You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Britain
Next Up: Shopping Cart Rage
2007-10-11
Supermarket shoppers may soon be cruising the aisles with "intelligent" trolleys that warn them if they're buying too much junk food, technology experts say.
They have something like this at the local mart we shop at: only the plasma screen simply pushes advertising and 'healthy eating' tips. I still want to dump the whole thing into the frozen food bin and leave it amisdt the cans of OJ.
While many would be happy enough if they could simply get their trolley to go in a straight line, the high-tech model will be fitted with a computer screen and barcode scanner. It will read each product's individual code to give customers information about calories, nutrition, ethical sourcing and the environment.

U.S. technology services company EDS outlined the concept in a study paper published this week. It said the screens would reduce the need for lots of packaging for food, helping stores to tackle environmental concerns.
Good idea. We've spent 100 years figuring out how to package food to keep it from spoiling. Let's throw all that away.
"Shoppers want barcode readers on their trolleys to calculate the nutritional content and tell them when they have blown their calorific budget," said EDS's Sion Roberts, director of consumer industries and retail.
First thing I want to know when I've got a big spoon in the chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream is exactly when I've blown my 'caloric budget', so I know that I can keep going.
"It's high-time that the humble barcode is recognized as a practical and cost-effective solution to consumers' thirst for information."
Mind you, the consumer information was already listed on the ... packaging. Which we'll no longer have.
Research carried out by food industry body IGD on behalf of EDS found that a third of shoppers want barcode scanners fitted to their trolleys. Most prefer to get information from labels on the food, according to the survey of nearly 1,000 people.
Like I was just saying. Read it quick and make a decision, rather than waiting on Windoze SC (shopping cart™ edition) to read the barcode, freeze in a blue screen, reboot, and display the nutritional information in a font too small to read ...
Some shoppers are already using advanced trolleys. Trials of touch-screen computers on shopping carts have been trialed in stores in the United States.
Touch 'em once nice and hard and they break, but then, you knew that.
Posted by:Anonymoose

#19  One thing you guys are forgetting is that stores don't want to buy this crap. Take a wild guess at the cost of a cart, even one made of mostly plastic. Now throw on a computer, scanner and a plasma screen? No store wanting to keep their slim profit margin is going to waste capital buying these things.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2007-10-11 23:09  

#18  Is just me, or does anyone else think "HANS SOLO SEALED IN CARBONITE", or "JANE JETSON AND EARTH'S [ = Corsicant's] FIRST SKY CITY"??? D *** NG IT, WNY "CORSICA" - WHATS WRONG WID THE NAME SARDINIA = SARDINIA CITY?
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2007-10-11 22:02  

#17  Why the heck do consumers even have choices? The government knows best what is good for them. The proles should show up at the commissary, be issued their daily ration, and shut up. There are too many choices, many of them bad. It would be better if there were only healthy foods on the shelves.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler   2007-10-11 22:02  

#16  xb, at least *that* system is there to keep folks from stealing the physical carts (an epidemic by my house). My worry is that the system will be programmed to lock up if you buy "too many calories" or "too much unsaturated fat".
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-10-11 17:41  

#15  with any luck we will get a talking shopping cart to prevent the bum heist:

"I'm sorry Dave, you can't do that."

Already there - just without the talking. One of my local supermarkets has a perimeter system that locks up cart wheels if they stray beyond the line.
Posted by: xbalanke   2007-10-11 17:33  

#14  This will only spurn a whole new line of anti-intelligent trolley zappers (like they have for cell phones) so that fat people can shop without guilt. They are un-locking the SIM cards on iPhones over in Europe and selling them for up to Euro 900 even though the buyers know that the next upgrad is unlikely to work on their unlocked phone. I expect the same thing with the grocery cart.
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2007-10-11 16:50  

#13  the bums could hack them and install linux. Make a nice cheap pc for their shopping cart lives.
Posted by: 3dc   2007-10-11 16:32  

#12  First thing I want to know when I've got a big spoon in the chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream is exactly when I've blown my 'caloric budget', so I know that I can keep going.

After all, without those extra calories how're you gonna make it through the whole quart?

Man, I'll bet the bums can't wait for these high tech beauties in which to squire around all their earthly possesions. They'll become bum status symbols...

Heh! You know how the hardcore types hitch together a couple of carts? I call those trains "low budget RVs".
Posted by: Zenster   2007-10-11 16:03  

#11  Right, like I'm going to scan every item that gets thrown into the basket.

Are they going to put in a cover that won't open until you scan an item?

Wonder what will happen when the first Little League or Soccer Mom buys 15 bags of chips & cookies and a couple cases of soda for the team celebration.

This is the kind of s*** that gives big business a (deserved) bad name.

Are they going to try and prevent me from carrying a hammer when I use one of these?
Posted by: AlanC   2007-10-11 15:53  

#10  
Windoze SC.

Lol, ya Mac freak.
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-10-11 15:38  

#9  Research carried out by food industry body IGD on behalf of EDS found that a third of shoppers want barcode scanners fitted to their trolleys.

Yep a completely unbiased poll, we asked all the people in sales and research, got a 30% favorable response, (By the way, we're having a reorg in sales and research, for some reason 70% will be leaving shortly)
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2007-10-11 15:07  

#8  LIE:
"Shoppers want barcode readers on their trolleys to calculate the nutritional content and tell them when they have blown their calorific budget."

TRUTH:
"EDS wants to sell some expensive shit."
Posted by: mcsegeek1   2007-10-11 14:53  

#7  ...The first time a toddler gets into that little seat and decides to 'play' with a plasma screen and then breaks it, I have a feeling that this won't last long after that.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2007-10-11 14:41  

#6  "Man, I'll bet the bums can't wait for these high tech beauties in which to squire around all their earthly possesions. They'll become bum status symbols..."

with any luck we will get a talking shopping cart to prevent the bum heist:

"I'm sorry Dave, you can't do that."

Posted by: USN, Ret.   2007-10-11 14:37  

#5  maybe they can get some "spinners" for their wheels too!
Posted by: BA   2007-10-11 14:36  

#4  Man, I'll bet the bums can't wait for these high tech beauties in which to squire around all their earthly possesions. They'll become bum status symbols...
Posted by: tu3031   2007-10-11 14:11  

#3  Just another step toward the P.C. "food police" being implemented. I wouldn't mind a bar code scanner at all, but ONLY for the purpose of telling me what my running total cost will be at checkout.
Posted by: BA   2007-10-11 13:53  

#2  "Shoppers want barcode readers on their trolleys to calculate the nutritional content and tell them when they have blown their calorific budget,"

I call Bulls*t! Shoppers want no such thing. Ever notice how the scanners no longer tell the world the item you just bought? Now they just shout out the price, and even that gets complaints. Shopping technology is already too nosy. The first grocers that adopt this would find an unsustainable rate of "failure" on these carts.
Posted by: xbalanke   2007-10-11 13:45  

#1  I remember a 'Candid Camera'-type show, in which they pranked people at the gas pump by continuing to increment the pump after they had stopped pumping, and they couldn't make it stop.

Bad idea. People went red with rage, and fists were flying. It did not stop when they were told that it was just a prank and their gas was free--they wanted to hurt somebody. Big men, small women, it didn't matter. It had crossed the line.

If some shopping cart starts telling me not to buy something, it is going to be a broken shopping cart real quick.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-10-11 13:42  

00:00