Pretty much the title. Like, get those handheld scanners and attach them to the carts. I scan items as I put them in, roll up to a “register” where the cart is weighed and verified by a cashier. I just hand over the cash then leave. Or even better, install load sensors in the cart.
Usually I like to pack my groceries into my boxes as I get them into the cart. Keeps things orderly and neat and I also don’t buy more than I can carry home. But this means I have to unpack them to place on the belt then pack them all over again after paying. It would be kinda nice to just pay by the cart load.
I’m going to assume you’re in a country where they have the self checkout things which have a ‘bagging area’ of some sort wit a scale under it?
In the Netherlands we have selfcheckout without this weighing. You walk into the store, grab a handscanner, and as you walk through the store you can pick something up, scan it, put it in your own bag and continue. When you get yo the register, you scan some barcode on the screen of the register woth your scanner, touch your nfc bank card to the terminal, and walk out. No need to take anything out of your bag.
Sometimes they do random checks, then some employee comes over and scans a few items from your bag. But you can just let it be their problem. They’ll usually put the stuff they’ve taken out back in again aswell.
We have something similar in the UK.
Typically, you need to already be a member of the stores loyalty/rewards scheme, so that they know who you are before you start scanning items. And if anything goes wrong, like you try to rip them off, or a technical issue with the scanner, you get locked out from using the scanners until you call their support line and sort it out.
We had those briefly where I was in the states right before and during COVID. It was so nice being able to pack things in bags neatly and just ring it all up at the end easily.
At least in Germany, at a lot of Rewes (supermarket chain), this is absolutely a thing and very common. You can place the handheld barcode scanners in a specialised holder on the cart handle and then scan as you go, and neatly package all your stuff before going to the checkout and paying at a terminal. If even Germany has got this by now, then every other country on the planet surely does too lol.
I heard some grocery chain was experimenting with rfid chips on all their products so you can just load up and leave and sensors at the door detect what you’re carrying and charge you the appropriate amount automatically. Personally I’d rather pull up to a register and have it show me a list of what’s in my cart and the total price rather than automatically charging, but otherwise it’s not a bad idea.
I’m with you. Automatically charging sounds like a nightmare. I still always want a human to verify everything a computer says. I don’t trust a corporate entity to not try and rio me off.
