Bloom has them and now Giant has them: self-scanners. These little handheld scanners are supposed to help you checkout faster by allowing you to scan items as you walk through the store and shop. Here’s the thing, though:
No one ever uses them.
Literally. I have never seen a single person stop and pick one up, despite the fact there are dozens set up on the neatly organized display. And I think the reason is simple: people don’t want to have to learn how to shop. The idea sounds good on paper: scan items as you put them in your cart, but in practice too many things can go wrong. And what do you do with produce? You’ve still got to weigh and pay for that. So why bother with a handheld scanner?
Has anyone here ever used one? Seems like a classic solution looking for a problem.
Posted in Consumer Commentary
COD November 19, 2009, 5:11 pm
I did once, just for the novelty effect. Then I started to wonder why I was doing all the extra work while shopping and not getting any sort of discount for it.