New Sam’s Club stores have a useful feature for people who are in a hurry, or who dislike human interaction. Instead of taking your cart to a cashier at the end of your shopping trip, you can scan items with your mobile phone before putting them in your cart, then check out on your phone as well.

This works in a warehouse club because of its ever-present receipt checkers, since an employee will check your work whether you used a cashier or used smartphone self-checkout. The feature is available at the Longmont, CO store that opened at the end of June, and will also be available at the Columbia, SC store that will open on July 21.

All stores also offer in-store pickup of orders placed online, evidently part of a plan to make shopping at Sam’s as convenient as possible. Will that be enough to attract disgruntled Costco members upset about the credit card transition?

What Sam’s Club really wants are the upper-middle-class shoppers who are attached to those smartphones. Sam’s Club parent company Walmart also wants shoppers walking around glued to their phones, offering a variety of services in its store app that customers can use at home and in stores, from prescription refills to payments at the checkout.

(via Chain Store Age)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.