1. The caloric content of each purchased item is known. The program would figure out total calories purchased and calculate what component of the food pyramid each purchase represents, with its % of intake by calories. The program would show an idealized pyramid then draw your pyramid, tottering and topheavy with your family-size scrapple and velveeta purchases. Consumers would buy more high priced fruits and vegetables so as to avoid the shame of a lard-laden sugary and asymmetric pyramid. Maybe it would help people make healthy eating choices, if such a thing exists.

2. One could put competitor's grocery store receipts into a reader. The text is standardized and should not be too tough to decipher. The program would then show what the customer would have paid if he or she had bought the same items at your store. This service might be offered out of the back of a van in your competitor's parking lot, and you could hand out coupons too.
-- bungston, May 27 2009

Netflix data designer's receipt redesign https://www.fastcom...-brilliant-redesign
#1 reminded me of this posterior art [notexactly, May 28 2019]

I like the first idea, although only if other people use it, rather than me.

As to the second - I don't think supermarkets would go for this; they all compete, and they like to be selective in their price comparisons ("This week, Brannigans armadillo-flavoured crisps are 7p cheaper than at Tesco, and our 7kg tub of Bisto is 30% cheaper than Sainsbury's!") They probably don't want you to be able to compare your whole shopping basket with their rivals.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 28 2019



random, halfbakery