this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2026
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This seems very US coded. In euro they're doubling down even with self scan on the phone or with a tool they give me. I scan them as I put them in my cart and at checkout I just pay and leave. It's awesome.
Same in Australia regarding doubling down. They're giving trolleys with an ipad thing on them you scan everything with, and increasing the exit area security so you cannot leave without the staff opening it if you didn't buy anything, and AI based cameras all over the store and gates that judge whether it should open for you after buying things.
It's a mix of awesome and horrible.
This is why I don't shop in stores anymore , I have to do all the work and be treated like a crim. I boycott any place with self checkout and prefer the aldi even though it's slow with very few registers open.
My local Aldi has 1 real register and a half dozen self checkouts. Aldi isn't safe.
I highly doubt they're actually using AI, given every other claim I've seen that starts out like this ending up being poorly paid people in a low wage country.
I see a trend of completely automated supermarkets.
You scan your card to walk in. The automated system scans the products you take. And you pay in order to leave.
It works pretty well, and is 24/7. You can be entirely alone in that store. And if you need someone there is a phone to a callcenter.
One problem your forget to foresee: people will leave shit about, leave products outside of freezers, and misplace things. It needs employees
Yeah. Like if you want to leave without buying anything.
I have a smart cart at my local grocery store that adds the products to my account. I just pass through payment, no need for scanning anymore. Love it.
The cart alsof weighs my products so I only have to scan one barcode. It multiplies by itself.
I'm learning a lot in this thread about European dystopia. I guess if y'all like it to each their own. Over here in the US, we've had enough.
The thing is, where I live the system works well. It doesn't make UX choices that make it hard to use, assuming that people are stealing all the time. It's fast and easy, although so are the human manned checkouts, which also exist and are fine.
US here. Scan-as-you-go plus self checkout is amazing. Lay out your reusable bags in the cart when you arrive then pick-scan-bag through the store. Self checkout becomes a 2 minute process at most, no matter how many items you have and everything's already bagged for the trip home.
Our local store (Stop&Shop) is rather trashy compared to competitors but we go there because of the fast scan and self-checkout process.