Scan & Go

[Sin Agog]

I think I saw an actual tumbleweed full of crickets at the Scan & Go checkout yesterday, and it was peak period on a Saturday afternoon.  Could just be the Ned Lud in me, but it seems like one of those convenient inventions that's more of a ball-ache than a step forward.  Never used it before, but I believe you have to carry a little mini-scanner with you around the supermarket and scan everything into there, before paying at the Scan & Go checkout.  Only thing is, carrying the basket, lifting up the item, and then scanning the thing requires either a small act of contortion or an extra arm.  Reminds me of this rowing machine I saw at the gym that required you to scan it with your phone, bite off half a banana and sing Yankee Doodle Dandy backwards Twin Peaks style before you could start pretend rowing.

[Icehaven]

Don't you have to sign up for it first or something? I might be wrong about that though. I know there was a similar system in a supermarket I worked in years ago but no one used it because it had an anti-theft measure that meant a certain proportion per week or whatever had to be checked by staff, which meant unpacking and rescanning everything, completely defeating the object and pissing the customer right off wasting double the time they were supposed to save and making them feel like they were being accused of thieving. To top it off it far too frequently demanded rechecking as well, so customers using it regularly decided it wasn't worth the risk of having the mither in the end.

[mothman]

My wife's taken to it like a fish to the proverbial. It's not for the spontaneous though - you really need to go in there with a trolley and a plan. Just picking things up at random soon becomes untenable.

[thenoise]

Only thing is, carrying the basket, lifting up the item, and then scanning the thing requires either a small act of contortion or an extra arm.

Yeah, they're for people with a weekly shop and loved ones to feed at home, not your single ready meals and dimly lit meals for one. They have a basket only checkout for people like you, and they put the prettiest girls on those too so you can enjoy the closest thing to human contact you've had this week, well if you can bring yourself to unplug from your podcasts for 10 seconds.

[Sin Agog]

That was more passive-Aggressive.

[thenoise]

Soz wrong thread :p

[marquis_de_sad]

Is this the new pokemon?

[Replies From View]

TAKE TWO BARCODES INTO THE SHOWER???

[canadagoose]

The Tesco nearest me has this, and I find it quite handy. Not that many people seem to use it so I've usually got plenty of time to pack away my shopping at the end, so it's less of a panic. Perfect.

[pigamus]

My local Asda has had this about a week and it's already fucked.

[Replies From View]

When I was a kid you'd just buy the stuff you wanted.

- Get the stuff
- Pay for the stuff ¹
- Leave the shop (with the stuff)


Weird idea huh.


¹  I mean by this that you could literally pay for the stuff.  Yeah I know!!!

[Twed]

When I was a kid you'd just buy the stuff you wanted.

When I was a kid you'd use Scan & Go, because this was a failed trial in the 90s and it's really confusing to me that such a shit idea has returned. Do they not even just give you an app to use? It's still a ridiculous 90s scanner?

[marquis_de_sad]

When I was a kid you'd use Scan & Go, because this was a failed trial in the 90s and it's really confusing to me that such a shit idea has returned. Do they not even just give you an app to use? It's still a ridiculous 90s scanner?

It's called a P.K.E. meter.

[Captain Z]

I've been using this at Tesco for 3-4 years at least. Ok, only for 'big shops' but I wouldn't go back now. Assuming you take your own bags, which everyone should be doing now anyway, the obvious benefit is that your shopping is already packed at the end. The minor 'arm contortion' is nothing compared to the hassle of unloading your entire trolley in convenient packing order, bagging it up at speed at reloading at the checkout. Plus you can check exactly how much you're spending as you go, no surprises when you accidentally picked up the one that wasn't on offer...etc.

[Replies From View]

It's called a P.K.E. meter.

I KNOW WHAT A P.K.E. METERS ARE

[neardark]

It's good. Clearly not a shit idea. Can keep an eye on how much your shopping is gonna cost and put it directly in the bag.

[Replies From View]

[neardark]

Oops just repeated Captain Z.

[Captain Z]

Oops just repeated Captain Z.

You provided a helpful TLDR version.

[Twed]

A good game for responsible children!

[Twed]

Barcode Battler is hilarious to me, because they were SO CLOSE to inventing Pokemon. They just forgot to put any fun into it.

