Children's seat belts have been installed on grocery shopping carts, so why not calculators to help people determine what they are spending?
Small solar-powered calculators have been attached to shopping carts at Dan's Foods at 2330 E. 3300 South, 3981 S. Wasatch Blvd. and 2029 E. 7000 South as a test, and they could be installed at the remaining stores if the response is positive, according to Danny Parris, company vice president."This a new service for our customers, which we expect to be very well received. It allows each customer to have immediate access to important information as they shop," said Parris.
A product of Shopper Calculators, Tulsa, Okla., each calculator is programmed to allow the customer to monitor purchases against household budgets, deduct coupons, compare product values, calculate food content (calories, fat or cholesterol) or balance a checkbook.
The calculators have been tested in Alaska, California, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Oklahoma. The data show that 47.4 percent of the shoppers used the calculators and 90.5 percent of those people found them to be "useful or very useful. The tests also show that 10.6 percent of the shoppers drove extra miles to shop at a store that had the calculators available.