Page 34 - Sphere No.22 (Aug 2008)

32 SPHERE
T H E N . . . A N D N O W
Adding value
COUNTING IS one of mankind’s most basic requirements and
when the abacus was developed in ancient China several
thousand years ago it was a great technological break-
through that was later adopted by many other countries. While the
modern scanner is now used in retail establishments around the
world, the abacus can still be seen in some small shops in Hong Kong
and the Mainland.
Then... As the retail industry developed in Asia, the abacus
was gradually replaced by check out tills that were essentially
mechanised adding machines. The operator simply punched in
the price of each item and the till calculated the amount of mon-
ey the customer needed to pay.
Now... Computers play a vital part in the operation of today’s
modern supermarkets. Laser scanners read the bar code which
contains information such as the price, country of origin and
product code of each item being purchased. The modern check-
out till also performs several other functions, from monitoring
stock levels and customer loyalty programmes, to handling pay-
ments by credit and debit cards.
MAIN PHOTO: KAY YUEN; INSET PHOTO LEONARD MCCOMBE/GETTY IMAGES