Germans Can Pay By Fingerprint at Supermarkets

Customers of a German supermarket chain will soon be able to pay for their shopping by placing their finger on a scanner at the check-out, saving up to 40 seconds spent scrabbling for coins or cards, bosses say. An Edeka store in the south-west German town of Ruelzheim has piloted the technology since November and now the company plans to equip its stores across the region. "All customers need do is register once with their identity card and bank details, then they can shop straight away," store manager Roland Fitterer said. The scanner compares the shopper's fingerprint with those stored in its database along with account details. Edeka bosses said they were confident the system can not be abused. The chance of two people having the same fingerprint is about one-in-220-million.