Walmart Is Testing A Scan-And-Go iPhone App That Could One Day Replace Cashiers

Business Insider ^ | 09/01/2012 | Alyson Shontell

[KevinDavis]

In Rogers Arkansas, Walmart recently asked employees and their friends with iPhones to test out a new self scan-and-go app. It's one of a few mobile initiatives Walmart is working on that could one day replace or aid its many cashiers.

[KevinDavis]

Not a bad idea. I think in 10 years cashiers will go away.

[Salamander]

I can never find an open register at my Wally World so they may already have.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Yep, twenty registers with only two open...it drives me crazy!

[svcw]

I have been to stores where they are no cashiers (the ones standing by the cash register), it is awful.
You run your own stuff over the scanner, bag (but if you don’t do it exactly correct the whole thing freezes).
So you have to get the attention of the person for ten scanners to come over, over ride, and start over again.
There is no customer service, because there are no people.
Even the clothing stores that these centralize check out stations, are awful.
The people don’t know anything about the products because they don’t work in the departments.
This app may save the store money, it is however devoid of customer service.

[sportutegrl]

In Baton Rouge Walmart installed new self scan checkouts. Then hurricane Katrina came and a lot of people from New Orleans moved up to BR. Suddenly the self serve lanes went bye bye.

[real saxophonist]

I actually lasted about 9 months at walmart. They post a ‘scanning accuracy’ report in the back room every week. It really means scanning speed. So yeah, this will probably happen.

[razorback-bert]

I have talked to two managers of stores without enough cashiers, they told me they can’t hire enought despite $9+ a hour. Add to their problems, many fail the drug tests.

Makes me happy, I am out of retail management.

[SamAdams76]

This was somewhat predicted when I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. Only in those days, they said that robots would take over most of the low-skill jobs. Instead of robots, it is technology that is slowly and steadily replacing low-skill workers. They did not foresee (when I was growing up) things like the Internet and the amazing computer power that the average person would have at their disposal. The average smartphone that we carry around has more computer power than all of NASA in 1965, for example.

Today we zip through unmanned tollbooths with transponders, travel agents are extinct because with a few taps on our laptop or smartphone, we can plan an entire vacation and obtain our own travel arrangements, lodging and even book our own entertainment and dining. Many of our are pumping and paying for our own gas with RFID technology (Speedpass). I can go on and on.

Point being is that it sucks being a low-skill worker. People need to learn some skills!

[nascarnation]

Eliminate cashiers?

Wouldn’t that be catastrophic to the economy like ATM machines?

In Baraq’s second term, he plans to nationalize Wal-Mart and put a management team from the post office in place.

[Plumberman27]

On e more reason to not go to walmart for anything. The place is a dump for odd looking people and idiots that do not value their worth in society.

[Salamander]

They gave us self checkouts, which was wonderful because I;m tired of toxic stuff put in bags with my vegetables and other stuff being squashed to ‘save a bag’.

I could scan my stuff and be outta there so fast it wasn’t funny.

Then, they took them away.

I rarely go there now and when I have to, I check out in the gun department where hubby’s buddy works part time.

Oh...they also totally reversed the floor plan of the store so nobody can find anything and there’s nobody to ask where stuff is.

I used to love Walmart.

[Wuli]

Stop And Shop supermarkets are nearly already there, with the exception that for now their software uses a scanner you pick up when you enter the store. But I doubt that turning into it an “App” will be very difficult.

Conversion of that process to a smart-phone App is fairly straight forward. I imagine it will become common practice.

[KevinDavis]

That is true.. I feel for them, however, we can’t stop progress in the name of saving jobs..

[clee1]

Self-service checkout requires a customer base that is honest.

Sadly, with many areas of the country infested with thugs, hoodlums, gangsta wannabes, welfare queens, and democraps (but I repeat myself) self-checkout is an open invitation to fraud and theft.

[goodnesswins]

I think we will be buying more and more ONLINE, also...

[KevinDavis]

I agree.. Brick and mortar stores will be here, but not as much as it use to be.

[Moltke]

...and someone else is already working on an app (or a mod to that app) that’ll let you shop for waaay below retail...;-)

[heartwood]

..and someone else is already working on an app (or a mod to that app) that’ll let you shop for waaay below retail...;-)
______________

Heh. There’s that, isn’t there.

I was thinking along the lines of Walmart monitoring your purchases.

[AustinBill]

Yep, twenty registers with only two open...it drives me crazy!

After observing this phenomenon for some time in the few retail establishments I still frequent (mainly grocery stores) I can only assume the MBA types have this down to a science: Just how long can you make a customer wait at checkout before they'll simply walk out in disgust? Then manage your cashier staffing to hew to that limit as closely as possible anytime day or night to reduce staffing costs to the absolute minimum.

