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Google Wallet is only one type of NFC and proprietary at that.

And? You don't like it or something? Is not Apple solution a proprietary one? If you don't like Google Wallet, use Visa's NFC payment system (it will be integrated in all future Samsung phones)
 
Yea but still reasonable .. Besides, I am sure I am quicker in taking a scanner from the wall next to the entrance than some people in trying to get their phone out of the pocket, open the app, login, panic that there isn't any reception in Tesco, panic some more .. and so on :p

It is doing my head in when people queue here in Starbucks and at the till realise they have an iPhone app and it takes ages for them to get the damn thing out of their pocket and the app opened .. by that time three more people paid cash :D

Yeah I guess thats fair enough, I guess it all comes down to how the general public handles it. I remember when self checkouts came out, people were painfully slow with it!

I know I'd be able to open the iPhone app without difficultly whereas I know my mom would probably mess around and forget right until the last moment!
 
Many like to be Apple snobs, or carry around some idea that Apple is above the rest. Yet here we are in a rather precarious economy, and the lure of Walmart is simply too much for Apple to resist.

This is too funny. I can see all the Apple elitists cringing at the thought of Walmart... ewe... ha.. ha.. ha...

I remember the outcry on these forums back when Wal-Mart announced they were going to start selling Apple products.

People outraged at the thought of shopping for Apple products in the same place as "those people", or the thought of their Apple exclusivity being tainted by those people having access to Apple stuff.

I really hope some of them were being satirical, but somehow I doubt it...
 
I use this all the time when I go food shopping at Stop & Shop in New York. It allows me to see the price of everything in my cart so I know if I am on budget or not. Then I just go to the self checkout counter and pay for it.

It also so happens that the Stop & Shop SCAN IT! app just got updated today for the first time in a while.
 
We have this in the UK without the smartphone for many many years.

You swipe a card and pickup a handheld scanner, then bag as you go.

When you leave you just scan the till and pay, or if the till randomly decides to check you, the worker randomly scans a few items.

Don't need the smartphone, much happier with a dedicated barcode scanner.
 
I've tried this. The problem I've had is my Walmart kills all cell data which rendered the app useless. It seems good in theory though but you'll still have to bag items before you leave and the scanning I imagine even with good cell data is not going to be a ton faster than the self checkouts already are.
 
What could possibly go wrong with letting Wal-mart customers scan and bag their own items? :eek:

Walmart changed its name to no hyphen in 2008.
Security concerns? They see my white hair and usually just smile as I leave.

it is awful. We have them where I live, and you still have to checkout like normal. It is nothing like the apple store app, where you literally pay from your phone and leave.

Do you have an iPhone?
Have you actually used an iPhone to scan your purchases before you go to a register to pay for your booty?

Too bad it is for only iPhone and not Androids as well.

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?

The iPhone app is supposed to allow you to scan what you will pay for when you go to the checkout.

Our nearby store had self-checkout registers, but when they remodeled a couple of years ago, the registers were all check out through a cashier. Too many guest workers had been picking up something and not paying?
 
Why doesn't apple just do NFC "tap and go" or "paywave" like Visa and MasterCard do, and just get on with it?

Oh that's right - Apple decided not to use NFC technology in their phones, when others did, and most people in this forum didn't think it was necessary - because apple is always right.

Now you need yet another app to do what one Visa or MasterCard app would do for any purchases.

And all the fan boys think its "the best thing ever".
I'm just bracing myself for all the "apple can do no wrong" people to shoot me down.

Madness.

.
 
Sainsbury's have started doing this in the UK in three stores. I signed up and tested it out. Went in, scanned some items, put them into my rucksack and headed to the self-service counters.

At this point I pressed "Pay" on my iPhone and it popped up on the self service machine. I paid and left.

At NO point was my bag checked, or weighed, or anything. I could have taken anything and not paid.

This technology really does rely upon people being honest.

Previously, someone taking an item and putting it into a rucksack would automatically be seen as a thief. If this becomes the norm then it won't.
 
Why doesn't apple just do NFC "tap and go" or "paywave" like Visa and MasterCard do, and just get on with it?

Oh that's right - Apple decided not to use NFC technology in their phones, when others did, and most people in this forum didn't think it was necessary - because apple is always right.

Now you need yet another app to do what one Visa or MasterCard app would do for any purchases.

And all the fan boys think its "the best thing ever".
I'm just bracing myself for all the "apple can do no wrong" people to shoot me down.

Madness.

.

LOL, this from a guy who names himself after an Apple product.
 
I remember hearing about this a while back and I am glad they are expanding, which mean it works. Being an AP manager myself in a Walmart store in Florida, I hope we are last to get it, but ultimately it should be fine as long as the kinks are worked out. From my understanding, the app is used to scan merchandise in the store, and you bag your groceries while you shop. You then bring your phone to a register and scan a QR code and it pulls from the app all of the items you scanned into the terminal. The bagged items are placed on a scale and weighed as they are at any self checkout. You then swipe a credit card or whatever and put the bags back in your cart. I dont see how some would say it takes more time, since with this, you dont have to put all of the items individually on the belt. I was also told that for issues with theft, the app is registered to a user, you only have X number of times you can make mistakes. If you consistently have issues, you will not be able to use the app.
 
