Stop and Shop becomes more about stop

While the excitement around  Wegmans in Northborogh is reaching orgasmic levels, (one early visitor remarked “I lived in Ithaca for five years and fell in love with Wegmans."), our local mainstay, Stop & Shop is trying to be one of the cool kids. They've got an app.

The app is along the lines of the Scan It reader that you see when you enter the store, except slower and less convenient.

Download the app to your phone. Note that there's no QR code that would let you load the app directly from the display board. Also, you can't use the WiFi in the store until you have the app installed. So, if you can get a phone signal when standing near the deli, you can download the app.

Scan your Stop & Shop card which registers your app and lets you connect to the WiFi so it can load all the crazy deals, like $.25 off of dozen eggs.

Finally, go buy stuff, meaning that, after you've made your choice, you stand in the aisle and scan your purchases using your phone. Click. Put the thing in your bag. Click. Put the thing in your bag. And so on.

When you get to the checkout, hold the phone up to the card by the register, scan it with the app, and your order is loaded into the register. Tell the big screen that you are ready to finish and pay with your credit card. Click the small screen to tell it again that you want to use your credit card, sign illegibly in the little window, wait until they print coupons for deodorant and mouthwash (because somehow they know that you need those hygiene items, even if you've didn't buy those products this time), and leave with your food and with your, and I'm not making this up, plastic case so you can carry your Pop-Tarts^® in safety.

It's great to be an American, isn't it?