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this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2023
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The grocery store I shop at has handheld scanner guns for customer use. I check out a gun by scanning my loyalty card, then make my way around the store, scanning each item as I put it in my cart. When I'm done, the handheld scanner displays a barcode that I scan at the self-checkout scanner. My entire order shows up on the screen there, along with the total cost. I pay, take my receipt, and head out to the parking lot.
I like scanner-gun shopping a lot. I like it because it's efficient, but also because it puts me in control. I can see the real price of everything I take off the shelf, in real-time. If something doesn't ring up at the price it's marked, I know instantly. The device keeps a running total as I shop.
Most days, my entire grocery experience involves no direct interaction with any store employee whatsoever, except maybe to exchange pleasantries with a stockperson. I do 100% of the work of checking myself out. I imagine the money the store saves on me in labor might make up for a lot of the money it loses in shrink.
But the store gets something else from my use of its scan-as-you-shop service. It gets to collect a huge amount of data on the way I shop. Not only does it record everything I buy, but it knows when and where I buy it. It knows the patterns of how I move through the store. It can compare my patterns to the patterns of all the other shoppers who use store scanner guns. It can analyze these patterns for useful information about everything from store layout to shoplifting mitigation.
One of the ways the store mitigates shrink from scanner gun shoppers who might accidentally "forget" to scan an item they put in their cart is point-of-sale audits. Not usually, but every so often and on a regular basis, my order will be flagged for an audit when I go to check out. When this happens, the cashier running the self-checkout area has to come over and scan a certain number of items in my cart, to make sure they were all included in my bill.
My main point in all of this was to offer a narrative that runs counter to the narrative I picked up from the article. I prefer to have more control over my checkout experience, and I will willingly choose to surrender personal information about my shopping habits and check-out procedures in order to gain that control, every chance I get.
The first time I tried to use this, I got audited, and then had to wait for longer than it would have taken to use the regular checkout.
I haven't tried again
I would have put everything down and walked out.
You normally get the first one hassle free, then get checked a few times after that. Once they know your reliably you get checked a few times a year only (or if you have a strange shop)
What about weighted items? You just check those out at the end?
In the produce section, they have scales that print out barcoded price stickers. I look up the item I'm weighing (or enter the PLU) and it gives me a sticker I can scan.
In the bakery section, where you can pick out individual muffins or donuts, they have barcodes printed on the self-service case above each item. I can just scan the barcode for whatever I take.
(I do also have the option of checking things out at the end, if I didn't scan them with the gun.)
==
EDIT to Add:
Ironically, the only time I remember taking something from that store without paying for it was a time that my self-scanned order had been flagged for an audit. I was trying to buy a watermelon on sale, but the sale price didn't come up when I scanned it, so I set it aside to figure out at checkout.
When I got to checkout, my order was flagged for an audit. (Maybe even precisely because I had scanned the watermelon but then removed it from my cart when it came up at the wrong price.)
The guy running the self-checkout saw the flashing light at my register. Without comment, he came over to perform the ritual of scanning the certain number of items in my cart to reset the transaction and allow me to pay and be on my way. He and I had both been through this procedure many times. He probably performed it several times each shift he worked there.
I was distracted by the audit, however, and I forgot about the watermelon. When he scanned enough items and punched in his code, the register came up with my total and asked me how I was going to pay. I stuck in my credit card, clicked "yes" to the transaction amount, and made my way out of the store with a pilfered watermelon.
I hate self checkout because it's so slow. The machine always screams at me to bag something or not remove am item even though I never do anything wrong. This whole thing you describe sounds amazing. Thanks for all the detail.
Not op, but It's a game changer for sure. Especially once you scan and bag as you go. It makes trips so much more quick and convenient.
This is my dream. I hate the added work of item to basket to scanner to weight tray to bag to basket. Too many unnecessary steps.
go through self check out with a single item
"Please place item in bagging area"
....no
Certainly this could be done with QR codes and a phone app?
If there's an app involved, fuck that I'm out.
Given current technology the choices are to either hold something that a hundred other people held that day before you or to use your own phone with an app.
Applications do have choices when it comes to permissions. Just because it's an app doesn't mean it has to be intrusive.
That said, there's no way a national chain would put out an app without collecting data.
Why QR codes? Your phone can read regular barcodes as well. Giant lets you use your phone to scan, but you need to connect to their public WiFi for some reason.
There is a phone app, that pretty much allows you phone to work like the scanner gun. I've used it before and it works fine, but my phone's camera is not as good as the guns at scanning barcodes.
Also, as much as I realize I am trading privacy for control, I figure there's no need to have the grocery store's app living on my phone, when it is just as easy for me to use the dedicated device they provide in-store.
I might be tempted to use the app, except it refused to let me sign in because of something funky with my loyalty card.
Plus, I kinda like going beep beep beep with the gun.
There is another shop I refuse to use the scanner gun at, because every time you scan, a really loud acknowledgement beep emanates from somewhere in the shop. I can only assume it's because 90% of their clientele don't use the scanners, and they assume anyone who does is a thieving scrote who needs to have eyes on them at all times.
What store chain is this? It sounds amazing.
Sainsbury's and Tesco have this in the UK. I'm not sure about Tesco, but Sainsbury's also has an app for it which is pretty neat.
Waitrose has it too.
The Sainsbury's scan on your phone app was great during COVID, no need to touch the scanners at all.
Ah. That’s a bit out of my way from South Carolina. I know that Food Lion (bleh) experimented with the concept in a chain called Bloom some years ago, but they’ve disappeared.
Tesco does this in Hungary. But you get a "random" audit every time.
Giant food stores in Mid-Atlantic US
I used to go to a store that had this. It was horribly slow shopping and even more confused people in the way. You really need two people to be as fast as one used to be. Not worth it