Scribblings

Shopping like the Jetsons!

I?ve never been fond of grocery shopping, although going with just TB is the most enjoyable of all possible combinations of family members.

The store nearest us is an Acme. When we first moved in 2 years ago, I was favorably impressed with the prices and the choices offered. It?s fairly new and so it was bright and clean inside.

My biggest complaint was the express line with the cashier from Hell. This is a woman who must have been working for the store for the last 40 years to be in such a position. I am assuming that working the express line would be the most coveted position because it?s easier on the hands and backs of the cashiers. People are limited to 12 items or less.

Well, this checker often stops to chat with the customers. Many cashiers will talk to the customers but they keep scanning items as they go. This lady stops cold to chat. If she isn?t chatting, she is checking. One day I waited on line for 20 minutes while she checked a price. I can?t remember what the item was, just that the cashier didn?t seem to believe the sale price. She sent a kid bagging groceries back to check. He came back and said yeah, that?s the right price. Well, she wasn?t satisfied with that either and went to customer service to make absolutely sure.

I made sure I did not get in that line again. On other occasions, I breezed through another line. I snickered inwardly at the lengthening line at express. Often, the lady would stroll over to customer service to ask a question about someone?s purchase. I could see the frustrated faces of the customers on line changing to annoyance and then anger. Tsk, tsk.

The next thing Acme did was introduce self checkout machines. It?s sort of a good idea because we all dread the check out line but there are some big downsides to it. One is that they immediately began closing lines. Not only that, self checking is a confusing process.

First, there?s no room to unpack all your groceries from the cart. Okay, so you pick up an item and scan it and then put it in the bag. Then you keep going until the bag is filled. Now it?s time to move the bag to ? um, where? You still have a cart full of groceries and no place to put this bag. Not only that but the machine has begun demanding obnoxiously that you put the bag back where it came from ? apparently the machine thinks you?re going to make off with the food without paying or something.

The first time I did this, I have to admit I felt pretty silly when I put the bag back and the darn machine still wasn?t happy. It continued complaining until a live cashier came along and showed me that I needed to push a ?remove groceries? button in order to be able to move the bag. Oh. Silly me. And so I fill the next bag and when it?s filled, I lift it up to put it in the cart and guess what happens?

When the cashier comes this time, she gives me a look like What?s wrong with you, are you stupid? It?s downright degrading!

TB won?t use these self checking machines. He feels that we have to pay so much to the store and why should we have to scan and pack our own bags? He has a point. But still ? those long long lines!

Now there is something new. TB sent me an article that appeared around a week ago. Maybe lines will become a thing of the past! The article ran on MSNBC but apparently it?s already been removed. Oh well. The article was written by Phil Lempert and it was called, ?We 'check out' latest supermarket ?smart? cart?.

?Yes, dealing with the supermarket check-out line ? including the horror of having kids screaming for the candy ?conveniently? placed there by profit-hungry conglomerates ? is among the least popular chores, according to many surveys. And while many supermarkets have installed ?self-checkout? lanes, only a third of consumers, according to a ACNielsen Homescan consumer panel of over 61,000 Americans, believe this kind of help-yourself method goes any way near to creating a solution.?

So what happened was that a store chain called Stop & Shop tested a ?check out buddy? cart and Mr. Lempert gave it a try. The buddy itself is just a screen hooked onto the cart. As you go along picking up items along the way, you scan it into this buddy thing and it tallies up your bill. Not only that, if you?ve got one of those super duper store cards, it?ll flash you sale offers and other good deals. I can?t say how many times I?ve searched the store for the darn peanut butter & jelly. This buddy will draw you a map! Is that a big help or what?

?Based on the shopper?s frequent shopper card, your buying history and favorite items are available in real time as you shop ? you also have the ability to download your shopping list at home and email it to the device to eliminate the need for carrying (and losing?) that piece of paper.

Once you get past the fact that the computer and the store is going to know a whole lot of personal stuff you might not want to be known, this buddy sounds like just the thing to make grocery shopping a breeze!

One thing I wondered, though ? after the items are tallied up, where do you pay? Or will it mean that the stores will also have access to our charge and debit accounts? I?m not sure if I like that or not.

And ? these buddies won?t be coming to a store near me soon. Stop & Shop is planning to introduce the buddies to their stores and to Giant stores in the Washington DC area by the end of 2005.

As for when will the rest of us see it, Mr. Lempert predicts: ?as this technology becomes cheaper and more compact, we can expect to see both cart-mounted computers and Everywhere-type displays in practically all supermarkets and mass retailers by 2008.?

Friday Five:

1) What animal best represents you?

A cat

2) What color best represents you?

Rose

3) What season best represents you?

Fall

4) What emotion best represents you?

Loving

5) What flower/tree/plant best represents you?

A Shamrock plant!

Friday Fiver:

1. What was the first concert you ever attended? How old were you? Where was it?

I saw the Beach Boys and Chicago in concert. I think it was in 1975 or ?76 and so I would have been 21 or 22. It was in Largo, Maryland.

2. What was the most recent concert you attended? Where and when?

The most recent? Gracious, it?s been years! It was probably in Columbia, Maryland and could also have been the Beach Boys. It was sometime in the 1990s.

3. Have you ever seen your favorite artist/band in concert? Did the show live up to your expectations or were you disappointed?

Yes, I have! I?ve seen three Neil Diamond concerts and he was great! I was not disappointed at all!

4. Ever been to a concert where you were pleasantly surprised at the performance? Ever been to a concert where you were totally disappointed? Name 'em!

I really liked the group Chicago and that?s why I went with a friend to that concert in Largo. They were playing with the Beach Boys, who opened. At that time, I wasn?t a strong Beach Boys fan but I turned into one that night. I enjoyed their performance more than Chicago?s!

Totally disappointed: a July 5th Beach Boys concert. They?d done the July 4th concert in Washington DC and their voices were hoarse. They seemed really tired, too.

5. Name five bands that would headline your own personal festival. (Along the lines of Oz Fest or Lollapalooza)

The Rolling Stones, Steve Miller Band, the Eagles, Chicago and Aerosmith. I have no idea if they?re all still together, except for the Rolling Stones