Scale down the waste

Summary (13.5 seconds)

The labels that print from the weighing scales are a waste of resources. For Smart Shop display the barcode on-screen for customers to scan and have the attendants weigh and price produce during check-out. This will reduce waste, increase profits and be better for the environment.

Full version (90 seconds)

As my contract at a Covid testing site comes to an end and big life changes have put me on the mend I want to focus on sharing some ideas I have penned.

This idea reduces resources used in order to benefit the environment as well as increase profits in a similar way to my Oral B Coloured Rings idea did. Here I use Sainsbury’s as the example but this idea applies to a number of other supermarkets.

Covid increased the popularity of Smart Shop. This meant more customers pricing their own produce using the self service weighing scales to print off a barcode on a label that is then scanned before usually being disposed of.

My idea is that these barcodes and pricing information could simply be displayed on the screen. I applied this idea from my current role where barcodes are scanned by displaying them on our phone screen. All that would be needed is some software reprogramming to update the display and make printing optional.

At a minimum this could be applied to the Smart Shop process. However are these labels really required at all?

Yes they do speed up staffed check-outs but by how much really? Pre-weighing isn’t enforced or even encouraged by offering an incentive (that could even be financial) and in any case the check-outs have their own set of scales for the attendant to use if the customer hasn’t.

So it’s entirely possible to do without these labels. The drawback would be a minor increase in time spent at a staffed check-out but this would then make Smart Shop option more attractive. Specially if a financial incentive is given as a thank you for doing it all ourselves, now that wouldn’t be nice!

See brainstorm below. As usual I’ll contact Sainsbury’s and all the other supermarket brands where this idea could apply and give updates here. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome below.