3 ms·
>Most of the time it does take about 30 seconds, also you don't have to get your stuff out of your bag and you know all along how much you're going to pay. And
by jaclaz 9y ago
>Most of the time it does take about 30 seconds, also you don't have to get your stuff out of your bag and you know all along how much you're going to pay.
And this latter has an interesting side effect.
At the time these readers were introduced the "message" to the public was "your convenience, faster checkout" (while actually the reason was "let us reduce the number of cashiers").
What was soon found out was that the "poor man's average shopping" was raised by some 10-15%.
Imagine you go to the supermarket and you only have in your pocket a single 50 Euro (or 50 dollars) note.
You put things in your basket making a mental calculation of the total amount in order to avoid, when you checkout, if the total is more than 50, to have to leave some item (and also to avoid the "social shame").
With the new method, where you can see your progressive total, that kind of shopping has raised from 42-45 to 48-50, i.e. people use "all they have" without risking to "look bad".
- adamio 9y agowho is this hypothetical poor man who's so bad at managing money that an exact total of the amount he's spending will cause him to overspend ?
- jaclaz 9y ago>who is this hypothetical poor man who's so bad at managing money that an exact total of the amount he's spending will cause him to overspend ? It is not hypothetical, it is a peculiar - but not so uncommon - man/woman with a limited amount of money in his/her hands (and of course no credit card or similar), the single 50 in the example (but it could be 20 or 100) banknote. He/she is willing to spend the whole amount of money, but before didn't because he/she was afraid to be seen as having only that given limited amount of money and by making approximate mental calculation tended to undereestimate (or if you prefer preferred to be on the safe side). With the barcode reader he/she can spend the whole amount of money he/she has available with no risk of appearing (to the cashier, to the people in queue) as "poor". The poiont is not that with the new system this kind of "poor" people overspend, rather it is that before it underspent.
- janekm 9y agoWhen I'm using the app-based version of this kind of system, I find myself much more likely to put an item back on the shelf when I see the price come up in the app (or when I notice how high my total bill is getting). Being surprised at the total spend after visiting a supermarket used to be quite common for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that experience! Of course Amazon are well aware of this psychology and only send you the bill after you leave the store...