ANOTHER POTENTIAL GROCERY STORE TIME SAVER HAS ROLLED INTO CANADA TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOPPING EXPERIENCE.

Knock, Knock…Who’s there? Walmart Scan and Go that’s who! It’s not new technology either just new to Canada.

Like some of you reading this I’m starting to wonder if grocery stores are complicating the entire shopping experience by adding so many ways to grocery shop and check-out. I mean, how hard can it be and why aren’t we making time to grocery shop?

Should using the self-checkout or scan and go self scanners qualify shoppers for a discount since they are taking on the work of the cashier? Some would say yes and others no. Your payment is in the form of convenience even though it may not always be that convenient.

Do you remember when Tim Hortons only sold donuts and coffee or McDonald’s sold breakfast, burgers and fries?

If not you’re probably far younger than I am but back then convenience was simple. Not anymore. When Tim Horton’s started to added the sandwiches, bagels, soups, chili and now breakfast and potato wedges it was overwhelming for most. Why complicate such a simple idea? Money and keeping up with the markets. Simple as that.

Grocery shopping used to be simple

Some of you might cringe with the way technology has taken over one of the simplest chores and for many a break from daily stress. Food is love after all and for parents an escape from the chaos of parenting is always welcomed.

This is how grocery shopping in Canada went down in Mrs. CBB’s family when she was girl in the 70’s and 80’s.

Parents would park the car, family would get out and find a shopping cart and away they went into the store. The family wanders around the perimeter and up and down the aisles finding products on the hand-written grocery list. The cashier was where customers would go when they finished grocery shopping. Everyone liked to help put products on the grocery belt and her parents would chat to the cashier.

There were no self-scanners using the UPC codes for the cashier back then as everything was based on numbers and weight so more time-consuming than it is today. If you had a great cashier he/she could ring you up faster than you could brush your teeth and floss. So a few minutes for a large order. The cashier or grocery clerk would bag groceries followed by the customer taking on this task as years went on.

For those shoppers that didn’t want to pack groceries into their car or who were unable to some grocery stores in Canada would offer a drive up window. You would grocery shop and your products would be placed in a bin then wheeled on the conveyor out the window for customer pick-up.

This was a short-lived service though but convenient during the winter months.

Before leaving the store the cashier would hand you numbers for each of your bins which you would present to the grocery clerk outside who would pack them in your car and away you’d go. That was the big convenience in the 70’s and 80’s but now long gone and replaced by technology and other customer service initiatives mainly to save time.

Welcome Walmart Scan and Go

New technology has finally made its debut in Canada once again this time at Walmart but is old news back where I’m from in the UK. We seem to be the test market or we’re just simply ahead of the times when it comes to customer service based initiatives. I suppose these options are ideal when you have such a large population in a small country.

We are driving ourselves into a world of convenience only because of competition and nothing more. Ultimately I believe it’s about the money and keeping customers away from the competition no matter what anyone says. When one business starts something they all have to jump on board because businesses rely on keeping up with customer demand. Everyone seems to want it done faster and faster and no one has time for anything.

With Scan and Go becoming the hot new trend in grocery shopping many Walmart stores across Canada are ready to embrace this new convenience as it rolls out this week. Consider for a moment how much these grocery shopping conveniences are comparable to cooking a homemade meal, microwave dinner, food delivery or eating out or a dinner party invitation.

Scan and Go…..Microwave dinner. Just pop it in the oven, punch in the time to cook and then eat.

Cashier…..Homemade meal is when you like to take your time to cook and don’t mind waiting for results.

Self-Checkout….Fast food means you’re still in a rush but avoid the eat in restaurant experience including talking to servers.

Click and Collect….Eating at someone else’s house means all you have to do is show up which is why click and collect at the grocery stores are convenient for those shoppers who want nothing more to have the work done for them.

Home Delivery….You want nothing to do with the grocery store so you skip the entire grocery shopping experience. You may cook at home, hire a chef or someone else does the cooking for you.