What's particularly galling is that now that they've introduced self-scan checkout systems, they include them in the equations as well. For some mysterious reason one or more are always down for "maintenance" or some other excuse so that customers don't get an unexpected taste of swift service to skew the expectation level which must be carefully managed to keep checkout frustration at the just-below-boiling-point level.

[ridesthemiles]

I am not going to be forced to purchase & support a particular ‘phone’ to be able to purchase items at a store.

I use cash or credit card.

IF they don’t want my business, that is their loss.

On Soc Sec, my bug purchasing trip is about once a month. I hit Walmart & spend between $150.00 and $400.00. IF they don’t want my business, then that is their choice. I don’t mind waiting for the cashier. I refuse to use the ‘self-checkout’ lanes.

[bgill]

It’s an awful idea. First, I don’t have an iPhone. Second, I don’t use the self check out and I rarely see anyone else using it either. In fact, I don’t recall the last time I saw someone using it. If there’s a problem, I want a person there to fix it. Just what the world needs is more ways to commit fraud.

[weiner56]

Our local Walmart got rid of the greeters, then TVs and other stuff started walking out the door. The greeters are back.
They have just installed the self check. The old store had it, but was installed in the new store. I know people that cheat the self check at the grocery store every time they buy produce and fruit. No tags on the product so you just input the number you wish. Maybe Walmarts will be more sophisticated.

[bgill]

So, Ryane dated someone 20 years ago and he’s somehow guilty but the criminal usurper is sitting in the WH right this minute.

[adorno]

...and someone else is already working on an app (or a mod to that app) that’ll let you shop for waaay below retail

There's an idea!

Skip the middle-man, the Wal-Marts and the Targets and the Macys and the mom-and-pop stores, and make direct purchases from manufacturers and growers of the food. The "retail" jobs will just get shifted to the manufacturing end, and to the farms. Then, eventually, somebody will come to realize that, perhaps shifting those burdensome jobs to warehouses and to outlets or to retail shops, is the better way to go.

However, and in reality, shops such as Wal-mart are already the manufacturer of the gizmos, and the growers of the food, so, no difference. The jobs, in reality, will just exist in different forms.

[ican'tbelieveit]

They should redesign those “unused” checkout areas for more product. Would be a better use of space.

[dfwgator]

The day is quickly coming when there will be no jobs for low-skilled people, and then it’s going to get very, very ugly.....and I don’t know any way out of it.

[GeronL]

will iphones become the mark of the beast?

lol

why assume that everyone has an iphone?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Express must mean express your impatience, sometimes I think.

Yack yack yack with the cashier as the customer digs through what must be a hundred coupons and tries to identify the right charge or debit card.

The fairest and fastest system from queueing theory is the one queue, many servers model. However I’ve hardly ever seen a grocery or discount store actually DO that. Even two queues, an express queue and a regular queue, would be an improvement.

[Poison Pill]

This app may save the store money, it is however devoid of customer service.

You're gonna love the new iphone Walmart Greeter app.

[commonguymd]

Waiting for an app that does my bathroom stuff for me so I don’t miss anything in the game I am watching. A beer, chip and dip delivery app would be nice too. Wife ignores my texts.

[Balding_Eagle]

Walmart doesn’t grow food.

They aren’t even close to the production of food, there are brokers between them and the produce.

Where did you get such an idea?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

What they really need is an app that replaces Citibank, so that Liberals don’t get to skim 2.5% of every dollar they scan.

[pops88]

Interesting discussion. I live in a town that had a Kroger. I thought the store was pretty good and ran great specials, however I hated that all they had was self check-out. Generally, there were a few workers to help, but it was frequently very frustrating.

Now, I have 2 grocery stores within walking distance. I drive several miles to go to Smith’s, a Kroger brand. I’ve used 5+ of their stores in Las Vegas and have been really happy with them. If lines start to get more than about 2-3 carts, a manager will open up another register. I’ve been impressed with what a good job they do at all their stores. One of the last times I went, one of the staff took my cart to the self check-out and checked everything our for me and I think there were only one or two carts at the open registers. If they’re working on customer loyalty, I’d say it’s working.

I lived walking distance from an Albertson’s, too, and unless I just needed to grab one or two items, drove the extra distance to Smith’s because Albertson’s always had long lines, including at the self check-out, and the self-check-out almost always glitched. It was so frustrating they lost my business. I’d rather take a several mile drive for decent service and helpful employees. Grocery shopping shouldn’t be an exercise in frustration.

