Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock(LONDON) — A grocery store in the UK has become the first-ever to let customers pay by having them give the finger — their pointer finger, that is, not its naughty neighbor.
Customers at the Costcutter store in London can present their fingertip for a scan, and the unique vein pattern inside each of our fingers can be used to identify each shopper and charge their accounts accordingly.
Incidentally, these are the same veins that are scanned with those fingertip devices your doctor might have clipped on your digit during your last checkup.
In that case, light is used to scan the veins for oxygen saturation; in this case, they’re used as a fool-proof form of ID, a biometric link to your bank account.
The firm that is backing the store’s scanners, Sthaler, is looking to expand the service “across thousands of stores,” according to The Telegraph. The company said it is in “serious talks” with other major UK supermarkets to adopt hi-tech finger scanners at pay points across thousands of stores.
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