Supermarket Technology

[kendor]

I see that a leading Supermarket chain has started to install automated self checking checkouts you merely wheel your trolley passed a scanner and it scans all items regardless of their orientation and position in the trolley then prints out an itemised bill and you just pay with your card
clever stuff! shame it puts people out of work though

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Crikey! How on earth does that work then???

I can't see how the scanner will read the barcode of items in the middle of the trolley surrounded by other goods?

I would end up checking the goods against my reciept when I got home every time...

OK, maybe I wouldn't every time, but when it seemed overly expensive!

I would also like to know how those security sticky labels work? Anyone know the principles?

If you ever remove the backing, it looks like the matrix on a heated rear window, I'm guessing it is 'tuned' to a certain wavelength... and that's where I run out of ideas!

 

[IanDB]

RFID. There's some info on it here: http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/207

Basically, instead of having a scanned optical barcode, there's a tag on each item with the same information in a chip. This is read by an RF scanner. The cost per tag in bulk is coming down to a few "p" and as the technology catches on it should be even more cost effective.

Mind you, on the big brother aspect, you will be delighted to hear that a certain well known shaving manufacturer (beginning with G) linked their scanner to a camera at the exit of a supermarket during a trial. This meant that they had a picture of everyone who'd bought their product. The trial was scrapped as it was deemed to be an invasion of privacy but it makes you wonder where this particular bit of technology is going.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

but it makes you wonder where this particular bit of technology is going.

I should imagine there are a few housewives with an interest in this kind of technology!

On a similar vein, wouldn't it be cool if they printed a barcode on microwavable food packaging which contained the instructions? Chuck it in.. zap! Ping! Please stir your korma sauce! etc. Automatically compensating for wattage values etc.

Aint technology brilliant!

 

[david and julie]

I was in Sainsbury's about a month back and tried the self service checkouts. There are 4 of them together and one girl oversees any problems.

I had some baking spuds and also some much dearer small boilers. Obviously there is no bar code on loose produce, so you manually enter a P in search. You then select the type of spuds have. The machine can't tell if you have cheap or dear spuds. Same goes for cooking apples or pink ladies or cheap salad or vine tomatoes etc.

They must have have such a big mark up to stand it.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

We had 'Shop 'n' Go' at our local Safeways few years back which involved a scanner that you scanned items yourself as you placed them in your basket/trolley and this gradually died a death.

At the same store they also had a creche' which was a first around these ere parts! Bloomin shame cos was very handy for us (don't need it now cos they is too big). But this too has demised - to make way for electronics and DVD's etc.

 

[masona]

I should imagine there are a few housewives with an interest in this kind of technology!

Also what would be nice if you can take the trolley to the car lift up your tailgate and push the trolley in then the wheels folded in automatically like the ambulance trolley type, unload from the trolley at home, hey no harm in dreaming

 

[kendor]

Also what would be nice if you can take the trolley to the car lift up your tailgate and push the trolley in then the wheels folded in automatically like the ambulance trolley type, unload from the trolley at home, hey no harm in dreaming

You'd need a wide van to get it in, the way they steer!

 

[AdamW]

We have the self-service checkouts in my local Sainsburys too. I found out how their security system works once. Being an ecological type, and devoted to saving the plastic trees, I have always used those bag-for-life schemes. So, up I go to the checkout, start to scan stuff through, plop my bag-for-life on the bagging area. Accusatory flashing light on the top starts going off and it is telling me "unauthorised items in bagging area, wait for assistance". I could already read the headlines, "Adam W imprisoned for shoplifting"

The lady told me that the system uses weighing scales in the bagging area as a security device, and putting my bag in there made it think I had put something through without scanning it. I don't know if it just counts the number of weight increases against the number of items or if it has a database of the weights of EVERYTHING they sell, but it makes it very difficult to use your own bags. The plastic rainforests are being depleted at a phenomenal rate already

It would be interesting to see how it would cope if you put two crates of lager on the bagging area (total weight about 25kg), then put something light, say a cardboard pack of saffron (about 5 grammes) on top.

 

[AdamW]

Also what would be nice if you can take the trolley to the car lift up your tailgate and push the trolley in then the wheels folded in automatically like the ambulance trolley type, unload from the trolley at home, hey no harm in dreaming

Or you could just take a cue from my local ******: I have seen people pushing their shopping home in a supermarket trolley! And not like a big trolleyfull, I am talking two or three carrier bags in a trolley, usually being pushed by someone who looks like Waynetta Slobb.

 

[2scoops0406]

We get all our stuff delivered, this is cost effective as we live a long way from the supermarket. The technology for the internet shopping is pretty good, but when we first started using it, we seemed to always get someone elses shopping, cos it certainly ain't we ordered. You also got an option to have your good delivered in an unmarked range rover so that the neighbours don't think you're a ***** ! Personally speaking I'd rather not have any neighbours

 

[ZenStalinist]

Yes, I dislike this. It does compromise somewhat on security, I'm sure people could nick stuff easier from the supermarkets, and even worse it puts people out of jobs. I am quite the opposite of technophobe, but that supermarket thing is a technology we don't need, and that is not desirable.

 

[AdamW]

I did a little test on the automatic checkouts tonight. I picked an item out of my basket with each hand. I scanned the left hand item, then tried to do the right hand one. It refused to do anything until I put the item from my left hand into the bagging area.

Quite often if I buy something like a pack of gum or a can of drink, I don't want it in a carrier bag with the rest of my shopping, I want it for the walk home. But with this system you can't scan then put in pocket. You have to scan, bag, complete transaction, remove bags, remove item, then put in pocket.

 

[AdamW]

that supermarket thing is a technology we don't need, and that is not desirable.

I think it has its place. I find that if I only need two or three things (e.g. a sandwich and bottle of water) I can walk in, grab them off the shelf and be out in two minutes. But there is only a place for two or three such checkouts. The checkout staff in my local supermarket are, with very few exceptions, very friendly and cheery people. I leave the shop grinning after a mum-aged checkout lady says "oooh, so are you baking cookies then?" as she scans the packet of chocolate chips. Perhaps a fine young thing makes flirty comments about whether I need anyone to share the bottle of wine she is scanning... There was even one time when the guy scanning my shopping told me about the time he had pulled whilst on the tills serving the girl's mother!

You don't get that from an automatic checkout. Plus there is another dimension we have not considered: many old ladies spend what seems like forever (but is really about 90 seconds) chatting to the checkout staff in the supermarket. If you are in a hurry it is mildly annoying, but you then consider "What if this is the most human contact the lovely old lady has had all week?"

Now, if we take away that contact, what will happen? I'll tell you what. Angry hordes of old dears, ambling up and down the nation's high streets, bending the ears of anyone under the age of 70, calling us all "young man". That's what'll happen!