|
Zaphod42 posted:Because it'd make it really easy to shoplift? Welcome to the future of shopping, courtesy of IBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eob532iEpqk edit: I thought this was from the 90s, but some other site lists it as only about 10 years old.
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 06:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:03 |
|
|
JediTalentAgent posted:Welcome to the future of shopping, courtesy of IBM I'm pretty sure its paying homage to Run Lola Run which came out in '98 so it might be late 90s.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 07:16
|
|
|
Cat Hatter posted:I'm pretty sure its paying homage to Run Lola Run which came out in '98 so it might be late 90s. No, I remember it about a decade ago. I was still married at that point as I remember discussing it with my ex who worked in grocery at the time.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 07:18
|
|
|
Samizdata posted:No, I remember it about a decade ago. I was still married at that point as I remember discussing it with my ex who worked in grocery at the time. About a decade ago was 2005.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 07:31
|
|
|
Cat Hatter posted:About a decade ago was 2005. Nah, that was like 1996.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 07:37
|
|
|
Zaphod42 posted:Because it'd make it really easy to shoplift? There are two self scanning systems at most supermarkets where I live - one where you bring the stuff to the checkout and scan there (good for when you only have a few items), the other where you pick up a portable scanner on the way in and scan as you go. For the former there is one staff member keeping an eye on six to eight checkouts and your purchases get weighed as you scan them (so if something of an unexpected weight ends up in your bag the checkout flags that and stops you from going any further) For the second type you need to sign up and bring a card with you each time and sometimes your basket will get selected to be re-scanned by an operator. The system keeps track of how accurate you were compared to the re-scan and adjusts your probability of needing a re-scan next time based off that. I guess you could trick the system and get away with something you shouldn't, but then again most shoplifters would just stuff whatever they were stealing down their pants which would work just as well on a normal manned checkout.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 07:37
|
|
|
Ah self service checkouts, I love how some supermarkets I've been to make the entrance to the things as tight as possible yet people somehow still manage to fit trolleys through or use it as an entrance. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 09:07
|
|
|
I kind of expect the showroom plus mail order model to make a comeback. Say you want a new laptop but would like to poke a bit at the keyboard or try the hinges before you buy. Would you rather go to some mediocre electronics store with a large selection of borderline-outdated trash from HP and Packard-Bell, or to an Amazon showroom that had one of everything you actually considered (but you'd have to wait for it to be delivered)? Stores already complain that people only come in to look at the things they plan to buy cheaper online, so it's just taking that to its logical extreme.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 11:23
|
|
|
HairyManling posted:You still need a ... bagger to put all of your stuff in bags. Or bag dispensers spread around the store so you can bag your stuff as you go and then get charged as you pass a sensor while leaving the store. If the cart automatically scanned everything and all you had to do was pull up to a kiosk, swipe your card, and bag your stuff it would save you time over the current self-checkout and it would let the store replace 20 cashiers and 20 baggers with like 3-5 people who respond to issues with the payment system or whatever. HairyManling posted:It sounds like one of those 'solutions to a problem that doesn't really exist' things. Sure sometimes you get behind the old lady that still uses checks and takes ten minutes to fill one out, but is waiting two minutes while a checker scans all your items and bags them really a major inconvenience in your life?
