Saturday, October 3, 2009

What I Want - LCD Price Tag

Once in a while, I get an invention idea. I don't have the skills or resources to implement them, but I thought I would share this one with you, so that someone out there who has the skills, can follow through. You don't have to give me any credit, but make sure that you bring it to a grocery store near me.

Remember in the good old days when everything you bought had a price tag on it? You could pick it up, and know exactly how much you were going to spend on it. This takes a lot of manual labor for the store to price things, and to reprice as prices change. But I really like the idea of knowing how much something is. There have been times when something was on a rack, and I wasn't sure if the whole rack, or just that side of the rack was on sale. Or when something was on sale, I would have liked to know if that other flavor without the sale tag was also on sale. There have been times I went to the cashier, and if I had known that that item was that low a price, I would have bought more than one.

My idea is an LCD price tag. You attach one of these skinny labels onto the package, and it electronically records the price. You change the price on the computer, the LCD will automatically update the price. You buy it, and the price changes to 0. Then your electronic security device at the door knows that I paid for everything I am taking through the door. You don't have to use LCD, it is just what I know, but you get the idea.

LCD price tags aren't a new idea, according to the image search, but the ones I found are on the shelf and not on the product. I am guessing that these are remotely controlled via computer, and someone doesn't have to update the price on these.

I can see other uses for this as well, like putting due dates on library books. That way, when I lend or borrow a library book from my sister, we both know when we need to return it.

Edited to add: It would also help with gift-giving. The gift recipient wouldn't know how much I paid for something, but if they wanted to return it, they wouldn't need a receipt, the store would know how much I paid for it.

2 comments:

Allie said...

Great idea - I hate not knowing how much I'm paying!

NEEDLEWINGS said...

Makes sense, but I suppose not cost effective especially on some items. I usually end up arguing with the cashier and say but...but..... that's what the sign says! lol