High Tech Shopping Carts Offer Discounts, Ads

An anonymous reader writes "'Imagine walking down a supermarket aisle and hearing a chime as you pass the peanut butter letting you know it's on sale. Or picture reading the local five-day weather forecast, checking the Dow Jones industrial average and finding a new chicken and rice recipe, all from your shopping basket. Souped up with a computer attachment, your shopping cart could become a know-it-all that gives you special discounts based on what you buy or provides news and information as you sail through grocery aisles.' Full story here, and the Cart manufacturer's site here. I might just have to warshop in Moraga today..."

Comments

Re:Nagging shopping carts

[Eros]

Here in Phoenix AZ at least this is in full effect at the local Costcos and Price Clubs (mass warehouse food, and various products companies).

I can go inside. Insert my membership card into a display case and remove a portable electronic scanner to scan my own items. It gives me the last item's price and a total including tax. I can add and remove items easily. Once I'm done I return the scanner to the case and it prints a ticket with the total and a barcode. I go through an express checkout where my cart is weighed and ticket scanned. If the cart's weight is off they take the time to check the items. Otherwise I pay and go.

Not to mention the local markets also have lanes where I can walk up to a scan station and scan everything myself. This allows one employee to monitor 4 scanning stations(that sit in the same space as 2) and allows me to not have my bread sitting under my milk.

The only harm one could possibly see is that it reduces jobs.

This is a bit dated...

[bjorky]

While I was studying in Germany ('99-'00) the local supermarket had shopping carts like this, with and LCD display at the front of the cart with an IR sensor on top... when you passed under hanging IR transmitters it would beep and tell you specials for what aisle you were in. Seemed a perfectly reasonable and simple solution..

LCDs weren't too fond of cold and wet weather, but since the carts were kept under cover in the parking lot, and since you had to put in a DM1,0 deposit in it (like the quarter keeper at american Aldi groceries) there was also little cart loss/misplacement.