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 13:19
|
|
|
Creature posted:In Sweden they have supermarkets where you can pick up a handheld scanner at the door. You scan your groceries as you go, then pay at the end. Seemed like a good system, although I didn't get a chance to try as I couldn't read the instructions. So I assume that's how it works. Got this type of system in some larger supermarkets in Norway, too; we use it regularly. Indeed you scan the groceries and bag them [1] as you go and at all times you can see the list of scanned items and the total so far (and there are obviously buttons to delete items from the list if you scan something wrong or have second thoughts). In the checkout area there are several self-service payment points, and several old-school manned counters for people who prefer not to use those newfangled scanners. If you run into some kind of difficulty, there's help to be had from the manned counters. Buying age-restricted stuff like alcohol requires an okay signal from the manned counters (whenever I do this they just glance over and hit the okay button since I am very obviously over 18). Occasionally one gets randomly selected for a re-scan but I'll gladly believe whoever said they keep track of your record and adjust the probability based on this because I remember getting randomly rescanned a few times when the system was new but not for a good while now (obviously I had my poo poo in order). [1] You get as many bags as you think you're going to need by the entrance, or you bring your own reusable bags. The job position of "bagger" never really existed here in any case.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 14:18
|
|
|
Athenry posted:Which was a catalog retailer, not unlike Sears (when Sears still did the mail order catalogs), but instead of having retail stores, they operated "Catalog Showrooms." Sears had something similar. My very small hometown had a Sears Catalog Store. There were some appliances on the showroom floor and possible a few other big ticket items on display. I can't remember if Sears would ship to you, but you could order out of the catalog and pick it up there later. That's how I got a Nintendo, except that someone else had ordered one and never came by to pick it up. They had not paid and it was still sitting there and the cashier/customer service person let us purchase the unit.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 15:01
|
|
|
The self-scan while shopping systems were a bit of a retail fad for a while in the early 2000s but they have largely been abandoned now. The new hotness is doing the same thing with a smartphone app. This has the double benefit of not requiring the store to buy the scanners and allowing them to get an app with background location tracking onto the customer's phone to data mine the hell out of their every movement all day long.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 15:27
|
|
|
Shifty Pony posted:The self-scan while shopping systems were a bit of a retail fad for a while in the early 2000s but they have largely been abandoned now. They're actually taking off in UK supermarkets, funnily enough. Half because their smartphone apps are poo poo as balls, mind you. The fact they seem incredibly resistant to bringing stuff like EMV contactless in doesn't help either.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 15:46
|
|
|
Shifty Pony posted:The self-scan while shopping systems were a bit of a retail fad for a while in the early 2000s but they have largely been abandoned now. They are a lot more attractive in Europe, or at least in countries where the stores have to pay their cashiers decent wages. It's cheap enough allow them to put up some self checkouts, fire most of the cashiers and still be able to eat the increased shoplifting costs.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 16:07
|
|
|
Trabant posted:FIL has old computer mags collecting dust on a shelf, and some of them have better-not-make-a-typo code included in the back for the readers: I'm sure those lines are meant to make it easier for the neophyte programmer but to me they're having the opposite effect.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 17:17
|
|
|
Maxwell Lord posted:I'm sure those lines are meant to make it easier for the neophyte programmer but to me they're having the opposite effect. The problem is it makes you want to read down the page at the same time so you start reading almost diagonally. If you were typing it out letter by letter youde likely be fine though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 17:22
|
|
|
Magnus Praeda posted:There was also BEST, which worked kinda like that. My uncle worked for them before they went out of business and I loved going through the scratch & dent room. I got a lot of stuff that would fit this thread there, too. Like an electronic organizer (made by Sharp or Casio probably) that I thought was seriously hot poo poo back in the mid 90s (yes, storing all that information in volatile memory was a fantastic idea, really). BEST had some architecturally ...interesting... showrooms designed by SITE. BEST Products Company Buildings
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 17:22
|
|
|
IUG posted:It's in some Stop and Shops in the NE. My store never got it, but they put in scanners so you can do it with your cellphone, rather than one of their handheld devices. My Stop and Shop has this, and it's amazing. Especially when big snow storms are coming, as there is a dedicated self-checkout line for when you use the scanners. You just bag and scan as you go. There are no checks though on what is bought or anything and I wouldn't be surprised if people abused the system.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 19:31
|
|
|
|
Zopotantor posted:BEST had some architecturally ...interesting... showrooms designed by SITE. That's neat. I can understand why most retailers don't go for "unsettling" in their facade design, but I really like some of those.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 20:04
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:I kind of expect the showroom plus mail order model to make a comeback. Say you want a new laptop but would like to poke a bit at the keyboard or try the hinges before you buy. Would you rather go to some mediocre electronics store with a large selection of borderline-outdated trash from HP and Packard-Bell, or to an Amazon showroom that had one of everything you actually considered (but you'd have to wait for it to be delivered)? That would be pretty nice, but having a larger "on-demand" inventory in store would be the next step for growth there, then you could charge for the ability to get it NOW, then you're basically where you started.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 20:28
|
|
|
booshi posted:My Stop and Shop has this, and it's amazing. Especially when big snow storms are coming, as there is a dedicated self-checkout line for when you use the scanners. You just bag and scan as you go. I think for higher priced items, like meats and cheeses, they use those RFIDs integrated into the price labels. The system can do a quick reconcile and if you have an item with an RFID tag that doesn't match what you scanned, it triggers an alert. Below a certain dollar threshold, I assume they just eat the costs as shrinkage since it's probably not cost effective to use those paper RFIDs.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2015 20:37
