BZ reporter Isabel Pfannkuche can simply put the products in her own pocket. Theft almost impossible Photo: Ralf Gunther
By Isabel Pancake
You won’t be asked to pay in this small supermarket! In the new Deutsche Bahn (DB) service store in Berlin’s Ostbahnhof, there are no cash registers at all.
And this is how it works: On the website www.pickandgo.24-7servicestore.de you have to register with your name and a means of payment (credit card or PayPal). For alcohol or cigarettes, the identity card must also be scanned. Then you get a QR code, which you scan at the entrance.
Before you can shop in the DB 24/7 Servicestore, you have to register online with your name and a means of payment Photo: Ralf Gunther
You can only go in alone. “But if two people go through the barrier at the same time, everything goes on one bill,” said a railway spokeswoman.
56 cameras track movements
56 cameras on the ceiling track every movement of the customer. Instead of facial recognition, the system assigns a number to the customer in the background.
56 cameras track every movement of the customers. There are also four security cameras – this is intended to rule out riots, for example Photo: Ralf Gunther
And the system also notices whether the customer puts something back or whether he actually puts it in his bag. Theft (almost) impossible!
“The cameras can also see whether I’m pressing a small or large coffee on the coffee machine,” a Bahn spokeswoman told BZ. After shopping, you simply go out – you get the receipt digitally after a maximum of an hour and the amount is debited directly .
BZ reporter Isabel Pfannkuche can simply walk out of the store with her shopping in her backpack – without a cash register or queue Photo: Ralf Gunther
The small shop with drinks, snacks, sandwiches and salads is open 24 hours a day. Currently, a maximum of seven people are allowed in at the same time. An employee monitors whether everything is running smoothly.