I made a trip to a popular warehouse club last week and experienced the future!

How It Was

The one thing I liked about my warehouse club experience was the "Scan & Go" feature. I could scan my groceries right when I took them off the shelf, or at any time at my convenience. When it was time to go, I checked the number of items, and slid a button to pay out. This allowed me to skip the register lines and all I had to do is show my receipt for a quick scan of a few items on the way out and I was good to go.

The Big Upgrade

Things got even simpler this week. As we were leaving we went under these giant structures that looked like over-sized metal detectors. The person by the door just scanned the receipt and told me to have a good day and I was done. I asked the guy, "did that thing just count and scan all the stuff in my basket?" and he said, "Yeah".

The Future, Now

So here we are living in the future where a computer can count and account for all of the items in your basket. I guess the people at the door are really only there now in case there is a discrepancy. I have to tell you, I LOVED THIS. This made things even faster and more convenient.

What This May Mean

The problem is, this is going to make the people by the door unnecessary, or at least there will be fewer of them. It's my guess that in the near future you won't even need to scan the items initially, they'll just all be scanned and totaled at the door. The only thing that will need to be checked is if you paid (and that's probably what the guy was currently doing).