Shopping at the supermarket can be a real job. And what do shoppers hate most about it? – stand in lines at the checkout. But they wouldn’t need to stand in lines if supermarkets used the new idea in shopping.
This idea is the ‘smart store’. The smart store would change checkout with computer technology. How would the smart store work? When you came in the smart supermarket, you’d take a small electronic pen. Then you’d go round the store as you often do and take things from the shelves. You’d use the pen to write over the bar code on the goods before you put them in your trolley, and the pen would get your prices. At the checkout, you wouldn’t meet a checkout assistant; instead you’d find a checkout console. You’d put the pen into the console and the computer in the console would show the total cost. To pay, you’d put a credit card through a slot on the console. Then you’d put your finger on a small machine. This would show you. You couldn’t use someone else’s credit card. You’d leave the shop through a way like the one at airports. If you didn’t write everything in your trolley, a bell would ring.