In the Late Sixties/Early Seventies, one of the first jobs I ever had was as a stockboy in a grocery store (a Shop-Rite in South Bound Brook, as I recall). I had my own box cutter and price stamper, as we had to 'throw the truck,' that is, unload a tractor-trailer delivery, route the boxes to the correct aisles, cut open each box, price every item (can, bag, or box), and put them on the store's shelves.
You, the shopper, would cruise the aisles, scooping up items and putting them in your cart, taking them to the front of the store where you unloaded them onto a conveyor belt at a cashier's station, and the cashier would ring up every item you placed on the belt.
One of us stock boys would place your purchases in brown paper bags (cans on the bottom, eggs and loaves of bread on top) and put the filled bags in your cart. You'd pay cash for your groceries and leave. Sort of a circle of life, but with Chef Boy Ar Dee and Fluffernutter.
Fast forward fifty-plus years, and we scan everything.
It's called progress (though some of us call it something else).
Barcodes have been the norm for so long; it could be painful when they're gone, and make no mistake, they are going away.
-bill kenny
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