Cashier in or Cashier out

Out of all the ways we can grocery shop in Canada the only one that requires you the royal treatment is the traditional cashier.

In our family we have two cousins who have worked as cashiers at the grocery store since they were able to legal age to work in Canada. Both are now in their mid-50’s. Just recently they have started wondering about the future of their role as cashier with the amount of technology taking over the industry.

There’s no doubt stores are moving increasingly toward automation. By the end of 2016 there were 255,000 self-checkout machines in stores around the world. That number is expected to reach more than 400,000 by 2022 –Will the new Scan and Go in Canada eliminate the need for cashiers?

I don’t think we will see the demise of the grocery store cashier, at least not yet but I’m betting on a decline at some point. Grocery chains don’t invest big bucks in technology just for the sake of it. There has to be something in it for them which usually means money first and trimming excess from the profits. Time will tell.

Scan and Go UK

While visiting the UK in the summer to see family we did lots of grocery shopping at ASDA which is basically Walmart but in the UK. Mrs. CBB was in awe with the technology and felt overwhelmed by it all.

There were still happy cashiers on staff working when we went but things may be different in Canada depending on demand for them. If grocery shoppers stop using the cashier you can bet the company won’t keep paying them to hang around waiting for the next customer who wants human interaction at the check-out.

Scan & Go allows customers to keep track of their spending throughout their shop, as the handy scanner shows a running total – including all rollbacks and offers.

Research shows that customers using Scan & Go take half the time to check out and there are fewer queues as Scan & Go customers use a dedicated payment zone. – Check out our top tips for Scan and Go ASDA

Scan and Go Technology

When I left the UK over 10 years ago now there was no Scan and Go so it was new to me and I wanted to learn a bit about it because I knew it wouldn’t be long before it showed it’s face in Canada.

Sure enough, the time is now. With self-checkout supposedly one of the fastest ways to get in and get out of the grocery store now the Scan and Go may be competing for top spot.

Welcome Scan and Go.

The first thing you see when you walk into ASDA are the Scan and Go scanners which we had to stand, stare and read about before entering the store. Our first reaction was a big no I’m not doing the work for the cashier.

Think about tipping your server at a restaurant instead of the owner paying a fair wage to the employee a long-winded topic that customers will never understand.

It’s your business, we’re customers, you do the work. If prices aren’t going down why am I doing what you pay employees to do.

What is my benefit? In most cases it’s just time for the customer and profits for the retailer.

Related: Walmart ramps up self-checkout with customers ringing out as they shop

In the U.S Walmart has shoppers who own a smartphone to use an app which allows them to use their phone to ring out products as they shop. I’ve never owned a smartphone so I’d likely be rubbish at this and besides I don’t want to become a distracted shopper. I’m a deal seeker and this makes it tough.

Seniors and Technology

My mum and dad want nothing to do with any of these grocery shopping conveniences and prefer to take their time and look around the grocery store.They both still  work part-time and have things to do but make time for grocery shopping.

Even when us kids were small grocery shopping was somewhat of a family affair. Not anymore. It’s about rushing in and out. Who has time to read product labels, look at prices and deals when grocery stores are practically giving us the power to shop fast and get out.

My mother-in-law retired years ago and loves going to the grocery store. This is part of her weekly routine and everyone knows who she is mainly because she’s a chatty Cathy and enjoys conversation. Not everyone is like her and although grocery shopping technology is now catering to all sorts of customer conveniences it almost becomes overwhelming for those who just want to shop the traditional way.

How does Scan and Go work?

This is a video of the Tesco Scan as you Shop program just to give you a bit of insight into the service offered in the UK. It may differ slightly in Canada but for the most part I think this is what it is all about. The only thing I’m unsure about is how to use coupons with scan and go and applying the Scanning Code of Practice. I’ll update the post as this new technology unveils more to customers.

It’s simple really although after watching the video above I was a bit overwhelmed with the extra work involved. I’m always busy trying to figure out numbers for deals and finding deals so I don’t know how I’d like this service.

