scott wrote:
>> I've felt like doing this before, they ought to buy him dinner
>> and apologize for poor service.
>>
>> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/330043_prybar03.html
> 
> You have to wonder how much testing they actually do before launching in 
> the shops.  I used one yesterday where it asked me to "insert cash or 


> did nothing, and gave totally no indication what I was to do next.  In 
> the end I pressed the help button and a woman came over.  She said you 
> had to press the "pay with cash" button *after* you've finished putting 
> in your cash.  OK - nice system.
> 
> Also, has anyone ever succeeded in getting anywhere near the speed that 
> you can beep things through at a normal check-out?  There seems to be a 
> deliberate 1 or 2 second delay after scanning each item before it will 
> let you scan another.
> 
> In 5 or 10 years time the idea that we have to get everything out, scan 
> it, then put it back in again will seem totally ludicrous.
> 
> 
Recently tested 2 systems in different supermarkets. One where you scan 
yourself the barcode. Main problem seemed to be having a grandson 
running around at the same time. Of course he wants to help, so that 
takes some additional time. The other experimental system is using a 
mobile phone to pick up (probably) an RFID in the pricetag on the shelf. 
At another place they do an experiment with paying by mobile phone. 
Combine the two and it may even get useful.
At another staff restaurant in a hospital that I recently visited you 
had to punch what you got for lunch yourself on one of those many button 
counters. That also takes more time than when a specialist does it. Yet 
they only needed two very bored looking ladies to direct the medical 
staff to a free terminal. Of which they had 4, so they apparently need 
only half the staff in the restaurant.
Great things are afoot in scanning and paying over the next few years.

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