Scanner 'ends checkout woes'

An electronic scanner which can read the entire contents of a supermarket trolley at a glance has just been developed. The Supertag scanner could revolutionise the way people shop, virtually eradicating supermarket queues.

The scanner would have a double benefit for supermarkets removing the bottleneck which causes most customer frustration and reducing the number of checkout staff.

The face of retailing will change even more rapidly when fibre optic networks being built by cable TV companies begin to be more widely used. Customers will be able to place their orders from home, using a handset to flip through menus on their TV screens.

The day cannot be too far off when the weekly shopping ordered from home will be collected later from the supermarket, already in a trolley. The customer will wheel it through a Supertag-type scanner, pay electronically using a plastic card, and be off home within minutes.

ASPINALL, Tricia. CAPEL, Annette. Advanced Masterclass. Oxford University Press. Page 177.

Glossary

woes: suffering

at a glance: quickly

trolley: is used to carry things you buy in a supermarket

retailing: selling