HEB tries new checkout technology

HEB grocery stores are rolling out new technology that could shorten those check-out lines. 

The Highway-183 and Lakeline Boulevard HEB Plus store is the first in the Austin area to launch “Fast-Scan."

Some are calling it the future of grocery store checkout lanes. Fast-scan has made its debut at the Lakeline HEB Plus and customers are loving it.

The two lanes have towers that do a 360-degree snapshot of the product. It allows customers to place items any kind of way.

“Our customers are having a good time playing with this new register. They can lay the product upside down, all over the place,” Leslie Sweet, HEB Director of Pubilc Affairs, said.

When it comes to people losing their jobs, HEB says that won't be the case. Cashiers will still be stationed at the end of the lanes to accept money and deal with any issues.

“This is all about more time spent with the customer. Letting our cashier do what they love most, which is visiting with our customers,” Sweet said.

Janice Webber saw the buzz about the machines on Facebook and decided to stop by.

“It was very easy, you just place everything about a foot apart and put the little thing at the end, and it tells you when it ends, and that's it,” Janice Webber, shopper, said.

“I've had a lot of customers tell me it's the way of the future. It's something different, something crazy, and new,” Mcaylee Smith, HEB cashier, said.

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea. Some feel technology could be going too far.

“[They] slowly introduce it until we’re dumb enough to accept it and they'll eventually take over,” Gentry Ferguson, shopper, said.

Other stores across Texas have already begun testing fast-scan out. HEB says if feedback goes well, they will put more in stores across the state.

Other cities that are trying “Fast-Scan” are San Antonio and Houston.