Scan this buddy

There's a great big super store in our town that seems to be in most towns around the country and the world for that matter. All last fall ours was getting a face lift and being expanded. Groceries were being included along with clothing and hardware items. A one stop shop to be sure.

With the renovations underway, my wife and I were hopeful that there would be many more cashes and many more cashiers. Well the cashes did arrive, but not the cashiers. OK, it wasn't Christmas yet. There's got to be more by that time. Instead, the store went 24 hours and encouraged the use of the self checkout units. The cashiers, in greater numbers, never apparently showed.

Now I hate those automated checkouts. They either hide the change return or the receipt printer, or there is always one item that won't register properly. In the latter case, you wait for a young attendant to come over and fix the problem.

In other stores there are bank-like snaking lines for the express shoppers. I find this method works well and is far less frustrating. Here, a cashier checks you out but without the 'picked the wrong line' syndrome!

Overall, I am waiting for the day that RFID scanning (Radio-Frequency IDentification) comes in. In theory, your bank or credit account will be known to your own RFID tag on your person, and all of your purchased items will have a tiny circuit tag attached to each of them. We would simply cart all of our items through large scanners (perhaps inconspicuous) and then cart them to the car. Each item magically scanned will be decremented from inventory and charged to your account.

Of course there will be many other associated innovations regarding evidence of purchase, correct amounts charged et cetera, but in the end, will it be so different then going from a record player to an Ipod?