What is Digg?155 Comments
- CDep, on 06/30/2008, -6/+55What keeps people from scanning only nine out of ten items, then walking out? Did I miss something?
- yoris, on 06/30/2008, -0/+37To people asking "how could this possibly work, wouldn't everyone steal a lot of stuff?":
A similar system (not with cell phone, but with do-it-yourself scanners) exists in a lot of supermarkets in Europe. Delhaize and Carrefour in Belgium have it in most of their stores, for example. What keeps people from stealing is quite simple: random checks. One out of every 20 customers or so still has to have all their goods scanned, and if you have a bad record you will get scanned more. If you repeatedly 'forget' more then let's say 20% of so, it's considered stealing and they contact the police.
The stores know that they will have a small increase in stolen goods, but this is largely offset by the increased capacity of the store. They can easily check out 2-3 customers per minute in the self-scan isles, versus 2-3 minutes per customer in the regular isles. Customers don't mind scanning it themselves because they don't have to stand in line and can almost walk right out of the store. It's win-win, really. - inactive, on 06/30/2008, -1/+38If the future, you will get very excited about the projection of fish on the floor.
- inactive, on 06/30/2008, -3/+37Yes, you missed a really basic law. This is called shoplifting.
- mohsenxp, on 06/30/2008, -0/+31in the UK most shops have self-service checkouts. You scan all the goods yourself and you pay for them at the end.
The technology they have to stop you walking out without scanning things is that every product has a weight associated with it. So if you scan a bottle of wine, but throw in a free banana, the machine will tell you that the weight doesn't match up.
That and there is also CCTV monitoring the station.
I would guess a similiar thing would be deployed here, where the final barcode you recieve will also carry the weight of your combined shopping. - HastyNameChoice, on 06/30/2008, -2/+30Or... you could do your shopping online and not have to scan anything.
- Tanktunker, on 06/30/2008, -0/+27Roger's going to traumatize some children.
- Shirokun, on 06/30/2008, -2/+21The future is probably RFID not Manual Code Scanning. Btw, once we arrive to the future, remember to get "Rfid Blocking Wallet" It's always usefull.
- svensksvamp, on 06/30/2008, -0/+19thanks for the heads up
- reisrocks, on 06/30/2008, -0/+16Yeah I don't get it either.. and quite frankly it just moves the step of scanning at the till to scanning as you shop.
So it transfers a process to somewhere else, not something worthy of calling it "of the future". - papercupped, on 06/30/2008, -1/+16Yeah, the scales can't tell the difference between a cheese roll (24p) and a cinammon roll (91p) though...
My mate saved £2 that day.
That was a good day. - trenchfever, on 06/30/2008, -2/+16that's what RFID chips are for. You wouldn't want to nick stuff anyways with all your personal data pawned to your supermarket.
plus you have a closed software installed on your mobile phone.. what else would they be snooping on? don't be surprised when roger tries to sell you furry porn. - tendonut, on 06/30/2008, -0/+12One big problem I see with this are people are ***** stupid. I can't tell you how many times I have to teach some dumb bimbo or some dinosaur in an electric cart filled with bran flakes how to use the self-check. And don't give me that "Well you grew up with computers, it's easy for you" because when the thing says "Select payment" and you don't know that "money" = "cash", or you are 45 years old and still don't know what a bar code is, the lack of computer knowledge is the least of your problems.
- chiefbandit2200, on 06/30/2008, -0/+10But it saves you time since you don't have to wait for other people to scan their items if there's a line.
- ouray, on 06/30/2008, -0/+8Albert Heijn in the Netherlands has had self scanning at a lot of their stores for a while. You use your club card to unlock a scanner at the entrance and scan your groceries as you put them directly in your bag. This allows you to keep track of how much you're spending and it does save significant time at checkout. I've been using this for a while and it works great. The checkout terminals at the end work flawlessly. The other day I bought tickets for an amusement park by scanning a bar code and the tickets came out of the same machine with my receipt. The same scanner is used to purchase public transport tickets, phone top-up cards, your receipt for returned empty bottles, etc. It's great.
See photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/svanzoest/2260106091/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/svanzoest/2260106849/ - zacharytelschow, on 06/30/2008, -1/+9Buried. In the future, I won't be going to the grocery store. Services like peapod (peapod.com) will bring my food to me.
- Khevenhuller, on 06/30/2008, -0/+8The reason why you bother paying is to get out of the store without being arrested. I don't think ethics are this persons' main concern.
- EvilFerret, on 06/30/2008, -0/+7Most Wal-Marts have had self-checkout lanes for about 5yrs now. As described above there's a weight sensor underneath the bags that is supposed to be able to determine if your stealing. It really doesn't work that well, I've had things go in my bags that never got scanned before. Of course I took them back out and re-scanned, which ends up confusing the weight part and almost always needs a employee to come over and fix it for you. It would also be pretty easy to "forget" soda on the bottom of your shopping cart.
However that all really doesn't matter. People assume when it's easy to steal/cheat the system, they're being watched. Pretty much the same concept in Clerks. - MrHands, on 06/30/2008, -1/+8Oh yeah, I'll really love wiping my own ass myself. Like I need more work in my life!
- yoris, on 06/30/2008, -0/+7Cash register? What cash register? :-)
The entire point with the RFID thing is that you wouldn't even need a cash register anymore. You just walk into a store, pick up an item, and walk away. That's what's so terrific and so terrifying about it at the same time: zero walls or barriers, just a whole bunch of RFID scanners and automated surveillance to make sure that everyone behaves. All products have an RFID tag, all customers have an RFID tag, the customer's RFID is linked to their store membership account which is linked to their bank account, and voila everything just goes automatic.
If you wanna know the future of shopping, just imagine shelves in the street all over the city, and people randomly walking up to the shelves, picking something they need and walking away, with zero hold-up and zero interaction with other people. Imagine stores not actually having buildings anymore, just a warehouse somewhere and a car driving around replenishing the shelves. - abandonedhero, on 06/30/2008, -0/+7Caps Lock is cruise control for cool.
- zacharytelschow, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6How do you think 10 neighbors driving to the store each week compares to 1 truck dropping off staples plus special orders each week in terms of cost and pollution? So let's see... less pollution and driving with a marginally higher cost and much greater convenience. If that's "American," sign me up.
- Tanktunker, on 06/30/2008, -3/+9Well if you're going to steal you might as well steal all the stuff in your cart, and you can do that in normal supermarkets anyway.
- philippbock, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6Not in Germany you couldn’t … I don’t get why German supermarkets don’t offer delivery as they do pretty much everywhere else … or even self-checkout.
- Gutterpunk, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6Why not just write "cheap"? Or is "cheep" a new internet meme I missed?
- Peck3277, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6It also can't tell when you don't put your items on the scale.
- dood, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6Some malls around here have those fish projection screens, advertising various things including expensive medications. The kids love playing in the ad projection. The advertisers love putting these in narrow walkways. The result is a disaster on all fronts.
But it is clever technology. - KnightWhoSaysNi, on 06/30/2008, -0/+6They already have self-checkout lines in many stores. It doesn't seem to be hurting business.This should be the same.
Most theft is done by employees, not by customers. - AndreasTh, on 06/30/2008, -0/+5Dugg for the german speaking robot overlord (did I say overlord? I meant protector)
- dominikkom, on 06/30/2008, -0/+5I know Dominion in Canada has a worker positioned at every 4 automatic isles. With computers in front of them logging the activity I'm sure its not hard to keep check of whats going on. Though the biggest problem I heard were people who bought bulk goods and switched the product code for something cheaper.
- littlebiker, on 06/30/2008, -3/+8Well if I bought 10 products, it's a lot of work to scan them - wouldn't it be just better to use the regular scanner (do-it-yourself) and pay using the card or the mobile?
http://www.tezaa.com/view/do_you_think_supermarket ... - Nothlit, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4The grocery store I shop at here in Massachusetts lets you pick up a handheld scanner on your way into the store and scan your items in a similar fashion as you shop. The way they prevent shoplifting is by performing random audits when you reach the checkout. While you are standing there finishing up your transaction (essentially waiting for the credit card transaction to complete, since you have already scanned everything) the computer will randomly decide whether a cashier should come over and look through your bags to make sure you scanned everything.