[theBuckwheat]

Slouching towards a cash-less economy. The next step will be for government to save money by reducing or eliminating paper money. And of course electronic money must be “administered” with a “authorization” infrastructure that also allows real-time monitoring of exactly what was purchased and were. Ultimately, to control crime, money-laundering, drugs, prostitution, government will sanction people who “abuse” money, and the ultimate sanction will be to forbid access to electronic money just as violent people are forbidden by law from having access to firearms.

Think this is far fetched? The US government has long forbidden the use of credit cards to purchase gambling services from unauthorized venues.

The ultimate sanction will be against enemies of the State who will be ejected from the electronic economy.

[adorno]

Where did you get such an idea?

Demand creates production.

The production is as a result of what people will purchase, and what the stores, such as Walmart, will stock for purchase.

Walmart, though they may not produce certain items directly, is the one of the drivers for what people consume.

Without demand from stores such as Walmart, chances are that, a lot of that food we consume, wouldn't be available. Might as well be the "grower" at that point.

[willyd]

Bingo...add to that the fact that those people have been told they are special and shouldn’t settle for menial jobs because they have a college degree.

It is a recipe for disaster.

[gunsmithkat]

Well they already have self-checkout at my Walmart Superstore and frankly they aren’t very good. I’ll use self checkout only if I have one or two hard items.

[BfloGuy]

First, I don’t have an iPhone.

I do.

Second, I don’t use the self check

I do -- always.

See, it isn't such a terrible idea after all.

[BfloGuy]

I do -- always.

I was a cashier for years. I'm faster than the ones they have now and I don't talk to my friends on my cellphone while I check myself out. Saves a lot of aggravation.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Not a bad idea. I think in 10 years cashiers will go away. ***

They tried that with self-checkout lane. They no longer have those lines as few used them, and those who did try to use them eventually threw their items back in the cart and went looking for a REAL checkout.

[Drew68]

I can never find an open register at my Wally World so they may already have.

Same here. Typically they'll have two regular registers and a single speed line open. Often there's at least a half dozen full shopping carts in front of me when I get in line. Twenty minute waits to check out are the norm. One night it was so bad that shoppers were abandoning full carts and walking out. It took an hour to get through the single open line that was backed up halfway across the store. I told my wife, "no more!" I'll pay a little more to shop at a business that has hired cashiers.

The Super Target in my old neighborhood always had open cashiers waiting at the front of the lines to flag over the next person to approach the checkout lanes. I'd give anything for a Super Target in my new neighborhood.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

You would prefer one of these stores?

[Dysart]

In my college business 101 class our educator, if you will, assured us by 2010 we’d be receiving our groceries via a network of pneumatic underground tunes. True story.

[Dysart]

Well, too many people are incapable of following the one que, many servers model borne of ignorance or social retardation. It’s unworkable when a majority don’t follow the unwritten, common sense rules. Now they’re able to pull it off in the UK. I’ve had to “help” a few people understand the process when I suspected they were selfishly not taking their proper turn. Still others are just stupid.

[Moltke]

Heh. Actually what I was thinking is that someone would crack that app as soon as it hits the market - allowing manipulation of the self-checkout prices (”shopping below retail”).

There is no such thing as digital security.

[Dysart]

Oops. tunes=tubes

Pneumatic Tunes sounds like a great name for a techno band.

[bgill]

How long does it take when something doesn’t scan to get someone?

[Balding_Eagle]

Might as well be the "grower" at that point.

That's going to be stunning news to a lot of my relatives and freinds who, in fact, do grow the food.

[adorno]

That's going to be stunning news to a lot of my relatives and freinds who, in fact, do grow the food.

There are large people who do grow their own food, and thus, they're not counted as providers for what stores such as Wal-mart stock and sell.

Then, there are the large farms, in the U.S. and abroad, who depend upon stores such as Walmart for a huge part of their growing and delivery. Those large growers do depend upon Walmart and supermarkets and grocery chains, and without those big stores that make the big demands, those farmers/growers, wouldn't even exist.

Recently, I read that, more bananas are sold in Walmarts than in any other grocery store in the U.S., perhaps the world. That makes Walmart a huge driver for demand, because, if they didn't make the bananas available in their stores, consumption of bananas would likely be a lot less. Without the demand for a product, the product won't be produced or grown, so, like I said before, might as well be the "grower" or the manufacturer.

[adorno]

Actually what I was thinking is that someone would crack that app as soon as it hits the market

I knew what you meant, but, I decided to take off on a different idea that your post, inadvertently, suggested. But, yeah, you are also right that, technology-wise, someone will come up with a hack to that app.