Saturday 4 August 2012

Today's Review: Tesco's Scan As You Shop


I love a bit of technology, I do. I was pretty excited when the self service tills came along, but now look at what we have. It's a handheld scanner you can take around Tesco, scanning each product as you go, and you simply pay at the end. Awesome stuff. You have to agree to their lengthy terms and conditions, but they're pretty much summed up as "scan everything, steal nothing, but if you do we'll fine the shit out of you". If you're cool with that, just scan your clubcard on the large wall of scanners, and a receptacle glows for you, willing you to pick up your one true scanner.

It's a pretty neat piece of machinery. It fits nicely in your hand, or in the little scanner holders they've put in each trolley. It's touchscreen, and has quite a few buttons as well, so it's quite easy to cancel any items you've mis-scanned or don't want. It updates the price as you go as well, letting you know how much you've saved through offers. It even lets you know which products are on offer when you scan them, I was mightily impressed with all the things this little device could do.

One of the best things about it is that you can pack as you go. No need to bundle it all stressfully into bags at the checkout, you can methodically pack as you make your way through the aisles, providing you grabbed a few bags on the way in or brought your own. You may think this would arouse suspicion from employees, but we had no trouble. Of course there are staff members on hand to make sure you pay for everything at the end, and there is a random check they carry out, but this just involves scanning a few items to make sure they've been registered. All in all it was a pain free experience, and the kids were pretty entertained by scanning our groceries. Here's to the future of the supermarket. What next, RFID tags that charge your card as you walk out of the store? Yeah, that'd be awesome. But this will do for now.

My rating: 5/5

21 comments:

  1. more opportunity to shoplift and also to employ less staff

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    1. No because everything is tagged and if not scanned the alarm goes off at the door

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    2. actually your wrong there are always 3 to 4 staff on there and there are several systems in place to prevent theft.

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  2. so now we have to do the work of scanning, printing labels, etc? well shoplifters will be pleased! not surprised if it's followed by job cuts..

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    1. Professional shoplifts refuse to use it as there is too many chances to get caught out they prefer the ways they already know. Plus the fact Tesco have all their details from Clubcard

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  3. There seems to be betting among staff at a branch I went to of how many scanners will be” lost “ which I think will rise rapidly when somebody finds another use for them or their component parts as they look expensive to produce.

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    1. They're pretty well covered as far as the people using them are concerned, seeing as you need to scan your Clubcard, confirm your postcode and agree to the T&Cs before you can take one. I'm guessing they get locked into their holders when they're not in use, but I can't say I've tried to grab one.

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    2. And there tagged so if you go out the door with one the alarm goes off and you can have a nice chat with the security gaurd

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  4. I used this for the first time today and thought it was excellent. I try and stick to a budget each week so seeing how much i spend as i go along is really helpful for me. The queues at the normal tills were horrific today so i felt pretty smug walking to the specially designated payment area which was queueless!

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  5. This technology was pioneered by Safeway in the UK back in the 90s ... then abandoned when they got taken over by Morrisons. Waitrose also adopted it.

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  6. I've just used this for the first time as I was curious. All went OK until I had a random check done in front of the other waiting shoppers. Although it makes sense to deter shoplifters it left me with the feeling that I experienced years ago when I was hauled to the back of a shop and accused of shoplifting after having paid for my purchase and was leaving the store, just because the salesperson hadn't removed a security tag. i don't think I will be using this system again.

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  7. Why is everyone so excited, Waitrose have had these scanners for years.

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    1. And sainsburys had a version

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    2. So has Tesco's it has been trialed for the last 3years in 6 stores and this year they decided now was the time to roll it out everywhere.

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  8. not at my Waitrose they haven't!

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  9. im fitting these at the moment, they work on a clubcard basis, the first 3 times you ever use the system you will be checked. other than that it is every 10th person. a load of cameras are around aswell.

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  10. As a pensioner I think this system is fantastic, I am the most impatient shopper in the world so this way of shopping caters for the likes of me.
    Even when out of the general area of a Tesco self scan and needing groceries I will make my way back to the nest just for the shear convenience.

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  11. These scanners are an absolute winner, I totally love them!! You can pack your bags as you shop and check how much you spend, I am happy to be checked every time as the supermarkets are putting way too much faith in humanity and we sure as hell can't be trusted. As long as you never forget to scan anything this is the best way to shop out there. Congratulations Tesco!!

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  12. Being getting my shop with scanner for a long time now, sometimes they check scan around 10 items witch
    is acceptable but last week they scanned every single item, I thing that is stupid, you waste 90 minutes doing your shop and them you have to wait another 20 for them to scan around 150 pounds worth of shopping and there was nothing wrong in the first place. If I was on my on I would just leave the whole shopping there so the idiots could put it back in the shelves. Talking about time wasters.

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  13. It's not random scanning for me, it's almost every time despite no errors in my part? Slows me up and noone knows the answer why. Decided to stop using!

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  14. They have changed the scanners now, they are so slow as you have to wait for the picture of the item to come up before scanning the next item.
    If you have multiple items as in 5 for 4 then it takes forever. Why not have add multiple items on there so you can just put in the numbers.
    None of the staff I asked had an answer.

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