Japan testing sandwiches that discount themselves as they age
- Reference: 1604037371
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/10/30/japan_snack_waste_taste/
- Source link:
Trials due to run in two convenience stores starting next week will see RFID tags attached to perishable snacks such as sandwiches, rice balls and lunch sets. The RFID tags will be encoded with information including expiration dates.
“Smart shelves” that include RFID readers will keep track of the snacks and may also feature signage that advertises the reduced price of some of the goods they carry.
A smartphone app called “Ecobuy” is also part of the scheme and will allow customers to scan nearby stores to learn if any cut-price inventory is on offer. There’s also a loyalty scheme that will reward snackers for splashing on soon-to-be-expired goods rather than fresher fare.
Japan’s aim in this experiment is to avoid food waste, but also to avoid unnecessary labour. In its announcement of the trial the nation’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry points out that Japan has labour shortage due to a falling birth-rate and ageing population. If fewer snacks are thrown away, it has the potential to make industry more efficient.
The Register also imagines that a little more info about how long seafood has been on the shelf could also improve productivity.
This idea’s been around for a while: NTT has helped to develop the tech used in trials during 2018.
That the Ministry is now backing further tests suggests it is closer to finding favour among policy-makers, which is timely as Japan’s new prime minister Yoshihide Suga has made digitising the nation a key part of his platform. ®
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[1] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
[1]https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day
[1] https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day
So...
More electrical and plastic waste, in order to reduce biodegradable waste? Sounds brilliant! /sarcasm
I worked on a project to tag all carcases passing through the slaughter house and then on to the processing plant, to ensure the quality and to aid in traceability. But the project failed, because it wasn't economical to put a tag on each carcase half. They kept their reusable RFID tags in the meat hooks for tracking. If it isn't economical to put the tags on 40Kg of meat, I don't see it being economical to put it on a few grams of sandwich, unless they are re-using the chips in some sort of tray?
The story is missing some information.
Re: So...
Where I'm based supermarkets already put rfid tags on wedges of brie cheese sold for under 2€ to stop shoplifting, so the cost must be negligible
Also 2-3 years ago I read about a study being done about putting rfid tags in stamps to help the post office lose less parcels
As technologies gain traction costs go down
Simpler alternatives
There are lots of chemicals that will degrade predictably in oxygen and inks are around that can use them to show how long a product has been on the shelf. But, obviously, if it doesn't come with an app, who's going to be interested?
Re: Simpler alternatives
Make sandwiches with Dwarf bread, that way you will always have a sandwich and it will double as a self defence item in times of trouble.
Also eco friendly as it will never be thrown away.
Re: Simpler alternatives
Though it's not really the bread that's the problem but the fillings. What do the dwarves put in their sandwiches?
Re: Simpler alternatives
Rat, of course. Cutting the tails if they're feeling posh.
Now I'm wondering about them adding ketchup and/or mustard...
Re: Simpler alternatives
Ketchup? Mustard? Pathetic.
Wow-wow sauce, of course
A smartphone app called “Ecobuy” is also part of the scheme
This all sounds very environmentally unfriendly, both in terms of energy use and throwing away a RFID chip every time you dispose of your plastic sandwich box (also very environmentally unfriendly). If supermarkets find they have 15 unsold sarnies left at the end of every day, their stock control systems should be good enough to spot this and just order 15 less in future. This stupid Ecobuy scheme sounds like a novelty gimmick thought up by somebody with far too much spare time.
Re: A smartphone app called “Ecobuy” is also part of the scheme
Not all sandwiches are sold in supermarkets. Your local shop probably does not have a stock system more complicated than a member of staff glancing at the shelves before going to the cash n' carry.
Surely the wrong approach?
They should be fitting strain gauges to the sandwiches to see how far they've curled, and only when they've curled sufficiently should they be reduced in price. I'm sure it's not so straight forward as mere time-since-building the sandwich.
A commentator earlier pointed out the costs of the chips: the glass-encased medically sterile chips that go into pets are cents each when bought in bulk; I would guess they'll be cheaper in the chip'n'coil on sticky tape format. In the UK alone, we purchase four billion sarnies a year (at an average cost of just over a couple of quid)... that's a big market just in the UK; perhaps ten or twenty times that in the US and Western Europe? I can't even begin to guess for the Far East but someone obviously thinks it's worth doing.
So as all these are 'hygienically' wrapped in their little paper, card, and plastic film coffins which have to be disposed of whether the sandwich is eaten by a human or not, I suspect that the makers don't care about the additional electronic waste of these chips. Of course, we could have some sort of just in time delivery system, say, someone behind a counter with all the necessary ingredients to hand and no unrecyclable plastic in the packaging. I'm sure I used to buy sandwiches that way, years ago... I wonder what happened to it?
I'm more surprised that the Japanese eat sandwiches.
P.S. Watch the anime Yakitate!! Japan for the finest 69 bread-themed episodes you will ever see.
"Japan’s aim in this experiment is to avoid food waste, but also to avoid unnecessary labour."
We should have listened to the Luddites...