time I go to a supermarket, I take a shopping list that I follow strictly. I only buy what I really need, and always buy the cheapest products that don't suck.
Funny, because here in my country the big retail tycoons are the most vocal about reducing wages and social benefits. They forget that people without money can't buy the fancy shit they sell.
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It still saves stores money. The cost of a device is far less than the cost of a cashier, and far less than a self-checkout line. The problem will come with easier shop lifting and scanning lower priced items and putting higher priced items in the cart.
And before you say, "Yeah, but they probably check the weight," remember, 2 similar bottles of shampoo weigh close enough to the same that someone can walk out with a $40 bottle of shampoo, but only pay $10 for a bottle of Suave. Yes, they can trace invento
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It's the same, here. I've been checked a few times. I wouldn't dream of trying to game the system, but there should be the occasional idiot who does it. Authentically random flagging above a certain percentage guarantees security. If they pick people by their appearance or whatever, forget it.
I always choose self-service when I'm not buying a lot of stuff. I hate waiting, specially in lines. I find it really strange that most people prefer the regular cashiers. For example, I've used an electronic toll d
More from *THEM* (Score:2)
The purpose of coupons and the like is to bring customers specifically to your store or your products.
They don't necessarily need that you spend more. And, as you point out, during economically unsure time, people do NOT spend more anyway. They only need that you spend your money on their premise.
Imagine that you need to buy milk. You're low on milk in your fridge (or your Internet enabled Fridget tweets you that you should buy milk :-D ), so you add it on grocery list of what you need to buy next saturday,
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In the UK, Waitrose have had this system since about 1995 (according to some kid's coursework [coursework.info], but it sounds about right).
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Was going to mention this as well - I remember seeing a system like this in the UK in 1997, and it was pretty impressive. I think it may have been Tesco or Sainsbury's, but same idea. Not sure why it's taken 15 years to get this to America.
I've used them (Score:2)
I've used them and I like them. It's nice to just bring your own bags to the store, and just scan and bag all your items while you shop. Then when you get to the check out counter (either the self checkout or regular lane). You don't have to unload all your stuff just to scan and then bag it again.
My only issue is that Stop and Shop is more expensive than other stores in the area.
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One of the store chains in my area ran a test with them too. Unfortunately, they were discontinued. I'm not privy to the real reasons, but I suspect that there was a lot of theft. The store had to trust that you had actually scanned all the items in your cart. The other problem from my perspective was that the little kiosks that let you price produce (they gave you a barcoded sticker to scan) kept breaking.
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Wouldn't weight sensors in the cart handle the problem of people not scanning items? The sensor detects a change in weight, yet there's no corresponding scanned item, so a servo is activated which locks the wheels until you scan the item in question. Doesn't seem that difficult to do.
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Yeah but what is there to prevent shoplifting? Those automated checkouts are fairly easy to "trick" and get 1 or 2 free products.
Example: About two months ago, a scanner subtracted an item after it had already rolled to the end of the belt. I could have bagged it easily w/o anyone noticing. With this "automated cart" I imagine it would be even easier.
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Yeah. Random audits. Check that 5 randomly picked articles are scanned for every tenth shopper or something.
If you discover that one or more isn't scanned, check the rest and respond apropriately. (if someone has 137 articles, one of which isn't scanned, they -probably- forgot it, if they've got 137 articles, none of which are scanned, they're a thief)
One problem is people in the "nothing-to-lose" category. You've got a 90% chance of wheeling a cartful of high-value groceries out unhindered. For most people
Nothing new (Score:2, Informative)
We've had these for years in the UK
Mixed bag (Score:2)
They already know I buy a lot of tinfoil. They still do not know I make hats out of it. Dammit, I just told them.
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becasue if the know your buying habits they will....? what exactly?
Re:Mixed bag (Score:5, Informative)
"The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable."
â" U.S. Privacy Protection Study Commission, 1977
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Even if you don't have a loyalty card, if you pay with a card your purchases will be tied to that card. Note that the card includes your name as well as a number.
