Stop & Shop Scan It!

If you're like me, grocery shopping is one of the most dreaded chores one must do. However, I finally started doing the Scan It! option at my local Stop & Shop and not only has it made grocery shopping less painful, it cuts the time it takes to shop significantly.

Scan It! is a portable scanner available at over 300 Stop & Shop locations across the Northeast. It allows you to scan your items so you may bag them while you shop. Many people are afraid of using this device but it's not scary at all. Trust me. Here is how it works.

The Scan It! stations are located at the entrances of the Stop & Shop. You go up to the station and scan your loyalty card. If you don't have one, you can go to customer service and obtain one. They are free to get and loaded with coupons every week so it is well worth the time to fill out the form. Plus the points you rack up from your purchases can get you discounts on gas and future groceries. Double bonus! Once you scan your loyalty card, one of the Scan It! devices with light up meaning now you may take. Don't forget to grab your bags here too, unless you use reusable grocery bags.

Now you simply shop as normal. As you put things into your cart, scan it with your scanner. Not only will it keep a running tally of your grocery bill, but there are also coupons you may qualify for that are only for Scan It! users. Saving money is always a good thing right? If you accidentally scan an item you don't want, or wish to remove an item, don't worry. There's a remove button that you can press and then scan the item you wish to remove.

Once you are done with your grocery shopping, go to a self checkout aisle. There will be a large bar code meant for Scan It! customers as their imaginary "last item". Scan this code and you are now done with the Scan It! scanner. The checkout screen in your aisle will ask you to scan your loyalty card again so that it may pull up all the information from your scanner. Once it pulls up your grocery list, you may either pay or scan your coupons. This is one of the downsides. Only the checkout scanner will scan your coupons. The other downside is if you have any alcoholic products, you have to wait for an attendant to check your I.D. Once you pay your bill, you are free to go! No waiting for all the items to be scanned or bagged; you already did that while you were shopping.

Now that this scary mysterious thing has been explained, I encourage you to try it the next time you go grocery shopping. You will be amazed at how much time you will have saved simply by multitasking the scanning during the shopping. To see which locations have a Scan It! option, check out the Stop & Shop website.