It's incredibly convenient for Wal-Mart.

Yeah, no kidding. Nailed it.

Lets see, start the conversion process by gradually understaffing stores. Customers get tired of waiting in line. Adopt new and "convenient" Scan and Go technology. Customers do some of the work themselves- for free. The company can now get rid of even more pesky employees. Yay! More money for Wal-Mart!!!!

I would only use this if they give a small percentage discount. Something like 1% to 3% percent discount on my purchase. By not needing additional cashiers, Wal-mart is the big winner here saves lots of money here. If they could cut their cashier staff in half at thousands of locations across the country, how much money would they save? Shouldn't we expect them to pass that savings onto us? Otherwise, why should I care?
 
I'll use this depending on my purchases.

I almost always use the self-checkout lanes now.

The only times I don't are when I'm buying a large amount of produce. It's not a problem if it's just a few veggies, but I'm slow looking things up and the regular cashiers (unless a newb) have most of the codes memorized and they fly through them.

In our local stores, they replaced the self-checkout lines with regular stations. But yet never have any cashiers at the locations. You're lucky to see more than 2 lines open, even as the lines go halfway to the back of the store.

I'd love for this tech to come to our stores, but again, no love for Florida. :/ There's a reason I only shop <5 times at Walmart per year.
 
Sainsbury's have started doing this in the UK in three stores....

This technology really does rely upon people being honest.

Previously, someone taking an item and putting it into a rucksack would automatically be seen as a thief. If this becomes the norm then it won't.


Except we don't know if there is technology behind the technology. Shrinkage has been a huge issue for retailers for years (although most shoplifters are employees). They are not about to make it easier for people to steal. I doubt they are doing these tests based on full faith that their customers are honorable people.

We assume they don't track the items or customers but recall that story a few months ago about someone @ an Apple store who went though the motions of buying via the App, but didn't actually checkout. He walked out of the store and was then promptly held for shoplifting. Even though it looked like he was buying, employees knew he didn't pay for the item. Clearly it would be counterproductive if they told people how they know who has paid and who hasn't.
 
Why doesn't apple just do NFC "tap and go" or "paywave" like Visa and MasterCard do, and just get on with it?

Oh that's right - Apple decided not to use NFC technology in their phones, when others did, and most people in this forum didn't think it was necessary - because apple is always right.

Now you need yet another app to do what one Visa or MasterCard app would do for any purchases.

And all the fan boys think its "the best thing ever".
I'm just bracing myself for all the "apple can do no wrong" people to shoot me down.

Madness.

.

My last Visa Chase debit card had NFC, but when it expired I got a new one without NFC... I think it's being phased out rather than in...
 
Because the slowest part of the process is always waiting in a long line before you get to any pay station at all, and unless everybody else is using the same technology, you save very little time by doing this.

Interested people might find it fun to try it out for a couple times, but eventually he will be frustrated by finding himself spending the equally long time waiting in lines, watching everyone else in front him unloading their items slowly, and screaming to himself in his mind:"I am all ready to pay!" Quite naturally, he will deduce in the end that it is not worth the hassle and he might as well take the time unloading his stuff on the belt as usual since he has to wait for 15 minutes to get there anyway.


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.
 
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k so question 1 : how is the cashier going to be able to check off every item the customer scanned on their phone, and make sure they didn't throw in anything extra when someone buys say...200-300 items, a bunch of groceries and stuff?

question 2 : how it gonna get bagged if it doesnt go through the belt? is everyone going to pull over and start grabbing their things and bagging them?
 
I would use this regularly. I hate shopping and normally try to use self checkout but once past a certain amount of items self checkout becomes a hassle. If I could scan and then pay and bag on the way out it would be great.
 
Very interesting that this is going to use QR codes for the final check out. Poor NFC which is turning into a niche method of payment now.

Glad it's going to be rolled out at some local Walmarts here in portland.
 
I remember hearing about this a while back and I am glad they are expanding, which mean it works. Being an AP manager myself in a Walmart store in Florida, I hope we are last to get it, but ultimately it should be fine as long as the kinks are worked out. From my understanding, the app is used to scan merchandise in the store, and you bag your groceries while you shop. You then bring your phone to a register and scan a QR code and it pulls from the app all of the items you scanned into the terminal. The bagged items are placed on a scale and weighed as they are at any self checkout. You then swipe a credit card or whatever and put the bags back in your cart. I dont see how some would say it takes more time, since with this, you dont have to put all of the items individually on the belt. I was also told that for issues with theft, the app is registered to a user, you only have X number of times you can make mistakes. If you consistently have issues, you will not be able to use the app.

k so question 1 : how is the cashier going to be able to check off every item the customer scanned on their phone, and make sure they didn't throw in anything extra when someone buys say...200-300 items, a bunch of groceries and stuff?

question 2 : how it gonna get bagged if it doesnt go through the belt? is everyone going to pull over and start grabbing their things and bagging them?

See the previous / above explanation.
 
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