 Supermarket shoppers may soon be cruising the aisles with "intelligent" trolleys that warn them if they're buying too much junk food, technology experts say.
| They have something like this at the local mart we shop at: only the plasma screen simply pushes advertising and 'healthy eating' tips. I still want to dump the whole thing into the frozen food bin and leave it amisdt the cans of OJ. |
While many would be happy enough if they could simply get their trolley to go in a straight line, the high-tech model will be fitted with a computer screen and barcode scanner. It will read each product's individual code to give customers information about calories, nutrition, ethical sourcing and the environment.
U.S. technology services company EDS outlined the concept in a study paper published this week. It said the screens would reduce the need for lots of packaging for food, helping stores to tackle environmental concerns.
| Good idea. We've spent 100 years figuring out how to package food to keep it from spoiling. Let's throw all that away. |
"Shoppers want barcode readers on their trolleys to calculate the nutritional content and tell them when they have blown their calorific budget," said EDS's Sion Roberts, director of consumer industries and retail.
| First thing I want to know when I've got a big spoon in the chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream is exactly when I've blown my 'caloric budget', so I know that I can keep going. |
"It's high-time that the humble barcode is recognized as a practical and cost-effective solution to consumers' thirst for information."
| Mind you, the consumer information was already listed on the ... packaging. Which we'll no longer have. |
Research carried out by food industry body IGD on behalf of EDS found that a third of shoppers want barcode scanners fitted to their trolleys. Most prefer to get information from labels on the food, according to the survey of nearly 1,000 people.
| Like I was just saying. Read it quick and make a decision, rather than waiting on Windoze SC (shopping cart™ edition) to read the barcode, freeze in a blue screen, reboot, and display the nutritional information in a font too small to read ... |
Some shoppers are already using advanced trolleys. Trials of touch-screen computers on shopping carts have been trialed in stores in the United States.
| Touch 'em once nice and hard and they break, but then, you knew that. |
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