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Hackers' Contest #1: Hack the way people are shopping.

2 points by Uglyfruit ↗ HN
Hi, I would like to submit a series of short contests so that we can all practice our hacking skills. I do not want to focus on computer hacking at all.

The first one is this: Hack the way people are shopping at supermarkets.

The subject to be hacked is deliberately specific so that we all might make proposals along the same line.

Hope many of you will submit their ideas. You do not need to give the actual solution but , merely suggest some other ways the task could be achieved in a different way. For example: the goods that you need will be delivered to your own fridge every 2 days.

Let's see if this thread would be followed. It is quite amusing, isn't it ?

3 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 18.1 ms ] thread
dawilster
I don't know if this is related but does anybody else think we should be given discounts for using self checkouts? I mean it completely bypasses the checkout chick but were still being charged for that service.
Uglyfruit
Yes, it is absolutely related. Now moving forward from your initial proposition we might try to understand what would happen if people should be given a discount when using self checkouts. For example : more & more people would be willing to use self checkout counters due to the profit motive. Move it forward !!
JoeAltmaier
There' still a 'checkout chick' at WalMart by the self-service lanes. And a line waiting for her services.

Self-service has to improve an order of magnitude before I subject myself to the hassle and indignity. Want to buy a pocket-knife from the camping section? Alarm goes off, wait for the attendant to come type a code. Have an oversized item? Wait for the attendant to scan it manually. And where the heck is the code on these key-limes? Poke around at an opaque interface hoping to find the item in their manual menu, finally lie and call them lemons.

I never use the self-checkout even if the regular lines are considerable. Usually its broken or closed anyway, or nobody on duty.

The cure? Maybe rfid tags (have to come down from $0.75 to be practical) and an airlock where they scan your card and purchases and you're done. That would save lots of thrashing over the old grocery cart too - you have to handle every can of beans about 7 times with the current system.