- chiefbandit2200, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4They have those in the U.S. too, but most let you skip the bagging step. I had a friend who used to get really cheap dvd's, and dvd boxed sets at walmart by ripping the barcode off world of warcraft trial disks, placing them over the dvd's barcode, and then scanning it.
- MNiT, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4Self-serve tills take up less space. Every supermarket I know that has them either has many empty ones you can walk straight too, or a queue decreasing so fast that that alone makes it worth it. If you have shed-loads of stuff to buy, obviously it's not the best idea, but for a single basket worth of items it always saves me time, as the process of scanning itself is quicker when you use the self-serve.
It's easy to see why. You stand still, move an item from your basket to a scanner momentarily, and then in the same movement to a shopping bag.
This is as opposed to putting your shopping down on a conveyor belt, waiting for the shopping to progress a long the conveyor belt as you feed it in at the end, wait for the cashier to (slowly, oh so slowly) scan each item and put it on a SECOND conveyor belt, which you have to walk to after loading the first one, and then bag everything up.
See? Even the paragraph was shorter. - yevkasem, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4what about the live "today's salmonella threat level" ticker sign?
- yowhat2002, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4Thats great, but while you're messing about scanning all of your items could you not just be queuing up in a regular checkout and having them scanned for you as we do now? Plus theres the obvious risk of people just not scanning all of their items.
- svensksvamp, on 06/30/2008, -0/+4Then you get it for free. As simple as that. But sometimes they do check what's in you basket. If you get caught, you'll get a nice bill along with your stuff.
- cyssero, on 04/18/2009, -0/+4But then why even bother paying for it at all chiefbandit2200, just because you're paying a little bit for it doesn't make it legal. It's still stealing, it just helps your friend sleep at night knowing he 'at least' paid $5 for it.
- haentz, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3Well I take part in another prototype "shop of the future" here in Germany where I have to scan each item I want to buy. This is much more work then putting each item on the belt at the register. I tried this like 4 times but it's really annyoing. You loose twice the time you safe at the register while scanning the damn stuff...
They have to use RFID, this will make shopping easier indeed. - ihate2regist, on 06/30/2008, -2/+5hopefully it will be like supermarket sweep
- ferrell, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3Children?
Hell, I'm a grown adult, and I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight after seeing that 'robot'. - Gutterpunk, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3Yeah it's the stupidity of people, and not the fact that every damn interact/credit card reader has it's own requirement when it come to card orientation or swipe speed.
And, at least here (I'm in Canada), a single employees is enough to help something like 8 self-checkout lines. Yes people are dumb, but those machines are made for dumb people. - gamben0, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3This is going to be huge! Just like the cue cat.
- Metasquares, on 06/30/2008, -1/+4I thought that was the highlight of the whole video. The rest was pretty lame.
- Monkeydew06, on 06/30/2008, -0/+3But it exists. We're already moving towards phazing out cash, the most anonymous way to pay for your goods. Soon it'll be impossible to live without being on the grid.
- AquaOSX, on 06/30/2008, -1/+3Yeah, but manufacturers need to pay to place RFID chips on all of their products. Bar codes cheeper to print, and if you're already printing graphics on packaging, they're practically free.
RFID is cheep, but barcodes are way cheeper. - AndreasTh, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2quite common here in Sweden also :)
- Daniel591992, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2That show was awesome!
- breezie3, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2So true. I'm a sales associate at a linen shop and the stupidity of people amazes me. Several times a day I have to explain to people why their credit card isn't going through when they're trying the jam it through the card reader with the imprinted side down. I've been to many stores with self-checkouts and they always seem like they're more trouble than they're worth because the employees have to be constantly showing people how to use them.
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