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Comment by diggan | Hacker News Reader

> I think that the scan-as-you-shop style systems are definitely the next realistic step for grocery stores.

Scan-as-you-shop has been around for at least a decade at this point I think, at least in some parts of the world. ICA (supermarket in Sweden) been doing it for as long as I can remember, and I came across this image of the scanner being used at the store on Mediawiki: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Self_checkout_scanne... (Image uploaded 2011)

Surely this exists elsewhere too, or been judged to only work in certain contexts (like a high-trust environment like Sweden) and won't be the next realistic step.

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Jup it has been available for a very long time in the Netherlands as well.

When I moved to the UK, what surprised me is that Tesco self check out is so much more cumbersome. It weighs your stuff, stops working when something isn't exactly the right weight. Super annoying to use if you're used to the system used in Sweden and The Netherlands. But that was in stores in the middle of central London, it may be very different in more suburban "big" stores which is where it was first rolled out in NL as well.

It's entirely up to the store how sensitive (or if it cares about weight in the bagging area at all).

And how that's set usually has more to do with the store's location than anything else.

All the supermarkets where I live (English Midlands) have scan as you shop.

I stopped using it after they required using their loyalty cards/apps to use it.

I'm not a fan of the data tracking that I know those loyalty programs are for, but at least in the US most stores overcharge you if you don't use them (they present it as giving a "discount" if you use them but really you are just getting the fair price denied to non-members) so you would need to have deep pockets to resist them out of principle.

Around here the main difference is lower pricing on some items, so I mostly just buy those items somewhere else.

I also use one loyalty app only when I get an offer.

Just yesterday I bought some steaks that were $55 with the loyalty card and $130 (no typo) without.

I’ve never seen a difference that huge before.

In my part of the US, anyway, there are several grocery stores that don't use loyalty cards at all, so you can avoid the extortion by shopping at those.

The latest evolution in these are really devious: A shelf tag advertises a price in large print: $7.99 with smaller print "with digital coupon" And then underneath, in the color usually used to show the "non-sale price," you see "$12.99." A lot of people just glance at the tag which looks a lot like the normal 'sale price' tag and thinks they're paying $8. Of course, you have to get in the sluggish, stupid app, and best case scenario scan the tag or the item and get to the right part of the app to "Clip" the coupon. Assuming you can get a good enough signal in that part of the store, and that you haven't become logged out of the app... etc. etc. And assuming you don't make a mental note to clip it in a minute when you get out of this crowded aisle and then forget.

I think they just really want to display one price and charge a much higher one to most people.

If you're paying with credit card or debit card they are tracking you anyways, might as well get a discount for it.

apps are a new thing. before, when it was just a phone number, 867-5309 in the us would usually work to get the discount while being usefully trackable

> (like a high-trust environment like Sweden)

You maybe don't know that Sweden is consistently near the top of shoplifting statistics in Europe.

You maybe haven't actually spent any time in Sweden and compared to how people act towards each other there compared to other countries? Or, you haven't spent enough time in other countries than Sweden, making it hard to compare.

I lived there for my first 20 years, and have since lived in Spain. The amount of trust between people in the Nordics is definitely higher than most other places in the world.

I'm sure that's due to the native swedes....

Scan as you shop goes back way further! Safeway UK had it, and they were bought over yonks ago.

Looks like they had it in 1996, 28 years ago. https://www.supermarketnews.com/archive/safeway-uk-expands-s...

Yeah, I remember it as a kid. But it surprised me when they brought it back because people rarely used it. I still don't really get the point of it tbh, scanning items as you pick them up just spreads out the faff of scanning things and slows people down in the aisles.

Yes. In Switzerland Migros you have this as well, at least in the bigger ones. But they also added scanning with the phone. So you don't need a special scanner, just your phone.

Wal-Mart tried it here in Canada for a bit, but it didn't last long at all.

US side Sam's Club (same Sam Walton) has scan-as-you-shop.

Membership clubs can get away with quite a bit more because they're controlled access.

I notice Costco has self-checkouts now.

So does Walmart+ (the membership program which also gives a better deal for home delivery). I am curious whether this is going to stay or not, now that in some Walmarts the self-checkouts (where you're still obliged to stop and scan a code to complete checkout) aren't open normally.

One of the "perks" of my Walmart+ membership is scan-as-you-go. I think I've used it twice. Both times, I only had a few things and the store was packed solid with spring breakers. It was a decent experience but I still like the normal self-checkout the best.

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