![\"Caper](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/24cce68\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5712x3213+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F39%2F8c%2Fe1f59c0d478dbb201e9be0efc300%2Fimg-4111.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. \u2014 At this Lehigh Valley grocery store, operators say there’s no need to wait in long lines, clip coupons or weigh produce and meats. <\/p>\n
ShopRite of Bethlehem Township has introduced its smart Caper Carts, which it says offers shoppers an easy shopping experience thanks to artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n
By syncing a ShopRite PriceClub Plus card to the touchscreen, shoppers can grab, scan, bag and pay for the items \u2014 with all the work being done via the cart. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Micaela Hood <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
The Caper Cart checkout lane at ShopRite in Bethlehem allows shoppers to head out quickly, avoiding long lines. <\/p>\n
Aileen Umholtz used the smart cart for the first time on Monday morning, the same day staff at the Madison Farms store off Freemansburg Avenue held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new carts. <\/p>\n
During her shopping excursion, she took photos of the cart and sent them to friends and family. <\/p>\n
“This is awesome. I’m a techie, so I love this,” Umholtz said. <\/p>\n
“Once I dropped the cherries into the cart, it automatically knew and weighed them, then a coupon came up when I put the bananas in.” <\/p>\n
Carts ‘bring so much joy’<\/p>\n
The Colalillo family-owned Bethlehem Township store is among five in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that have the new Caper Carts, powered by Instacart. <\/p>\n
“\u200aThey’re at Yardley [Bucks County] and then they’re coming to our other three stores in the next two months,” Sam Colalillo said. <\/p>\n
So far, at the Madison Farms store, which launched the carts on the floor in late June, the customer response has been fun for the staff to watch, he said. <\/p>\n
“We’ve had people jump up and down,” said Colalillo, a third-generation grocer. <\/p>\n
“I never thought the carts would bring so much joy, but they have. <\/p>\n
“We’ve had people from all different age groups use it, too.” <\/p>\n
![\"ShopRite](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/78f56a1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4032x2268+0+0\/resize\/880x495!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Ff6%2F13%2Ffb495a484c8598f6e7058f2fae7b%2Fimg-4129.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Micaela Hood <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
ShopRite of Bethlehem held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Caper Carts, powered by Instacart. <\/p>\n
Not replacing jobs<\/p>\n
Colalillo\u2019s grandfather, Joseph A. Colalillo, founded the family\u2019s grocery business 65 years ago. <\/p>\n
“My dad, [ShopRite of Bethlehem President Joe Colalillo Jr.] has always embraced new things and has been innovative,” the younger Colalillo said. <\/p>\n
“In the early 2000s, we were the first to have online shopping, where team members would do the shopping, and they’d pick it up. <\/p>\n
“And before COVID, we used to have a Scrunchy’s Playhouse in each of our stores where customers could drop their kids off, and they could play games.”<\/p>\n
Instacart first launched the Caper Cart in 2023. <\/p>\n
Currently, the Al-carts are used at 180 ShopRite locations. <\/p>\n
Sam Colallio said the smart carts are not meant to replace hundreds of employees. <\/p>\n
“We’re not replacing jobs,” he said. <\/p>\n
“This is just another way to improve the experience for customers.” <\/p>\n
How to use the Caper Cart<\/p>\n
Colalillo explained that the process begins by adding your ShopRite PriceClub phone number to the cart.<\/p>\n
Then, to add an item to the cart, a shopper scans the item on one of the four sensors. <\/p>\n
Or, he or she simply places the item into the cart: The Caper’s four sensors pick up the bar code, weigh the item, green lights come on, and the price shows up on the tablet.<\/p>\n
When it comes to produce, a shopper finds the item’s code on its sticker and types it in using the tablet, then selects the merchandise on the screen to add it to the tally.<\/p>\n
The Caper Cart keeps a running tally of the order as a shopper maneuvers through the aisles, and the costs of items appear on the cart’s screen as soon as their barcodes are scanned. <\/p>\n
If the items are on sale, the smart card prompts a digital coupon, letting the shopper accept the savings. <\/p>\n
Bag and go<\/p>\n
![\"Scan](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/bd1aeb6\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3023x3023+0+0\/resize\/880x880!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F60%2Faf%2F5f39f65f4aa6bcca2e0df671af57%2Fimg-2836.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Micaela Hood<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
The cart tallies and displays the total cost of the order as shoppers go along.<\/p>\n
It works in reverse, as well. <\/p>\n
“Take an item out of the cart and it’s removed from the list of tallied items,” Colalillo said.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of built-in technology that makes it so you can’t put things in the cart. It knows the weight of all the products. <\/p>\n
“If you put in a stack of ribs that’s $10 a pound, it knows the weight difference, even the difference between brands.” <\/p>\n
At self-checkout, you don’t have to rescan everything individually. Instead, the cart will give you a one-time bar code.<\/p>\n
To pay via the Caper Cart, link a SNAP EBT, debit or credit card to your PriceClub Plus account before checking out. Team members also are on-site to assist with questions about scanning and payment issues. <\/p>\n
“The beauty of this is that you shop right here, bag your groceries as you go. And then you’re done,” Colallio said. <\/p>\n
![\"Caper](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/f0a776b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4030x2513+0+0\/resize\/880x549!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Ff2%2Fd6%2F2cc422554d71a079e00f4bde3041%2Fimg-2809.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Micaela Hood <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n
Shoppers at ShopRite of Bethlehem bagged their groceries while they shopped on Monday, July 7. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. \u2014 At this Lehigh Valley grocery store, operators say there’s no need to wait in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-153600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}