Scan on a mission / Stop & Shop's new smartphone app works as a super-fast self-checkout [telecom]

Scan on a mission Stop & Shop's new smartphone app works as a super-fast self-checkout

By Jane Dornbusch Globe Correspondent / November 9, 2011

BRAINTREE - Self-checkouts are so yesterday. And with consumers complaining about them and some companies eliminating them, supermarkets are seeking new ways to lure in shoppers who want to get in and out quickly.

[Moderator snip]

The app is designed to work on an iPhone or Android. Download it - it's linked to your loyalty card - and you're good to go.

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***** Moderator's Note *****

The problem with "time saving" apps on "smart" phones is that they can't save you any time. Since those who use a "scanning" app to scan barcodes via a "smatrt" phone would have to do the same thing at a checkout aisle, there's no time savings. There is, however, the _perception_ of time savings, since those who use their "smart" phones for such things feel like they're saving time because they don't have to spend _as_ _much_ time in the checkout aisle.

Of course, you have to checkout: the store wants to be paid. Of course, you still have to type in a code for any produce you buy, and you have to have cellular and data service, and of course the whole thing adds up to another toy for those with more money than brains.

This reminds me of the "instant" gas tokens that various oil companies hyped a few years ago. Some people loved them, until they realized that they still had to put the nozzle in the tank and wait for the pump to deliver the product their "instant" token had cleared them to buy.

Bill Horne Moderator

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Monty Solomon
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