Instead of a checkout place..payment could be made right from the hand held scanner/pda while you sit in the store's cafe sipping on a soda. Let all those young jocks do all the physical labor and earn their wages. We pay, why do we have to do all the work?

You could also scan any coupons you might have and turn them in when you pick up your order.

The store could be in a U shape, enter, shop, exit through warehouse. If you like to choose your own meat cuts,,it could be the last stop and the butcher can put it on a conveyor into the warehouse to be added to your order.

This probably works for people who don't cook and buy standardized commercially prepared foods but I pick my produce and meat carefully with close hands on the effort.

Sorry, Laura, I'm not a fan of your idea. It may work for you, but I think:

1. people are often the most expensive part of any business. This would add to the overhead immensly, so the cost would rise proportionately.

2. This is not a job that I would want and I can't imagine many people that would. If you'll notice, the high-school kids today want to jobs that don't involve physical work. That's why we have such a demand for illegal Mexicans. Actually, you could design a pick-robot that could do this work too. $$$.

3. Minimum-wage type service work is not rewarding to a local economy--it doesn't bring money to a community. Cities and towns need to put emphasis and people into jobs that bring-in money from outside, from far away. That's where prosperity comes from. This used to be manufacturing, but it can be software, telephone services, etc.

4. I can already call a company called Schwans that will bring a truck full of grocieries that I picked to my door once a week. It's really expensive and nothing that I want. Mostly frozen food. I like produce that I can see first.