Tweet06-05-2010 om 09:07 by Amanda Potter

Recently I was pleased to discover that Albert Heijn (a major grocery store chain) rolled out a new self-checkout program at their Brusselpoort store.  When we lived in the U.S., I use to use the self-checkout all the time. It was often quicker than going through the regular line and as I only shop for two; I never have too many groceries. We were nervous at first to try it out, but after a bit of investigation found that the Dutch instructions were fairly simple and the long lines at the grocery store are now, for us, a thing of the past.


AH’s new self-checkout starts at the front of the store. When you arrive you’ll see a bank of handheld scanners in a machine. You scan your membership card’s barcode in the machine and a handheld scanner will light up.  Grab that and a basket and you’re ready to start shopping.

In the store, all you have to do is scan each item you wish to purchase by pushing the yellow button and running the red line over the barcode until it beeps. If you make a mistake, there is a minus button to allow you to delete items.

At checkout, skip the lines and go to one of several self-checkout counters which look like smaller versions of the scanner machine at the front of the store. Place your scanner in an open spot and scan your membership card again. The information you collected while shopping will be transferred to the checkout machine so you can pay with PIN or Chip. Pay, pack up, scan your receipt at the gate, and you’re ready go.

Naturally there are a couple of things you can’t do with the self-checkout. For example, garbage bags and stamps need to be purchased at the self-checkout service desk.  Also, cash is not accepted so if you don’t have a card you’ll have to wait. But those quibbles aside, the process is smooth and speeds my shopping way up.

Photo (cc) FaceMe PLS. Used via Creative Commons License.

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