Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BERNARD SCHOENBURG ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Shoppers will be able to run packaged products over a scanner and weigh their own produce before going to a central cashier.
But don't try to slip an extra can of peas or bunch of bananas past the computer. A security system in the CheckRobot Inc. lanes reverses the conveyer if any unscanned, unweighed or switched product is placed on it.
And a gentle electronic voice says, "Please set the last item aside and continue scanning."
The lanes were on display Wednesday on the final day of the Washington, D.C.-based Food Marketing Institute's Supermarket Industry Convention at McCormick Place.
And Scott M. Sloan, vice president of marketing for CheckRobot, said the benefits of the system, and a new cooperative marketing agreement with IBM, should make it popular.
"It's rare that you'll find a piece of equipment in the food industry that will address the retailer's greatest concern - the labor shortage - as well as the single greatest concern that their shoppers have - speed of checkout," Sloan said.
The systems, on the market for about a year, are installed in 11 supermarkets in New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada - each of which operates conventional lanes as well. Other installations are planned soon.
Sloan said the lanes are easy to operate.
"You can go to a number of our sites and you can see . . . children scanning groceries while their mother's at the other end bagging," he said.
A computer screen and two rows of buttons face the shopper bringing groceries to the line. Prices of scanned products appear on the screen, while anything that needs to be weighed is put on the scanner surface, which is a scale.
Buttons have pictures of different kinds of produce, such as grapes. Put the grapes on the scale and hit the button and the price is recorded.
For more detailed lists, a button might say "Fruit Screen," and a checkerboard of several varieties appear on the screen. A touch of the right one registers the weight and price.
All this is done with or without a computer voice stating the prices - at the customer's discretion - and with a recorded video of a woman to give some messages, including "Help is on the way" for those who touch the "Help" square on the screen.
A receipt at the end of the line is taken to the cashier for payment.
While saving labor costs is a selling point, Sloan said the devices actually will alleviate a shortage of 16- to 24-year-old workers.
But Al Zack, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents retail food employees, predicted customer dissatisfaction with self-checkout and slow lines due to baffled shoppers.
"I don't think many customers consider it a convenience to do the work for the store," he said.
But Richard Honerkamp, chief financial officer of Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based CheckRobot, said most customers like the system and checkout is faster, especially in non-peak hours when stores often shut down most lanes.
by CNB