The 'little basin' is apt because the quality/usefulness of equipment is a huge part of why it always sucks. I used a scan/pay/go system in what seemed to be a trial rollout at a major supermarket. They used your choice of a handheld scanner that lagged tremendously compared to a real scanner gun, or a smartphone app (which of course is laggy AND clunky, since you have to keep unlocking your phone and tapping some button, and waiting for it to register)... I pretty much hated it. I only used it while COVID was a big deal. They ended up pulling it and not rolling it out.