I can see an upside... (Score:2)
Really like these devices (Score:2)
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A local store that was running a test project using these things had kiosks with a scale and a printer. You put the item on it and touched the picture of the item you were buying (or entered the PLU code) and it printed a barcode that you could scan.
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Comment removed (Score:3)
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The advantage here is that you're scanning right at the shelf. So if the item has unreadable barcode, you just put it back on the shelf and take another one.
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Unless that particular thing refuses to scan no matter which of them you pick off the shelf. I think that does happen sometimes already - the barcode on one item is badly positioned, or badly sized, or has been printed in a bad choice of colour and it consistently won't scan.
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OK, you win. Lets not adopt technology because occasional it won't have maximum efficiency.
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The problem is is that if it's not as convenient as what we have now..why use it?
The cashier can override and just punch in the price if they need to.
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Then either pick a competing product, or scan the bar code on the front of the shelf. Doesn't seem that difficult either way.
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They may not be better or more reliable, but they're cheaper. That means that you're not standing in line behind everybody else with their one item that doesn't scan. That could be a huge time savings. Checking out should be an "embarrassingly parallel" problem.
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I don't get a discount for doing what they already pay someone $7+ an hour to do.
Yes you do. The store saves money, and retailing groceries is a very competitive business, so much of those savings go toward lower prices.
Sounds a bit complicated... (Score:2)
they simply select "Remove" from the menu option, scan the item again, and it is removed from the cart. The total is updated.
Simply? It's a lot easier to just put it back on the shelf...
I like cool gadgets... but when it takes longer ans is more finicky than the "old" way, I dunno. I guess it depends on the customer. I'd probably try it just for fun, but it seems like this is kinda destined for the same problem as self-checkout stands; replaces employees but break down a lot and you end up having to wait a while, since there's only one employee "manning" all four stations...
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It doesn't take longer. To the contrary, you save the time you currently spend waiting for the checkout, and packing your goods.
Instead you bring your own crate, and put it in the cart. Scan goods and put them in the crate. Then when done, wheel the entire thing directly to your car and lift the crate over into your trunk. Simple, quick.
Today ?
Put things in cart. Wait in line. Take things -out- of cart to have them scanned. Put things -back- in cart, bring to car.
Todays pack-wait-unpack-pack-go cycle is a l
We have these here (Score:2)
I've never used 'em. I don't use the self checkout unless I'm only getting a couple items, either, and god help you if you want to get beer. Honestly, the checkout lines are never a problem at our Stop and Shop so there's no real added convenience to using it for me.
Been around for ages in the UK (Score:5, Informative)
Waitrose still have them though. You just swipe your credit card and it tells you which handset to pick up, and then you do your shopping. Article from 1997: http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=33232 [thegrocer.co.uk]
Is this really a new thing in the US?
This isn't about customer experience (Score:3)
First section in the store is produce. "How do you weigh this?" "I don't know." Left the device on a shelf... Back to Peapod delivery for me.
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replacing human employees with machines.
You make this sound like it's a bad thing.
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Also, I'm not willing to do self-checkout anywhere where it is offered. In fact - it's such bullshit in person that i always order mine online. I can't be trifled with running through all their annoying hoops. I thought self-checkout was bad enough, but this is even worse.
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Of course they will, as other stores use them.
Yes, we Get it. Self check out is too fucking complex for you to do. I'm sure there will always be a service for the mentally handicapped, so you do not need to keep posting how check out is too difficult for you to do without someone holding your hand.
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He's replying to an aristocrat who can't be bothered to obtain their own FOOD.
If the friendly guy bringing your groceries doesn't show up for long enough you'll die.
That's the epitome of a lazy first worlder. When even the things necessary for life are too irritating for you to manage yourself so you outsource them.
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Nevermind that this is essentially a personal attack from you because someone doesn't do things your way. Classy.
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Now lets address your points --
: Every Stop and Shop; Shaws; Dave's; around here is sprinkled with weigh scales for produce that instantly spit out a bar code print label. You should try one of these. Hopefully a big colorful touch screen wi
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Someone already answered this upthread: http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2167426&cid=36172204 [slashdot.org]
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It doesn't have to save me money. It saves me time, which is even more valuable. In a store with self-checkout machines there are often twice as many lanes open, and I'm not stuck behind somebody with two carts full or arguing over a three-cent different on a box of Life cereal.