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:I kind of expect the showroom plus mail order model to make a comeback. Say you want a new laptop but would like to poke a bit at the keyboard or try the hinges before you buy. Would you rather go to some mediocre electronics store with a large selection of borderline-outdated trash from HP and Packard-Bell, or to an Amazon showroom that had one of everything you actually considered (but you'd have to wait for it to be delivered)? I'm sort of surprised Amazon hasn't started some Amazon-branded Stores that sort of specialize in being pick-up centers in place of some of the Prime shipping options with some kiosks for ordering, acting as return and shipping centers for customers/sellers, etc. You probably wouldn't need a large storefront, but just a large enough storeroom so the location could have additional services of being miniwarehouses for items the most popular/in demand items. Potentially, Amazon could have enough info on the regional market demand to keep top 100 products on hand to allow you order and pick up within minutes locally.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 01:52
|
|
|
Maxwell Lord posted:I'm sure those lines are meant to make it easier for the neophyte programmer but to me they're having the opposite effect. I could almost see it being helpful, though, if you were getting errors or wanted to visually double check code to hold a page up next to the screen and make sure every line of code at least ended where it should be in case you missed something, but each row seems to have only 39 columns. Does that match up with any older text mode standards? edit: I guess 40 lines if you include the space before the number lines, which I'm pretty sure was a standard.) JediTalentAgent has a new favorite as of 02:09 on Dec 6, 2015 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 02:04
|
|
|
JediTalentAgent posted:I'm sort of surprised Amazon hasn't started some Amazon-branded Stores that sort of specialize in being pick-up centers in place of some of the Prime shipping options with some kiosks for ordering, acting as return and shipping centers for customers/sellers, etc. You probably wouldn't need a large storefront, but just a large enough storeroom so the location could have additional services of being miniwarehouses for items the most popular/in demand items. Potentially, Amazon could have enough info on the regional market demand to keep top 100 products on hand to allow you order and pick up within minutes locally. Amazon Lockers exist quote:Amazon Locker provides you with a self-service delivery location to pick up and return your Amazon.com packages. Lockers are currently available in a variety of locations throughout the U.S.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 02:05
|
|
|
Amazon does have mall kiosks where you can check out their devices: They seem to be toying with different models (CNN autoplay video warning).
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 02:05
|
|
|
Has there been any mention in the thread about the time before the modern stapler? Large staplers date back to the 1860s or so but for the most part they were heavy duty affairs made primarily for forming boxes or bookbinding. Using one on a few pages was a real waste of a time and a (rather pricey for what it was) staple. So in the early 1900s there emerged a flurry of devices which quickly mechanically joined small quantities of paper without a staple. The Bump paper fastener was one of the first:  The mechanism is rather ingenious (click for giant):  Basically a first blade 11 would come down and cut a u-shaped flap in the papers. After that has stopped moving a second "needle" blade 14 would punch a slit in the paper near the base of the flap. As the plunger continued to go down spring 13 would slide off of support 16' and tuck the paper flap into a hole on the needle. Then when you released the plunger the spring would pull the blades up and as the needle returns to the original position it would pull the flap through the slit, forming a stitch to hold the paper in place. Here's the result of a similar mechanism from the top:  and from the bottom:  A whole bunch of similar designs were made, all modified slightly to avoid each others' patents. The Office museum has a good list of a few of them but one design was kind of interesting because it used a completely different mechanism. Behold the paper welder!  While the Bump Paper Fastener did that strange slit cutting the paper welder simply crimped the hell out of the paper using a pair of interlocking die and a beefy lever system to move them. My grandfather had one (and now my mother has it) and it is a shockingly strong bond. While you can rub it hard to flatten out the crimp and release it that way if you just pull the papers apart they most likely will rip. The resulting crimp looked like this:  They were actually relatively popular in the 60s, but it was downhill ever since then. The modern stapler became the go-to choice for permanent paper joining as the staples were cheap enough that the promised cost savings of a staple-less system weren't really worth the increased up-front cost due to the mechanisms involved.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 04:05
|
|
|
Which reminds me of a non-obsolete and commercially very successful technology that is, alas, completely wrong for the job: the paper clip. The reason they're banned at my workplace is that while they do a reasonably good job of keeping together sheets of paper, they also do an exceedingly good job at catching on completely unrelated single sheets in the same slot/tray/stack and incorporating them into the fold so to speak.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 04:10
|
|
|
WebDog posted:
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 04:57
|
|
|
Zereth posted:Okay but what is that thing? I think it's an AM Radio.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 05:35
|
|
|
Zereth posted:Okay but what is that thing? The idea was that it could be worn on your wrist (this thing isn't that small or light) or you could close it around something like a rail or a bike handlebar. It could also be swung open and free-standing. The dial is for tuning in a station.  These were made around 1966 to 1970 during the age of portable electronics where things were beginning to get miniaturised and cheap. Companies began producing "space-age" or mod inspired radios aimed towards the teen market so many of these things look really pretty and groovy but didn't have much lasting power as they tended to use pretty low-cut quality on their innards. Another Panasonic radio of the same line. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 05:44
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:I kind of expect the showroom plus mail order model to make a comeback. Say you want a new laptop but would like to poke a bit at the keyboard or try the hinges before you buy. Would you rather go to some mediocre electronics store with a large selection of borderline-outdated trash from HP and Packard-Bell, or to an Amazon showroom that had one of everything you actually considered (but you'd have to wait for it to be delivered)? I'd love to have this for clothing. I'm a short and thin guy in a land or rotund giants, so finding my size is nigh impossible. On the other hand, buying clothes online, without a visit to the fitting room first, is a complete gamble. Also, why the gently caress does every country still have their own shoe size standard when the ISO 9407:1991, "Shoe sizes—Mondopoint system of sizing and marking" standard exists?
