A couple weeks back, I read an interesting article from the Boston Globe on a new device called the Shopping Buddy. It uses a lot of wireless technology, an interest of mine, including Bluetooth to talk between the scanning gun and the display screen. When I learned that the stores using this technology were right here in (or near, anyway) Boston, I decided to have a go at it. So, digital camera and directions to Quincy (That's pronounced Quinn-zee, because, you know, Massachusetts is dumb), I headed over to the Super Stop & Shop with Sarah. To clear up the confusion I've just created, Sarah is in fact NOT a surprised looking 35 year old woman - I left my digital camera in the car. But on the right of that picture, above the shopping cart handle, you can see the 8 inch screen that is the Shopping Buddy.

   When we walked in to the store, we were greeted by an immense docking bay for the Shopping Buddies, where they charging in their individual cradles. The bay probably held about 30-50 of the buddies and only about half of them were out, but just a handful were ready to go. They need to recharge between uses, but I dunno how long that takes. Anyway, to use the Shopping Buddy, you need a Stop & Shop discount card, which you might as well sign up for (it's free) anyway. I always fill out fake information on these, because I hate junk mail, so for the rest of this article, when I need to refer to myself, I will be referring to Jack Kafasis, my Stop & Shop persona. Clever how I kept the same last name, eh? They'll never be able to trace me among the tens of thousands of Kafasi in the US.

   After getting my discount card, we scanned it using the handheld scanner and Shopping Buddy came online, asking how I wanted it to refer to me. I wasn't really sure I'd remember to respond if it referred to me by name (Jack, remember), so I told it not to refer to me at all. It may seem I was a bit cold or even rude to the Shopping Buddy, but this was my first experience with it - I wasn't warmed up to it just yet. Also, it's important to remember that the Shopping Buddy is a pile of circuits and assorted lengths of wire. As we worked our way down the first aisle, a notice of store specials came up. I told Shopping Buddy, or SB as I've come to know him, to Remind Me when I was near the wheat bread that was on sale. Sure enough, when we were within a few feet of it, SB told us not to forget it.

   "Wow, Jack," I said to myself. "That's handy."

   So I just (at this very instant, halfway through this article) managed to get a picture of the Shopping Buddy, seen on the left. But I like the surprised woman up top, so I'm leaving her there. Anyway, you can see the large touchscreen in the center of the device, and the hand scanner in its holster on the right. The scanner has just two buttons, and it took all of 30 seconds to figure out how to use it. It's got a +, which you press to scan and add an item, and a -, which you press to scan an item you wish to remove. The biggest problem is 1) Remembering to scan every item you put in your cart, and 2) Remembering to scan anything you take out. SB keeps track of your purchases and discounts, so you have a running total on screen.

   We continued moving through the store, getting our various items and receiving notice of various items on sale in each aisle. SB knows where you are within about 4 feet, so it's easy to find things. Once we were done, we went to a special Shopping Buddy lane to perform a self-checkout. However, since it was our first time, we were then steered to another special SB Re-scan lane. This lane is used for spot checks to prevent theft. My total was off from the true total by a couple dollars, because the scanner hadn't picked up one or two items I thought it had, and if I'd checked out by myself, they'd have lost money on those "stolen" items. Presumably, the threat of a rescan is enough to stop most casual theft, but really, if I chose to just not scan one or two items, when they did a rescan, I'm sure I wouldn't look too guilty trying to steal one item, with a cart full of $100 worth of food. It will be interesting to see how this affects sales (I bought more than I usually would have, because of SB's recommendations) and loss due to theft (which, with a human cashier, is near impossible short of the much more obvious act of shoplifting).

   What else can SB do? Besides announcing store specials and discounts near your current location, you can use it to place orders with the Deli and pick them up when you get there. You can also use it with special SB-ready scales, to bag your own produce. And apparently, on future visits, it will tell you if it thinks you might be running out of some items, and point out other favorites. There's a whole lot of data being tracked about you, and that's a bit scary. But it's also got a lot of great features, and I gotta say, it was fun to use even if it felt a bit absurd at times.

   So is Shopping Buddy useful? Definitely to some, although some will no doubt prefer to leave their shopping routing as it is. Is it invasive? Not in any way that matters, until they implement per-customer price adjustments. And unless you choose to use SB and scan your discount card, nothing is being tracked in any way which you can't avoid. After all, they'll have a hard time finding Jack Kafasis once he leaves the store.