Stop and Shop

Sarah is visiting, and yesterday we hit up Stop and Shop to get some groceries for the week. This particular Stop and Shop had a new(ish) gadget available. It was a little scanner you’d carry around with your shopping cart. Whenever you put an item into your cart, you’d scan it first and then check out was… pretty much non-existent. You’d just drive your cart through the check out line, scan an ‘end of order’ barcode, pay, and leave.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Every time you scanned an item the price would pop right up, and the constant barrage of prices acts as a consistent reminder as to exactly what you’re spending. It would also beep regularly to alert you to special sale items – allowing additional savings (or purchasing, depending how you look at it).

I wonder if the technology is a little bit “Apple Newton” in the timing of its entry into the market. I hope that RFID shopping isn’t too far away, allowing us to see cost information and avoid the check-out simply by placing an item into our cart. RFID comes with its own set of problems, so as an intermediary step the scanning tool is pretty sweet.

7 thoughts on “Stop and Shop

  • 9/28/2009 at 4:05 pm
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    What the heck is RFID? I also don’t know what an Apple Newton is, unless it’s like a fig newton.

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  • 9/28/2009 at 4:12 pm
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    it was about as useful as a fig newton. no, I lie, fig newtons are delicious and nutritious.

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  • 9/28/2009 at 4:15 pm
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    RFID is radio frequency identification. It’s a snazzy way to keep track of where things are. Some parcel delivery companies use them to real time sort packages with machines. In general, RFID is awesome… but people get worried because RFID is not entirely secure, so if the world starts running on it, then it wouldn’t be all that hard for people to cheat.

    The Apple Newton was one of the first mass made P.D.A’s (personal digital assistant). It had the added draw of handwriting recognition on a touch screen. In reality, in the Newton, Apple was trying to get a iPhone, but the technology wasn’t there yet so the product failed. Some might say that it failed miserably.

    Alongside the Iridium satellite phones, the Apple Newton was described in my business classes as a classic example of a product that was brought to market before the technological (and cultural) infrastructure existed to support it.

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  • 9/28/2009 at 10:20 pm
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    1. Paul – Ha! Take THAT, Apple. Also upvote Fig Newtons.
    2. Did anybody ever watch that show on PBS, Newton’s Apple?
    3. Sarah – do you live in a cave? Have you heard of Satellite TV? Wireless internet? Cell phones? The automobile? Did you hear, man landed on the moon!

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  • 9/29/2009 at 9:35 am
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    Oh man I wanted an Apple Newton so much in High School.

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  • 9/29/2009 at 11:00 am
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    We had some in our high school and they were the bomb. I would use the Newton emate to write out project notes for our robotics team. I remember being like “infrared printing! this is the future!!”

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