"CORNFLAKES, GO!"
"All right! 2453!"

[Small Man Big Horse]

I remember when Morrisons used to do this ages ago and enjoyed it a lot, I'd go shopping with mother and put lots of unscanned things in the basket and then nip out for a cigarette while she was hopefully being challenged by store security and then arrested. Sadly that never happened but now it's back hopefully it'll lead to her imprisonment soon, and me and the mrs can move in to her flat while she's on the inside.

[Mary is not amused]

Can keep an eye on how much your shopping is gonna cost and put it directly in the bag.

Anne Summers trial 'a qualified success'.

[Captain Z]

By the way, got a tip for you. A wee scam if that's what you want to call it, not that I would use that word. See, what you wanna do is this: Next time you use scan and go, buy 2 onions. Weigh them, print the label and put the onions in your carrier bag, no need for the extra thin plastic bag, save the environment and all that. But what to do with the barcode sticker? Stick it on the side of your carrier bag, you know, your reusable bag for life. See then the next time you go shopping, take those same bags with you. Nothing wrong with that, bags for life mate, save the environment and all that. Now this time, get three onions. But scan your old barcode fae the two onions. That's right: free onion! And if you're thinking "well that's all well and good but I don't really eat onions", that's the beauty of it - it works fae any vegetable! Scam & go, mate, scam & go. Keep it tae yersel though, right?

[Pingers]

I scat and go

[touchingcloth]

By the way, got a tip for you. A wee scam if that's what you want to call it, not that I would use that word. See, what you wanna do is this: Next time you use scan and go, buy 2 onions. Weigh them, print the label and put the onions in your carrier bag, no need for the extra thin plastic bag, save the environment and all that. But what to do with the barcode sticker? Stick it on the side of your carrier bag, you know, your reusable bag for life. See then the next time you go shopping, take those same bags with you. Nothing wrong with that, bags for life mate, save the environment and all that. Now this time, get three onions. But scan your old barcode fae the two onions. That's right: free onion! And if you're thinking "well that's all well and good but I don't really eat onions", that's the beauty of it - it works fae any vegetable! Scam & go, mate, scam & go. Keep it tae yersel though, right?

Mate, it's so easy to scam those self serve checkouts. Fraud has never been so simple.

[chveik]

By the way, got a tip for you. A wee scam if that's what you want to call it, not that I would use that word. See, what you wanna do is this: Next time you use scan and go, buy 2 onions. Weigh them, print the label and put the onions in your carrier bag, no need for the extra thin plastic bag, save the environment and all that. But what to do with the barcode sticker? Stick it on the side of your carrier bag, you know, your reusable bag for life. See then the next time you go shopping, take those same bags with you. Nothing wrong with that, bags for life mate, save the environment and all that. Now this time, get three onions. But scan your old barcode fae the two onions. That's right: free onion! And if you're thinking "well that's all well and good but I don't really eat onions", that's the beauty of it - it works fae any vegetable! Scam & go, mate, scam & go. Keep it tae yersel though, right?

or weigh your onion, take the barcode sticker, get rid of the onion, put the label on something expensive like good wine or whatnot, scan it when nobody's looking. easy as pie

[touchingcloth]

or weigh your onion, take the barcode sticker, get rid of the onion, put the label on something expensive like good wine or whatnot, scan it when nobody's looking. easy as pie

Given that the barcode includes the weight, I would say that a better solution is to forget onions altogether, and weigh a bottle of wine as if it were onions to get a barcode sticker for it.

Me? The only place with self-serves I visit is Tesco'ses. They don't print labels for fruit, so if I want to half steal something I place it on the scales at the till and then just say it's croissants or loose cress or whatever before adding it to my bag. Don't choose avocados because that's as expensive as booze sometimes, so if it's pricier than cress given the weight I'd probably go for butternut squash or something.

[shiftwork2]

Safeway used to do this.  I got selected for rescanning and guess what, I had items in my trolley that I hadn't scanned.  It was actually an embarrassing shock to me as I hadn't intended on going nicking.  I gamely tried the system a further three times and got selected three times.  My card marked, I slunk back to using the checkouts.

[BlodwynPig]

I grow everything I need in my fridge, thank you.