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In the UK, Tesco have been running a 'Scan as you Shop'[0] thing for a couple of years now. Customers pick up a scanner as they enter, scan their items as they
by bbrks 10y ago
In the UK, Tesco have been running a 'Scan as you Shop'[0] thing for a couple of years now. Customers pick up a scanner as they enter, scan their items as they go into their cart, and they have special checkouts which read your scanner.
There's a random chance that your scanner will be audited by a human against the contents of your shopping cart. Usually the first time you use it, then it backs off.
[0] http://www.tesco.com/scan-as-you-shop/ http://www.tesco.com/scan-as-you-shop/
- xd1936 10y agoSam's Club has been doing similar for the last year[0], as well. They already have a built-in "check your receipt at the door" flow that customers are used to, so it wasn't that hard to offer an electronic tweak to the existing system. [0] http://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageName=scan-and-go http://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageNam...
- geekamongus 10y agoI used this for the first time two days ago. I was pleasantly surprised, and it felt really awesome --almost to a point of guilt-- skipping the checkout lines. However, once I reached the exit where the man was inspecting receipts, things screeched to a halt. I showed him the bar code on my phone, and he looked at it, exclaiming, "Oh no, Scan and Go. You used Scan and Go." He then turned to find a powered-off scanning device that he couldn't get to start up, as he muttered, "I wish they'd never started that." I replied, "As a customer, I love it." He had to call over a manager, who used her scanner to scan my barcode, blindly scroll through my purchased items list to get to the green button, and declared me good to go. Meanwhile, I had held up all the people trying to exit behind me. It was still faster than checking out, but hopefully they get proper training for their employees implemented.
- draw_down 10y agoSounds great if it's not as unbelievably user-hostile as the self checkout machines. Those things are just total crap, every one I've ever tried.
- raverbashing 10y agoOnce I got the hang of it, I've had almost zero problems with self-checkout machines It's usually one of two things: a purchase that must be approved (either alcohol or some medicine) or scanning the single item barcode of a multi-item
- ambicapter 10y agoI always either get erroneously told to put item in the bag, or have to take an item out of the bag because for some reason it shouldn't be there according to the register.
- CmdrSprinkles 10y agoThe secret is to hate the environment and just use the plastic/paper that is already there. For me: When I am doing my weekly food shopping, I just use plastic. When I am grabbing something I forgot or picking up beer or something during the week, I just leave everything in the area, pay, and then bag with my reusables after the fact. These days I only need human interaction when I buy booze, and that consists of a cashier eyeballing me and approving it.
- sqeaky 10y agoI think there are bigger problems, like how they implicitly assume everyone is a thief and are will to damage usability for everyone because that assumption. That stupid scale isn't going to stop any shoplifter, but it does inconvenience me every time. EDIt - Grammar.
- draw_down 10y agoRight. They're user-hostile.
- rhino369 10y agoIt's not just to catch thieves, but to catch errors in scanning too. When I was a cashier (this was back in 2004 but these self check outs appear to be running the same UI), about 70% of the time I had override the machine, the person had thought they scanned something but didn't. And it rarely appeared to be an attempt to steal. I even catch myself doing it. If you are smart you can notice the error, take it out of the bag and rescan and the machine will keep going. Most people just freeze and wait for help.
- jblok 10y agoWaitrose have had the exact same thing for many years now.
- leesalminen 10y agoStop & Shop in the NE US released this in ~2006
- sqeaky 10y agoWhere is that at? I am Omaha and google maps did not show a "Stop & Shop".
- maxerickson 10y agoIt's a grocer in the Northeast.
- leesalminen 10y agoGood one :). NE = North East, not Nebraska in this instance though I can see the confusion.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- coleca 10y agoI worked on that project (Shopping Buddy) and a few later iterations of it. This was before the iPad, we had these huge IBM super rugged tablets on the carriages. We used something like Zigbee to triangulate the precise location of the carriage in the aisle, so we could tell whether the cart was at the beginning, middle or end of aisle 5 or aisle 6 and target ads appropriate for where you were. There was a small scanner for you to scan your groceries as you went. It was ridiculously expensive to outfit one store w/the tech so we ended up with a simpler version using Motorola MC70 handheld scanner guns and ditched the exact triangulation and instead went to more generic stuff where we would just check which AP you were connected to so we would know which third of the store you were on (produce, frozen foods, or middle of the store). That system then got ported to iOS and Android so you could use your phone instead of the scanner. The original version despite its issues was pretty advanced for the time (mid 2000s). They still have the mobile / MC70 version rolled out to the entire chain now, it's very successful from what I hear.
- BjoernKW 10y agoTesco also has pushed self scanning tills for years now. However, the number of employees working at the cash register is still the same because those scanners sometimes do not work and most importantly their user experience is deplorable. So, you frequently have to ask someone for help (and I'm in my mid-thirties and very tech-savvy. I can only imagine how someone twice my age would feel when using these scanners).
- dingaling 10y ago> However, the number of employees working at the cash register is still the same Actually the ratio of staff:active-self-checkout machines is planned to reduce in each new deployment as customers become accustomed to the machines. Starts around 1:2 and usually sits around 1:4 with a target of 1:8 or even 1:12 at quiet times. That's definitely a reduction in cashiers since the machines displace existing check-out lines & registers. Source: an acquaintance is a manager in a Tesco Superstore.
- robryan 10y agoSimilar at supermarkets in Australia, one staff member could be watching over about 12 self checkouts. They still offer regular registers for people with a lot of stuff and people that don't like self checkout. The machines are good enough now that I almost never get stuck, although some people are a lot more prone to needing staff assistance to complete checkout.
- crottypeter 10y agoTerrible UX is spot-on. I was using one of these just this morning: got all my shopping onto the scale/shelf and was getting ready to pay. The machine asks how many 5p bags I used. So I start packing the stuff into my backpack to find out whether I need a bag. The machine pipes up: "Did you remove something from the scale?" The screen has a full screen modal warning that I have to put the shopping back. I put the things back on the scale and guess that I won't need a bag and I pay using contactless but what if my shopping won't fit in my bag? I understand why we have to "pack" things onto a scale (it makes it much harder to take things without scanning them) but it has to trust you at some point.
- tdeck 10y agoThis exists in the US, too. I saw one at Giant in Pennsylvania when I was home for the holidays.
- Magnets 10y agoTesco started that back in the late 90s and Sainsburys also did it 5+ years ago, then Tesco seems to have had another go at it recently. edit: Safeway was first, in 1997 The Camden store illustrates the progress Safeway has made in other directions too. As part of its customer friendliness, Safeway was the first of the major food multiples to introduce self-scanning, the system it calls Shop & Go. http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/uk-safeway-follows-leader/article/410947 http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/uk-safeway-follows-leader/a...
- camtarn 10y agoOur local store installed them to great fanfare back in the 90s, kept them for about a year, then quietly removed them. I was always very curious as to why: perhaps they didn't get used very much, or perhaps customer satisfaction with them was low.
- djsumdog 10y agoHuh...I had travelled around the UK/Ireland last year and I don't think I saw any of these. Maybe I was hitting the wrong stores, or people were using them and I didn't recognize them.
- SilkRoadie 10y agoIt is typically found in very large stores. I only have only seen this in two Tesco stores.
- 10y ago
- dasboth 10y ago> There's a random chance that your scanner will be audited by a human against the contents of your shopping cart. Usually the first time you use it, then it backs off. I must be really suspicious-looking because I've been subjected to a "random audit" all 5 times I used it. Gave up because with a weekly shop it's quicker to go to an actual checkout than having someone scan all of my items again. The idea's good, but my experience of the execution has been bad.