When you enter the grocery store you get your scanner, mess around with it until you understand how to use it (it gets easier the more you play with it). You must be registered to use the scanner which uses your phone number to activate it.

You do your grocery shopping per usual but in this case you become the cashier. Basically all this service entails is backwards self-scanning checkout. Instead of scanning everything when you are done shopping you do it as you shop.

You may chop time waiting at the self-scanners but if there’s no line-ups then probably not going to get you that further ahead. Even so you might just like holding on to that piece of technology and feel like you own the grocery experience in its entirety.

For each product you put in your shopping cart, you scan the bar-code and bag as you go. For those products that need to be weighed you can use the weight scales provided. You will see the product information and price on the screen as you scan. This convenience also allows you to see a running total of your grocery shop which is great for those following a tight grocery budget.

Related: How much should my grocery budget be?

When you’re done shopping you make your way to the Scan and Go zone to pay for your shop.  On your way out you meet the Scan and Go greeter similar to that of Costco employees who check your receipt upon exit.

The Scan and Go greeter will review your products and do random scan checks to make sure no theft or errors happened. This could potentially be a time waster depending on how many people are using the Scan and Go system and checking out at the same time.

For those of you wondering about people stealing from the grocery store, well it happens. Yes, this is another way for grocery store theft to happen and earlier this year a mum and daughter in the UK got caught scanning lower priced items but putting more expensive products in their shopping cart. Remember folks, cameras are everywhere and it’s not worth getting arrested for something like this.

Related: How thieves steal using the self-checkout at the grocery store

Is it really worth it? Depends on how in control of the grocery shopping experience you want to have and how important it is to you. Personally we prefer the cashier and on occasion use a self-checkout like we would a drive-thru to grab a cup of coffee or a muffin.

Related: Would you tell someone if you noticed a customer stealing at the grocery store?

Pay someone else to grocery shop

For those who simply can’t make it to the grocery store for health reasons or time constraints home delivery or hiring a personal shopper might be part of their customer convenience. There is no need to even step foot in a grocery store if you have the money stashed away to pay someone else to do the work for you.

• Home Delivery
• Personal Shopper

Grocery shopping of the future

Will Scan and Go be a painless shopping experience? Well it all depends on the customer and how they value grocery shopping and their time. It may not save any time for some but for others it’s the fastest way for them to grocery shop. With every new technology there is another magical way to do something waiting in the background. I wonder what grocery stores will be brewing up next?

Discussion: Will you try the new Scan and Go shopping experience at Walmart Canada?

Leave your comments below.

Mr.CBB

October Grocery Game Challenge

Join in the 2017 Grocery Game Challenge (GGC) fun and post your grocery shop in the comment section of each GGC blog post. Here are The Grocery Game Challenge rules to get you started and where you’ll also find a link for the 2017 GGC schedule. Please feel free to download, save and even print the schedule.

Post your shop and you can be next. Two numbers left in the draw….one is $10 the other is $50~

New monthly prize: See the Grocery Game Rules

• The Ultimate Guide For Buying Real Food
• 12 Inexpensive Childhood Recipes
• Easy Meal Prep Ideas For Easy Healthy Cooking

2017 Grocery Shop Results

Yearly grocery budget for two + 1 Toddler 2017: $3180 or $265/month (The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $300/year or $25/month.Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings)

• Total Grocery Budget for this Month: $265
  
• Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $265
  
• Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
• Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
• Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
• PC Points Plus Earned to date: 646,000
  
• Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0
• Shoppers Optimum: 983,000 O.M.G

Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)

• Zweet to cash out : $18.25… no idea where the money went but it seems we have $0.
  
• Checkout51 to cash out : $24.50 we cashed out so we’re back at O.
  

Our Grocery Shop This Week

Food Basics

• 2 4L milk $4.27 each
• 2 x large eggs $1.97 each

Total Out-of-pocket $12.48

Note: All totals below already have tax factored into them.