Checkout entertainment

Press, 25 September 1980, Page 13

Checkout entertainment

New Zealand shoppers will eventually be treated to a new form of supermarket checkout queue entertainment: the computerised scanner till. But they will have to wait at least three years for it. The till is an advanced form of supermarket equipment which has been in use in some countries for years. Items are passed over a small window on the checkout counter, and the price is rung up without any till keys having to be pushed. < A reading device which looks up a code number, 1 is located under the window, and the price as well i as a short description of i the. item is printed on to i

the usual paper strip which serves as a bill. The secret lies in labels stuck on items by manufacturers. They have a bar code which is matched by a price programmed on to the computer by the supermarket staff. While the bar code is permanent, the price can be changed at any time by reprogramming the till. The computerised scanner till will cost about $lO,OOO. It will be installed only by those supermarkets that can afford it and think the investment worth the cost, which will be tax-deductible. The advantages of the new till apply both to the supermarket and the consumer. Bills can be rung

up quickly and queues reduced faster. There will be less chance of a mistake in the bill, and stock rotation can be improved by an analysis of turnover records provided by the computer. This will help prevent old stock being left on the shelves. The problem preventing an earlier introduction of the till into New Zealand is in getting manufacturers to put a bar code on their products. A product coding council representing the grocery trade, manufacturers, printing

trade and other interested groups has been set up in Wellington to consider ways of introducing the system. Pressure is already being put on New Zealand to have bar codes on its exports. The United States has about 1000 supermarkets with scanner tills', some of Japan’s biggest supermarkets have been using them for more than three years,.and now the system has reached Australia. The first scanner will be installed there in November.