Shanghai Street View: Self Serve Markets 沪经动向：自助市场

I remember the pride that I felt around a decade ago the first time I used a self-serve cashier at a US grocery store, where shoppers can scan their own food items and then pay for them using a credit card. The whole system was very advanced and made me feel quite high-tech; but equally important was the sense of pride I felt at the trust that such a system implied, since there was nobody there to verify that I actually scanned all my items and paid for them. Now Shanghai is looking to copy the self-service check-out concept, though in a decidedly low-tech way with very Chinese characteristics as it introduces a new string of self-serve vegetable stalls at the city’s wet markets.

After reading about this new experiment in the local newspapers, I went to check out one of the newly rolled-out self-serve stalls that have opened in the last couple of weeks at about a half dozen traditional old-style wet markets. Each of these self-serve stalls is set among traditional hawkers selling their own competing vegetables.

But unlike the traditional stalls, there was no actual person overseeing the operation when I paid a visit to the self-serve stall at the Yongchang Lantian wet market in Shanghai’s Putou district on a recent wintry day. Instead, the stall was divided into 4 simple sections: one for items costing 1 yuan, one for 2 yuan, one for 3 yuan and the last for items costing 4 yuan. Such a system was no doubt invented to make things as simple as possible for the many housewives, ayis and older, less tech-savvy folk who are the most frequent customers for this kind of market.

Within each of the four sections were pre-wrapped bundles of different kinds of vegetables, each carrying a 1, 2, 3 or 4 yuan price tag to remind the buyer of the actual cost. To complete the picture, the stall contained a big green metal box with the words “self-serve payment box”, or wuren shouhuo toubixiang, painted in white letters on the side for people to make their payments.

During my mid-afternoon visit, I was mildly surprised to find that a good portion of the items on sale, probably around three-quarters, had already sold out for the day and only a few vegetables were left in the various sections of the stall. Nearby vendors informed me that the stand had quickly become popular in the few days since it was set up, and added that most people seemed to be paying for their purchases rather than taking advantage of the self-serve format to steal them.

One older man, a retiree, told me he discovered the stall not long after it had opened a few days earlier and had quickly become a fan due to its low prices. He picked up a pre-wrapped pack of 2 carrots costing 2 yuan and held it up as an example, pointing out the same 2 carrots would cost closer to 3 yuan at one of the nearby traditional stalls.

A couple of other women on their daily shopping trip also discovered the stall after I pointed it out, and ended up buying a pack of tomatoes and happily depositing their 3 yuan coins in the box to complete their purchase. “If the whole market became like this, what a great place it would be,” said one, leaving it unclear if she was commenting on the convenience factor or perhaps the fact that people could be trusted to pay for their items without any oversight by a store employee.

Nearby stall workers were also surprisingly sanguine about this new rival in their midst, saying they welcomed the competition and saw room in the market for everyone. I also sensed that perhaps they were just slightly proud of the fact that Shanghai consumers were becoming sophisticated enough to be trusted to pay for their own purchases without the supervision of shop official.

In many ways, this new “high-tech” concept for a very old tradition represents not only a new move for Shanghai up the business ladder, but also an important step ahead for the rapid development in the ethical and professional behavior of city residents. I’m sure there must be at least a few scofflaws that take vegetables from these new stalls without paying, and I’m sure that the same thing happens at similar self-serve operations in the west.

But I also honestly hope the experiment proves successful and the city ultimately expands the concept to the hundreds of wet markets throughout the city, radically altering the face of this most traditional form of Chinese market. Such a development would reflect the growing sophistication and civility of Shanghai residents, as they seek to return their city to its place as a cutting-edge business and cultural center in Asia and the world.