I would pay extra for the privilege of not having to deal with that.
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How the hell do you eat $500 worth of food before it goes off?
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When I tried it out this way, the device offered none of the helpful info that you just offered. I don't remember seeing printers attached to the scales at my local Giant - but maybe I just assumed the scales were as they always were and didn't look hard enough.
Still though - while quantitatively superior, I may qualitatively prefer to flirt wit
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I simply object to the whole de-humanisation of shopping. That might sound odd for the type of person who posts to Slashdot and therefore probably does a lot of on-line shopping, but when I go somewhere I really like to interact with the shop staff a bit and feel like I am being treated as a valued customer.
I only started feeling that way after using Japanese shops. They don't seem to have self-service checkouts at all and in busy shops they often have two people on one till, so one can scan and handle the
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Like self check-out, this is about increasing profits by replacing human employees with machines.
First section in the store is produce. "How do you weigh this?" "I don't know." Left the device on a shelf... Back to Peapod delivery for me.
'cept your going to yell at the deliver person to get off your lawn.
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(I don't have problems with produce or substitutions with Peapod delivery, though.) (But they do screw up every order a little bit, so you have to double check it, which arguably takes way more time than scanning, b
"New" device?! (Score:2)
works great on packaged food... (Score:2)
...not so well on veggies or other things that don't have barcodes.
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...not so well on veggies or other things that don't have barcodes.
Not to worry. Monsanto is already working on this.
Been there. Done that. (Score:2)
It's been done already. This has already been tried with larger "gun" style laser scanners. Apparently it didn't catch on.
Not sure this will fare any better.
This sort of thing seems to go over a lot like 3-D movies.
I won't do this (Score:2)
I won't use this for two reasons:
1. It costs Americans jobs.
2. They're not going to pay me to do their work, nor are they going to discount if I use this, or self-checkout, so I've only used self checkout a handful of times.
As time goes on vendors cut services while maintaining high prices. I'll be damned if I'm going to be an enabler encouraging this trend.
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OMG, it's costs jobs. Yeah, so do cars, and buses, and whatever YOU do for a living.
Less costs to the company always reduces prices over all.
Hey, you want to waste your time waiting in line, fine., But don't make shit up to excuse your Luddite behavior.
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OMG, it's costs jobs. Yeah, so do cars, and buses, and whatever YOU do for a living.
Less costs to the company always reduces prices over all.
Hey, you want to waste your time waiting in line, fine., But don't make shit up to excuse your Luddite behavior.
GP Poster's second point is not luddite: if I don't get a discount for using self-checkout, why should I use it?
In Italy, the highway system has toll stations where you pay, and to reduce costs and queues they have introduced a wireless thingy you can use so you don't have to stop at the toll booths, just slow down to a reasonable speed and go through a gate that charges you automatically.
I have nothing against that, it makes perfect sense, but I refuse to have to pay extra (a yearly fee, not just th
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Hey, don't look now, but I think there are some damn kids on your lawn.
Smartphone Battery Life (Score:2)
Yeah, I can just see using my smartphone to scan items as I shop.
So, the phone is running the scan application, keeping the screen and camera live so that it is easy to use. And using CPU to try to locate barcodes in the camera image.
Then, after about 45 minutes of grocery shopping after a full day at work my phone shuts down.
Right. That's going to work really well.
Cool beans (Score:2)
Seriously though, anyone know what we're going to do with all these people we don't need any more. I'll trot out my favorite example, the sleeping bag factory that cranks out 2 MILLION bags/year with a total staff of 500 people (including marketing, sales staff, ceo, cfo, IT support, EVERYONE). So far the only viable option I've heard is a) socialism and b) die in a gutter. There's just not enough work for all these people.
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anyone know what we're going to do with all these people we don't need any more.
Soylent Green.