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 14:44
|
|
|
Jasper Tin Neck posted:I'd love to have this for clothing. I'm a short and thin guy in a land or rotund giants, so finding my size is nigh impossible. On the other hand, buying clothes online, without a visit to the fitting room first, is a complete gamble. Because we know what number from what brand fits us and we can't trust Al Bundy to convert it if it changes. And don't a lot of sneaker tongue tags still have the sizing classification under 5 or 6 differing standards listed, and we just ignore the one that doesn't correspond to our prior knowledge or market? And what framework exists for the shoe companies to communicate the new standards to the public?
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 16:55
|
|
|
Shifty Pony posted:Has there been any mention in the thread about the time before the modern stapler? This is an awesome post btw. Just wondering how many sheets of paper was the effective maximum for these kinds of devices? Staplers can pretty much handle dozens of sheets deepening on their size.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 18:00
|
|
|
Nutsngum posted:This is an awesome post btw. Just wondering how many sheets of paper was the effective maximum for these kinds of devices? Staplers can pretty much handle dozens of sheets deepening on their size. A 1963 advertisement stated: "The welder will fasten together up to six sheets and requires no refills."
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 18:34
|
|
|
booshi posted:My Stop and Shop has this, and it's amazing. Especially when big snow storms are coming, as there is a dedicated self-checkout line for when you use the scanners. You just bag and scan as you go. Unless they turned the system off in the last six months, there is an audit system in place.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 18:49
|
|
|
Nutsngum posted:This is an awesome post btw. Just wondering how many sheets of paper was the effective maximum for these kinds of devices? Staplers can pretty much handle dozens of sheets deepening on their size. I have one of the punch & tuck sort. It handle four pages comfortably. For some reason they remain popular in Japan.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
Wasabi the J posted:A 1963 advertisement stated: "The welder will fasten together up to six sheets and requires no refills." It can handle six sheets of notebook paper with ease but more than five sheets of modern 20lb copy paper gives it trouble. I bet it could do ten sheets of that tissue thin stuff some banks used to use for carbon copies. Glorified tracing paper really. Jerry Cotton posted:Which reminds me of a non-obsolete and commercially very successful technology that is, alas, completely wrong for the job: the paper clip. The reason they're banned at my workplace is that while they do a reasonably good job of keeping together sheets of paper, they also do an exceedingly good job at catching on completely unrelated single sheets in the same slot/tray/stack and incorporating them into the fold so to speak. That was actually one of the selling points of staple-less systems: there wasn't anything to snag when filing. I see a lot of old tech in my job (Patent Examiner). Also fads which come and go or inventions which were before their time. Funny to see a selfie stick in pretty much its modern form in a 1980s patent. Shifty Pony has a new favorite as of 19:29 on Dec 6, 2015 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 19:26
|
|
|
Shifty Pony posted:It can handle six sheets of notebook paper with ease but more than five sheets of modern 20lb copy paper gives it trouble. I bet it could do ten sheets of that tissue thin stuff some banks used to use for carbon copies. Glorified tracing paper really. I would really dig a non-staple stapler that wasn't a total piece of poo poo, and most of the stuff we staple is only a few pages thick.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2015 20:19
|
|
|
I saw some company produced a staple-less stapler thing a few years ago in the US, but I'm not sure how good it was. I saw it in a store's office supply aisle once or twice, maybe even the kids' art supplies aisle, but never again. With the current recycle/confidential waste era, it seems like a stapler that you could hype up with not even being required to remove staples before tossing in the processing bin might have caught on a bit with smaller documents in various business.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2015 02:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:03 |
|
|
I use this stapler at work and it's worked out pretty good so far.
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2015 02:07
|
|
