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Walmart Expanding 'Scan & Go' iPhone Self-Checkout to Over 200 Stores

How does this not make sense to some of you? You scan items as you go, they're tallied up, and when you get to the register the only thing you have to do is pay. The slow part of getting out of the store is taken care of by you as you walk through the store picking up your stuff - scanning everything. Some of those cashiers move like molasses. The only hitch will be the limited number of self-checkout lanes.
 
These days, the customers targeted by Apple and the customers targeted by Mall*Wart are one and the same. It makes sense that this is being implemented - Wall-mart knows that its customers are the kind of people who would buy an iPhone.
 
It's actually pretty awesome and a time saver.

The way that it actually works is:

  • Scan the items you want with your phone.
  • When you're ready to checkout, you go to a self-service checkout and transfer the Scan & Go basket to the register by scanning a QR code on the register.
  • You pay and go.

Contrary to previous posts, you don't have to weigh anything (like the traditional self-service checkout method requires).

Theoretically you use the re-usable shopping bags, and bag everything as you scan, so the shopping experience is seamless.

Can't wait to see this in more stores.
 
I would imagine you scan your items in your cart as you put them in. When you check out, it probably gives you a barcode or a code to enter into the register, so you can pay for your items. You then have to go to the check out girl at the self checkout to check over your receipt and contents of your cart.
 
HenryDJP said:
That's exactly where I'm confused here. I'm feeling like if we have to go to a checkout station then it would seem like more work to put items into your basket, then scan each one into the iPhone app, then go to a self-checkout station. What's convenient about that?
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AlphaVictor87 said:
The only issue i see with this is how do vegetables work?

Do you still have to place the items in a bag and on the "bag scale" to make sure you don't have anything extra?

And even if they did have this where you could walk out without even going to a checkout station, they better start installing bagging stations because there's no way in hell i'd walk out of walmart with over $150 in groceries and not have them bagged.
Click to expand...

Tesco has a system here in the UK which works absolutely fine. The membership card you have (to collect points) is used to pickup a handscanner (or with Walmart's case an iPhone app) .. You then scan all your items while you shop and pack everything in bags you bring along. Once you are done you go to a special self-checkout till which is only there for self-scanner.

When you use the system the first time, a shop assistent will check your bags. After that it is just by random. The system selects random customer who should be checked out.

As for vegs - there are scales with printer in the veggie section so you can print yourself a barcode, which you can then scan.

A weeks shopping used to take around 1hr10 on Friday evening (with queueing / packing / paying etc.) compared to just over half an hour.

Love that system ... here in the UK anyway :)
 
I just watched the demonstration on Walmart's website. It looks promising. Not quite as seamless as apple's, but still convenient. I think the nice thing is that your items are already scanned, so theoretically, checking out should be fairly painless. The moment a SoCal store has it available, I will be among the first to test it out.
 
1) I think we can safely assume that they have got the security issues sorted to a level they're happy with or they wouldn't be rolling it out.

2) I imagine overall, it would be slightly quicker to scan as you go because you could pack straight into any bags you have with you.

3) Your time round the aisles may be increased but your time at the checkout will be greatly decreased. As more people do this, the less waiting in line everyone has to do - result!

4) Why are Wal Mart (and presumably others to follow) doing this? Why do big companies do anything? MONEY! By using the app, you are sharing all your purchases with them. Just the same as loyalty cards, they can keep track of your shopping habbits and advertise to you accordingly. As a user, you have to decide whether extra targetted marketing is worth it for the advantages you get.
 
x13gamer said:
but can we still extreme coupon with the app?
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I got stuck behind one of these people at the grocery store the other night. I was so pissed since all the lines were long and it was easier to wait.

Would have been a nice courtesy for the lady to warn me ahead of time that she was gonna have 500 coupons and that she was gonna argue with the cashier when a couple didn't work.
 
My Walmarts have had this for about 2 months and I've used it a few times at different locations. However here are the problems with it...

