Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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RFID Store

 Walk out without checking out. Or did you?
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Every item has an RFID tag on it containing the product's UPC code. As you walk through the store, you pick up an item and drop it inside your cart. An RFID reader inside the cart reads the item as it is dropped through the cart past a plane-like reading zone that uses directional antennas to create a field that caps the top of the cart. As the reader retrieves the data, an onboard telemetry package talks to the store's telemetry network and associates the UPC code with an item name and price. A small LCD display displays the item price and keeps a running total of your purchase. As you leave, you walk through a lane with RFID scanners and you swipe your credit card. Bags would be available to bag your groceries. An improved version would have an RFID payment medium, like Mobil's SpeedPass.
—BinaryCookies, Oct 06 2002

Auto-ID Group http://www.autoidce....org/technology.asp
Industry group working to develop a standard for object identification using RFID tags. Major manufacturers and store chains are already on board. Combine this with... [koz, Oct 10 2002]

Symbol Technologies Portable Shopping System http://www.symbol.c...onsumer_pss_ls.html
Scan-as-you-go grocery shopping. Uses barcode technology at the moment, but obviously they're going in the direction you describe. [koz, Oct 10 2002]

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       Excellent, BC!! At first I wondered immediately about cost for NiC or (X) battery and for labor change out each night. Could it be run on pv cells if the store lumens are sufficient ?
—hollajam, Oct 06 2002
   

       Perhaps the cart returns could have contacts and if the carts were placed in properly, the batteries could be charged.
—BinaryCookies, Oct 06 2002
   

       The concept's not new albeit I don't think it's been posted on the HB before. There's even a TV commercial (Discover card?) portraying this same concept.
—phoenix, Oct 07 2002
   

       "if the cart's were placed correctly..." Big if. Mayhaps a charging grid throughout the parking lot, instead?
—nick_n_uit, Oct 09 2002
   

       Verification is done by weighing the cart. If the weights add up properly, you're clear to proceed. If the cart tare plus the sum of indicated weights of scanned items doesn't work out right, you get sidetracked to normal checkout.   

       Actually, I've seen something similar. Racking my brain to remember where it was.
—lurch, Oct 10 2002
   

       This was a function of a shopping cart idea I once posted (since removed). It didn't use RFID, just a bar code criss-cross of beams above the opening of the cart.
—waugsqueke, Oct 10 2002
   

       Thanks, [waugsqueke], you cleared my confusion. That was the cart part, and just over on the other side of town I remember a market where you scan your own goods, then weigh them. System prints a ticket which you take to the checkout and pay. (One clerk handles six checkouts this way.)
—lurch, Oct 10 2002
   
      
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