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GPS, It's The Future For Shopping...

At last, a useful role for GPS in a new satellite-navigated trolley that will guide hapless shoppers to their chosen product with exclusive OM artists impression of how it could look...


Posted: 1 May 2003
by Jon

It's one in they eye for any of you who thought that GPS was an expensive luxury as news breaks that a satellite guided shopping trolley is now under development.

How the trolley might look -
OM artist's impression, just in case
you thought it was real.

Apparently designer Murray Laidlaw has come up with the invention to help guide tragic shoppers through the increasingly complex maze that is the modern supermarket. A GPS unit will apparently sit on the trolley handle and not only pick out the quickest routes around the store but also fill in the inept shopper on recipes and special offers.

According to Reuters, who have in turn ripped off the Daily Mail, Mr Laidlaw has received a £30,000 government grant to develop the system. We reckon it'll be a matter of months before mountain rescue teams start getting call outs from lost shoppers.

'Yeah, we're lost... No, not sure, but there are some brussel sprouts to our left and a stack of bananas just avalanched below us...'

Sorry, we'll get our coat, if we can find it without satellite navigation that is...


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I don't mean to be pessimistic, but what if they re-introduce standard deviation. What happens then? Does your diet change radically as you get directed towards the toiletries rather than the fruit section? Do you end up trying to barbecue packets of biscuits? Will lost shoppers simply end up pushing their trollies down the hard shoulder of the M25 desperately looking for the freezer cabinets?

It's a dangerous idea and no mistake. I reckon it should be stopped now before it kills some poor sod...

Posted: 02/05/2003 at 09:17

Are you trying to invent a new sport Jon:

Extreme shopping trolleying!

Beginners could use baskets of course!

Posted: 02/05/2003 at 09:29

Busy news day then!

I just can't see this catching on. Apart from the dangers Jon mentions, theres the fact that folks in my local supermarket have enough trouble controling their trolley and horde of kids already.
If you introduce another element for them to concentrate on, it'll all be too much. Chaos would result, and the very fabric of our society could crumble aroud us.

I think this should be tested in a controlled environment first, where the damage can be limited.

How about Milton Keynes?


Si(C)

Posted: 02/05/2003 at 09:32

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