Bad Economy (Score:2)
Wasting time in small chunks (Score:2)
"And while shoppers like it because it helps avoid an interminable wait at the cashier...."
Shoppers will spend more time scanning their items than they would waiting at the cashier. It will only seem like they are saving time because the psychological perception of small amounts of time is different than that of one large chunk of time. In the meantime, the store saves money by getting the shopper to do their work for free.
I actually avoid stores that routinely make you wait at the cashier (Fry's in my town
Not sure what's so new here... (Score:2)
Cute, but wrong answer. (Score:2)
Whatever happened to the concept that you'd just push your cart through an RFID portal, everything in your cart would be interrogated, and you'd get an immediate bill? [baselinemag.com] Wal-Mart was behind that. NCR demonstrated it in 2004. That was a more promising idea.
Vision systems for checkout are available. There's LaneHawk [evoretail.com], for recognizing big items at the bottom of the cart, and VeggieVision [unr.edu], for recognizing vegetables on a scale pan. Automated checkout is getting better.
The future of retail looks more like We
Had this in Sweden for years (Score:2)
I have seen it for over six or so years, and been using it for at least four. It is now fully automated: Draw your customer card to get a scanner unit, enter the store and put stuff in your bag while scanning them, put the scanner at its stand, draw customer card and credit card at a touch-screen station.
Simple, quick and no need to stand in a line. :)
I use my own cart (Score:2)
When I go to the supermarket I take my own cart. I don't drive, so I can't load the groceries into a car. If I was to carry all the items all the way home (15 min walk) my arms would get sore, so I bought a little shopping cart from Amazon a few years ago. Best purchase I ever made.
And this is news? (Score:2)
And this deemed newsworthy enough for a posting on slashdot?
Re:Won't work (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Won't work (Score:4, Insightful)
So is it random, or every N visits?
Not random (Score:2)
Try this: Pick up an item from the shelf. Look at it. Put it into your bag without scanning. Take it out of the bag and scan it. Put it back in the bag. The scan gun will give you a list of all the things you've bought, so you can verify before you check out.
I'm very absent minded, so this happens to me not infrequently. AFAIK, every time I've done that, I've been audited.
Another interesting tidbit:
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Yeah. I've heard of a similar, albeit more primitive, concept called "self-checkout lane" - that never took off, either.
You might as well dream of communism. ~
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Yeah. I've heard of a similar, albeit more primitive, concept called "self-checkout lane" - that never took off, either.
I'm assuming that was sarcastic. If not, the rest of this doesn't make as much sense.
Self checkout lanes still typically have a person at the end monitoring a few lanes, and some scales you have to put everything on after you scan it.
As I understand, these still require a random audit, which isn't too hard to defeat still. For one, it's unlikely to require audits close together, so just keep an eye on things and then jump on the line that just had an audit. Alternately you can bury the thing you want to
Re:Won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Self checkout lanes still typically have a person at the end monitoring a few lanes, and some scales you have to put everything on after you scan it.
They have to have people there because the machines are so incredibly unreliable. 'Put the item in the bag'.. 'I already put the item in the bag you moron'... 'Put the item in the bag'... takes item out of bag.. 'Return the item to the bag'... puts it back in the bag... 'Please wait for an assistant'.
Most times I could get through the checkout faster if they just had a human doing it for me.
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Most times I could get through the checkout faster if they just had a human doing it for me.
Of course a professional checker who's do this for awhile could be faster than Joe Random shopper. The point isn't speed, it's not having to pay a skilled worker bee.
Tidbit: You have a few items to buy. The express lane is open, and a regular checker is open, and the people waiting seem to have the same number of items. Which checker do you choose?
Always choose the regular checker if there's not too much stuff in the carts of the people ahead of you. Store managers always put their slowest chec
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Self checkout lanes still typically have a person at the end monitoring a few lanes, and some scales you have to put everything on after you scan it.
They have to have people there because the machines are so incredibly unreliable. 'Put the item in the bag'.. 'I already put the item in the bag you moron'... 'Put the item in the bag'... takes item out of bag.. 'Return the item to the bag'... puts it back in the bag... 'Please wait for an assistant'.
