1. Rather than self-checkout, give every costumer a bar-code scanner (or use the one that the iphone already has) and have them scan their own items as they shop. Then you can use self-checkout whenever you want. Digitize the receipts, and on the digital copy, make sure grocery stores have expiration dates as well. That way, you have a digital list of expiration dates that you can set to give alerts so you don't waste. You would know the total of the purchase before checking out.
As an extension to this idea, it would be nice to have all of your receipts on one digital card. You'd be able to return things without having to dig through a wallet full of papers. Christmas shopping would be a breeze.
Update 7/28/2010: I sent this idea to Smith's to see what they'd say, here is the response:
"Thank you for contacting Smith's. We are currently testing a portable scanner that the customer may use as they shop. Hopefully in the future you will see this technology in your store."
2. Soap bottles that pump soap from a reservoir at the bottom of the bottle, which would be filled always because of gravity. The result, no wasted soap at the bottom. It would probably look like a normal bottle with it's top bent backward, and the bottle turned upside down.
3. A built in version of electronic car scanners. The machines cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, but if the car built in an electronic scanner, you could have a constant diagnostic on your car. This could also feature mileage for each day, as well as gas consumption. People could track the expense of their commute much more accurately.
4. A public database with information about the prescribing habits of physicians, as well as the pressures being placed upon them by sales reps. This way, you could tell if a doctor is likely to prescribe you medication you might not need.
Update 7/28/2010: I sent #4 to Greg Critser, auther of Generation Rx. Here is his response:
"That's an outstanding idea. My one thought is to ask: besides providing for transparency and physician choice, would this necessarily help anyone, or would it simply perform a kind of consumer-policing? I think you have to show the former to get any traction."
These are four ideas, maybe updates will follow.
Updates:
7/27/2010
5. A cereal container with strainer sized or maybe larger holes at the bottom, so the crumbs fall through. There would be a receptacle of course, which you could empty. No more disgusting cheerio powder.
6. Air wicks that disinfect. Now they just make rooms smell nicer.
7. Choose your own adventure MOVIES.
7/30/2010
8. Retractable computer cables. They have extension cords that are retractable, but it would be cool if it just came retractable, kind of like vacuums have them sometimes. For that matter, I would love to have every cable retractable. Maybe wireless will replace cables eventually.
I like the first idea, and I would not be surprised if we see something similar to this in the future.
ReplyDelete#3 exists in some cars, at least as far as current mpg. I think it would be cool if there were an option for it to show the units in dollars instead, though. Obviously that would require that the car knew how much gas cost...wouldn't it be cool if gas stations updated a car's data as well?
ReplyDeleteI like #2 a LOT.
I think I sent you a link a while ago (here if anyone's interested) about #1. The bar-code scanner exists, but the integration with PayPal/your credit card or whatever and the grocery store isn't there yet. I suspect grocery stores would want to pilot the program out first.
Grocery stores are weird. They're so darn big, and the advantages of scale are so huge, that often I think consumer choice is dictated more by location than anything. So I think a lot of the time they can afford to get away with being late adopters.
Addition---today I heard of a smartphone app that finds cheapest gas in your area. I imagine porting it over (the software part, anyway) would be VERY easy.
ReplyDeleteCars DO have mpg displays. What they don't have are mpg displays organized on a digital calendar. I was imagining the ability to check every day for mileage, and the mpg for each mile. You could track the miles driven each day, you could see which days you drove the most, you'd have a very precise measure of the cost of your commute. You could go back to any day and see how many miles you drove. You could drive different routes and compare the mileage + mpg and see if the route was cheaper. In addition, it should tell you your oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and power steering fluid levels. If it's possible with gas, why not those? I'm not sure how valuable those things are, to be honest, but I wanted to explain the idea more clearly.
ReplyDeleteThat's sweet that you sent #4 to Greg Critser. I liked his response, as well. There would definitely be an education barrier to overcome---just because a consumer knows how a doctor prescribes, how do they know about what that means in terms of the quality of the doctor's prescriptions?
ReplyDeleteThat said, I wonder if doctors themselves might be interested? Somehow I doubt that doctors like to think of themselves as beholden to drug companies. The angle here is that the education gap would be MUCH less formidable.