- Very Slow at checkout. Yes, it's fast to scan items as you shop, but when you get to the checkout lane you press the "Scan and Go" button on the homepage of the self check out. Then a QR code pops up which you scan with your iPhone. This is where it gets slow. It takes almost 30 secs to 60 secs for the self checkout to find your order. Then once it does find your order it has a delay of about 15 secs to change over to the payment screen. You then make the payment (cash or credit) which is fine but then it takes the self checkout another 30 secs to process the payment and complete your order. So in total it could take up to 2-3 minutes at the self check out just waiting for their computers to sync with your iPhone.

- So basically if you have only a few items then you could do the self checkout the traditional way a lot faster. But if you have a cart full of items then it would save some time.

- If they were able speed up their computers on syncing with your iPhone and bring the total checkout time down to less then 30 secs then I think it would be a much better success.

- The other thing that they could do would be to eliminate the need to go to the self check out at all and just save your credit card to the Walmart App and some how place a security device on the items so as you walk out the doors a sensor would know if you paid or not. I'm not sure on how this would work, but I'm sure someone smart could figure out a way to do this.
 
those r always closed here or takes forever cuz the person in front of u is too dumb to make it work and it still has some poor guy standing next to it to make sure u scan everything. must be a hell of a job
 
notjustjay said:
I figure it works like this: you walk around the store picking up what you want, and scanning them in with your iPhone as you go.

This way you get a running tally of all your items, you see the price of each thing as it scans, no more "$15?! The shelf said $10! Call for a price check!"

When you're finished shopping you see the total amount on your phone, then you walk to a self-checkout, pay that amount, and leave.

What I'm not sure about is exactly how they're going to track theft. Self-scanning machines track items by weight, but this means you'd have to take everything out of your cart/bag and put it onto the self-checkout anyway, in which case, yeah, it's only marginally less work. If you've got everything in some kind of bag already then it may not be so bad to weigh the whole bag, but that means this process is really only useful if you have a small number of items.
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That sounds about right. It's seems more convenient for Walmart than the customer unfortunately. I was hoping this would help speed up getting the heck out of there. :D. Walmart's lines are horrible at times.
 
SOOOOO Boring

How have we had no good rumors in weeks now (possibly months)? Walmart scanning??? really???

Either apple has really upped their game in regards to secrecy or we are in for the longest dry spell in years.:(
 
malnar said:
How does this not make sense to some of you? You scan items as you go, they're tallied up, and when you get to the register the only thing you have to do is pay. The slow part of getting out of the store is taken care of by you as you walk through the store picking up your stuff - scanning everything. Some of those cashiers move like molasses. The only hitch will be the limited number of self-checkout lanes.
Click to expand...

It's not that anyone (or myself) doesn't understand how it works, I'm trying to grasp how is this easier for the customer? At the Apple store, if I wanted to pick up an Apple Trackpad I would just go to the shelf and get it, scan it into my iPhone, pay and walk out. I'm sure I have to show the receipt on my iPhone to someone at the front door.

At Walmart, I shop around the store, put everything in the basket, scan each item on the iPhone, go to self-checkout, pay and bag up my stuff. There's zero convenience to the customer here other than knowing exactly what my tally is before I get to check out. What would be "better" but not ideal is to be able to pay for everything in my basket on the iPhone and just go to the front door and show my receipt to the person manning the front of the store. Otherwise it's actually more work for the customer and more convenient for Walmart.
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
The only issue i see with this is how do vegetables work?

Do you still have to place the items in a bag and on the "bag scale" to make sure you don't have anything extra?

And even if they did have this where you could walk out without even going to a checkout station, they better start installing bagging stations because there's no way in hell i'd walk out of walmart with over $150 in groceries and not have them bagged.
Click to expand...


I tried it a few days ago here in AZ, after you scan the barcode on your phone on self checkout, then you have to do produce and any coupons on the self checkout.

The biggest problem is you have to use self checkout. Which is always closed after about 10pm, and I usually only goto Walmart only when other stores are closed since they are 24 hours.
 
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