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The slow progress of high street hi-tech

Eugene Lacey GameSpot Europe

Published: 03 Sep 2002 14:13 BST

It's late afternoon in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. The customer service desk of the local Waitrose supermarket is busy with pensioners eager to try out the newly installed 'Quick Check' shopping system.

While a helpful shopping assistant is telling me how easy to use and 'extremely popular' Quick Check is, I overhear a pensioner telling her colleague that she doesn't think she'll bother with it again.

The supermarket chain offers Quick Check in 22 of its branches. Based on a wireless LAN and self-scanning 'gun' supplied by Symbol, the aim is to reduce shopping time by allowing customers to scan their own goods and pack them directly into sturdy 'car-ready' nylon boxes, which they are allowed to keep for future 'Quick Check' shops.

Shopping time is saved by designing out the inconvenience of having to unpack the trolley for scanning at the till -- and then repacking into carrier bags for the car boot. The quick-checking bit, from which the system takes its name, is provided by special swipe points where you can quickly total all of your scans and pay electronically -- with the system spitting out your bill and itemised receipt rather like an ATM.

The system has an obvious Achilles heel. There is no fool-proof method of stopping shoppers from putting goods in the green bags without scanning them first -- either deliberately or by mistake. A Waitrose spokesperson insisted that this was not a massive problem. A system of random and scheduled checks (four compulsory re-scans when you first join, and more re-scans the more 'mistakes' you make) where the goods are re-scanned prevents abuse of 'Quick Check', says Waitrose.