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Comment by munksbeer | Hacker News Reader

It works pretty well in the UK. The nice thing is, I can pack my bags as I shop, so I don't feel stressed when I get to the checkout.

I use this method of shopping whenever available.

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In sweden you have to unpack and re-pack at the checkout. And if you have a backpack you can't place stuff inside it. No. You have to unpack, place everything on a scale and then place everything in your backpack again.

And for items like bread or so you need to navigate a number of menus to find it.

And of course you are asked if you are a member, if you'd like to become a member, if you want to do a donation, and a number of other useless questions.

That's just self checkout. Some places, like Ica, have self scanning which works so much better. You just scan the bar code as you pick things up - which is just in one motion as you put things in your bag. No need to unpack as you pay.

Yes you do need to be a member to use the system, but that's a very small price to pay for the convenience and speed of avoiding all lines and stress of the regular checkout.

Yeah there's like 15 places in sweden which have this, and it's "the norm"?

Sweden is a big country so I could definitely be wrong about how things look across it. However, in the greater Gothenburg area every Ica I've visited has it - that includes everything from big ones in the city and shopping malls to small ones in the suburbs 30km outside the city (where I live).

In the greater Göteborg area, no Coop, Willys, Lidl, has this. And some ICA have it. Casually, the one closer to your home, it seems.

Going from "a supermarket near my home" to "every single supermarket in sweden" is kinda of a big leap.

Try ICA in Olskroken or Godhemsgatan for example…

I Most supermarkets have self checkout, but even that isn't omnipresent (and it's usually slower).

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