I’m naturally dubious about a lot of AI tools, but grocery shopping seemed like a place where a little digital help might come in handy. So I headed out to see whether these fancy new carts would offer real benefits or just a lot of targeted advertisements.
What are caper carts?
The carts in question are Caper Carts, which is owned by Instacart. They’re pretty large and tank-like, and kind of heavy to push.
The Caper Carts are pretty big and heavy. Credit: Jeff SomersYou need to have an account with ShopRite in order to use these carts, as they use your phone number to track your purchases; you can choose to store a credit card or other form of payment in there for convenience, but it’s not required. When you walk in the store, the Caper Carts are right there in the entrance area. When you pull one out, the screen lets you enter your phone number, then offers you a (mercifully brief) tutorial.
The welcome screen on the AI shopping cart. Credit: Jeff Somers The log-in screen Credit: Jeff SomersHow to use a Caper Cart
The first Caper Cart I selected didn’t work; nothing would scan no matter how I held things up to the scanners. This wasn’t a big deal—I let the store folks know, logged out of the cart, and grabbed another. The second cart worked perfectly.
The Caper Cart screen while shopping Credit: Jeff SomersThese carts are pretty heavy, and the second cart I used had a loose wheel which made it rumble loudly as I walked the aisles—you aren’t going to be racing these carts and jumping on for a quick glide. When I dropped an item in the cart without scanning it, the cart politely showed me a video of me placing the item (creepy) and asked if I wanted to fess up to adding something to the cart. It did, however, give me the option to declare a “personal item,” which is a solid feature.
A video pops up if you try putting an un-scanned item in the cart Credit: Jeff SomersIf you change your mind about an item, you just remove it from the cart. The Caper system will notice and remove the item from your bill.
When you’re done, you just tap “Checkout” and head to the Checkout Area.
Checking out with a Caper Cart Credit: Jeff SomersThis will be different depending on the specific store you’re in—some stores don’t have checkout lanes for the Caper Carts, but this ShopRite did. There was only one lane for Caper Carts, and I had to wait behind someone as they checked themselves out. Then I scanned a barcode on my screen with a gun and tapped my card to pay while a security guard loomed nearby, presumably to discourage folks from making a run for it.
Barcode for checking out with a Caper Cart Credit: Jeff Somers Scanning the checkout barcode on a Caper Cart Credit: Jeff SomersThe pros and cons of AI shopping carts
A few specific notes:
As noted above, the carts are pretty heavy. If you’re going to be buying a lot of groceries all at once, this could become a real workout.
Seeing your total spend add up in real time is useful, especially if you’re tracking costs. If an item costs more than expected, you see it immediately, and if the overall cost is more than anticipated you have time to adjust your selections before you hit the checkout.
Depending on how you shop for groceries, these AI shopping carts might be worth a try—but don’t expect a revolutionary experience.
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