Most times I could get through the checkout faster if they just had a human doing it for me.
Maybe you should try not to confuse the machine. I find self check out easy to use, and faster then live people.
It's a machine, so you have to be smart about it. Don't do shit super fast, make sure stuff you are scanning isn't crumpled at the scanning bar thingys. Also, check to make sure the glass that house the laser & the mirror thingy aren't all smudged up.
Move item across the scanner, when you here the beep, drop it in the bag.
Not rocket science. Just plain old simple common sense, and not g
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Yeah. I've heard of a similar, albeit more primitive, concept called "self-checkout lane" - that never took off, either.
I'm assuming that was sarcastic. If not, the rest of this doesn't make as much sense.
Self checkout lanes still typically have a person at the end monitoring a few lanes, and some scales you have to put everything on after you scan it.
As I understand, these still require a random audit, which isn't too hard to defeat still. For one, it's unlikely to require audits close together, so just keep an eye on things and then jump on the line that just had an audit.
Assuming the audit system is actually random, there's no way you can guarantee that two audits won't come up back-to-back either. Are you really willing to take that chance?
Alternately you can bury the thing you want to steal underneath a bunch of other stuff in the cart.
Now you're assuming they haven't been trained to pull items from random depths in the cart, as much of a pain as that might sometimes be.
Avoid a line that has the rare diligent auditor.
Self-checkout lanes where I live tend to be the cashiers that are more observant and reliable than the average cashier. I'd assume with a system like this, they'd tend to be even more so.
Lastly if you get caught just watch the process and as they go to scan a stolen item say something like "Wait, that's not supposed to be in there. I thought I put that back on the shelf."
Yeah, I'm sure
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Assuming the audit system is actually random, there's no way you can guarantee that two audits won't come up back-to-back either. Are you really willing to take that chance?
I'm assuming that consecutive audits are more likely to irritate customers and that there is a likelihood of a minimum value of checkouts between audits. If I'm wrong, scratch it off the list.
Lastly if you get caught just watch the process and as they go to scan a stolen item say something like "Wait, that's not supposed to be in there. I thought I put that back on the shelf."
Yeah, I'm sure he's heard that one before too. The guys manning these stations aren't likely to be that naive.
So what if they've heard it before? I'd bet it's actually true more often than it isn't. And the repercussions for a false accusation are so high that anything less than concrete proof won't be used. The thief would have to put the item back, but that's not such a big deal for them. And for the ones who make a gen
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actually the self checkout lanes are often empty, as most people don't like them.
I know I always go for a cashier over the self checkout lane, I can't tell you how much I have accidently stolen because the scanner didn't work, or only caught one of the two items of the same kind I was buying. Not to mention they are actually slower than a cashier. the scanner is less sensitive, and you have to wade through the menus for payment, taking twice the time a cashier could do the same thing.
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Not to mention they are actually slower than a cashier. the scanner is less sensitive, and you have to wade through the menus for payment, taking twice the time a cashier could do the same thing.
Oh yeah, if you're buying fifteen types of fresh food, you're probably fscked. Someone who does checkout all day probably knows the code for the most common items whereas the rest of us are stuck with hunting through menus trying to figure out what we're actually holding in our hands and which of the icons is actually the correct one ('Is this bunch of tomatoes, large, or bunch of tomatoes, kind of medium sized?')
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If I have produce (for the reasons you mentioned) or alcohol (for the age verification delay) then I avoid the self-checkout completely. It's quicker to wait in line with the check-writing, silver-haired, old ladies.
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Yeah, the Safeway self-scan system apparently even had random audits where every few visits it sent you to a till to have your items scanned again in order to stop theft. (If you were out by too much, it increased the frequency of the audits.) Don't think it had any kind of targeted coupons feature, though, and I'm not sure it was wireless.
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The faster I buy my shit at the store, the faster I am home with my family enjoying our shit.
Free time. Life is about free time.
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Yeah, I used to do that. Then I got a bike trailer, and used that instead. Awesome system.