Some images in this article for those who haven’t seen them: https://www.businessinsider.com/cooler-screens-make-it-harde...
Like the other commenter I also had to look this up to realize this isn't some sort of weird fiction.
Cooler screens
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Re: Cooler screens
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks. I thought the article was some sort of future fiction thing but apparently this is real?
I've seen these in bars for a few years now - the beer bottle fridges behind the bar will run animated ads for the beer brands in the fridge (mostly Heineken)
Sounds like a bar with a great atmosphere.
Re: Cooler screens
#13My wife stopped into a local supermarket (in the UK) a couple of weeks ago to grab some things, she came out slightly puzzled and said to me; something along the lines of "what a pain in the arse; all of the freezers have black glass now and I had to open each one to find out what was in them".
I was equally puzzled at why on earth they might have done this; It finally occurs to be, having read this, that they must have been screens, but they were off.
Fantastic.
Re: Cooler screens
#14Is anyone else repulsed by this stuff?
The gas pumps that play advertisements while your car fills are incredibly obnoxious and makes me regret being a customer.
I think of "tax what you want less of".
Re: Cooler screens
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen these in bars for a few years now - the beer bottle fridges behind the bar will run animated ads for the beer brands in the fridge (mostly Heineken)
Sounds like a bar with a great atmosphere.
Typically the bigger dive bars or pub-club chain types; definitely an atmosphere many enjoy, though very much a matter of taste.
And/or sports bars.
Re: Cooler screens
#16A fun aside: Cooler Screens, the company making these, used to be the CEO of Walgreens, and Walgreens is their only "whale" customer.
Walgreens began to sour on the idea of the idea of these screens, and the current CEO basically cancelled the whole deal when he came in, calling them ugly, costly and ineffective.
Cooler Screens has been forced to take back many of the screens, which are custom made to the size of the Walgreens coolers, and cannot be resold of reused without getting new coolers to go with them.
Cooler Screens is suing Walgreens over this, but this is very much looking like a failed dystopian experiment.
Re: Cooler screens
#17That's some cyberpunk dystopia right there, gross.
(Don't get me wrong, I _LOVE_ cyberpunk dystopia, in my entertainment fiction, music, art and vide-ogames, but not IRL please)
Re: Cooler screens
#18Is anyone else repulsed by this stuff? The gas pumps that play advertisements while your car fills are incredibly obnoxious and makes me regret being a customer. I think of "tax what you want less of".
If we start having these here, I'll possibly start ordering online prevent going to store itself.
It's more work everyone. Workers need to design the screens according to product inside, I need to wait to see whether my favorite cheese has moved for "engagement", etc.
I absolutely hate to be held hostage by ads.
Re: Cooler screens
#19To be fair, this technology could have been introduced in a way that benefits the customer. Some products are smaller than the others, making them harder to spot. Having a well organized and clearly visible directory that is also a guiding system might help. Then again, stores like this are already doing their best to confuse, with those screens or without. No reason to believe screens have been introduced to help th…
However, most fridges are stocked with the same order, so I can just sub-cortically go to the fridge and look to the exact point to see whatever I want is there or not.
I do my shopping like that. First fridge set, third fridge, bottom shelf: Milk. Same set, last fridge, second shelf, right: My favorite cheese. That's time efficient.
Re: Cooler screens
#20To be fair, this technology could have been introduced in a way that benefits the customer. Some products are smaller than the others, making them harder to spot. Having a well organized and clearly visible directory that is also a guiding system might help. Then again, stores like this are already doing their best to confuse, with those screens or without. No reason to believe screens have been introduced to help th…
At least where I shop, on a shelf if a product itself is smaller, more rows of them are used to that the space on the shelf is roughly the same, even though each row might not be stocked to the full depth of the shelf.
In most cases at least. Upper/lower rows are generally where you can find smaller/niche products are more random on that front.
Like the article explains, the shelf placement has in most cases been negotiated and/or maximized for profit. The screens will not help: I expect them doing exactly the same: scale products to subtly promote/demote depending on agreements.
They will do this in addition to what is currently being already done, so it's likely a net loss for consumers.