On Wed, 2008-01-09 at 15:38 -0500, M. Adam Davis wrote: > On 1/9/08, Herbert Graf wrote: > > I find it amazingly inefficient how we spend the time putting everything > > in a cart, empty it all onto the belt at checkout, put it all back into > > the cart, and finally empty it into the car, what a waste of time! :) > > I've long been wanting RFID tags on everything sold so you could just > pass the cart through a field, make your payment, and leave. Never > taking anything out of the cart, or your hands, etc. > > Would require very secure collision sensing tags, and could reduce > theft (shrinkage). > > Tried convincing a video store to do it once - customer places videos > on counter, they pop up on screen, make payment and leave. Clerks are > still cheaper, and given the weak dollar will be for some time. A solution that could easily work right now is the "checkout at your cart" scheme. Many stores have a self checkout that use a scale to ensure the item you've scanned is actually the item you've scanned. So, on each cart have a UPC scanner. As you get each item you scan it. At the "check out" you simply place the cart on the scale. If things match you pay and leave. If they don't, you get directed to a regular cashier (since many people will still prefer doing it the old way) which rings you through the old way. Obviously there will be a "accurate weight vs. annoy the customer" factor, but it could be made to work quite well IMHO. It also removes the horrible privacy issues that RFID introduce. TTYL -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist