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.

[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.