This past weekend, T&T Supermarket announced that they will be providing a temperature check service before customers can enter the store. This effort starting today, April 20 is to help protect customers and staff against COVID-19.
The new service coincided with my weekly T&T grocery trip so I got the opportunity to try it out first hand. The store I went to was the Osaka Supermarket (part of the T&T chain) at Park Royal in West Vancouver.
Here are a few photos and a description of my experience.
A T&T employee is stationed at the entrance of the store with an infrared thermometer. There is also another security T&T staff who directs you to the temperature scan station as you approach the store.
The process is entirely non-invasive with no physical contact. You get your forehead scanned 2 – 3 times and get an OK to go in. It’s a pass or fail sort of thing and you don’t get to find out what were your readings.
Please note that submitting to a temperature check is voluntary and is not a requirement before entering T&T.
However, it might seem a bit socially unacceptable to not get a scan as it seems most customers do want to get a check before proceeding with shopping.
T&T would be the first Canadian grocery chain to implement this service for customers. However, this practice is very common in China where supermarkets will check the temperature of customers before allowing them into the store. One difference is that grocery stores in China are allowed to decline entry to the stores if the customer refuses a temperature check.
All in all, I found T&T’s temperature check service to be well organized. It did not feel like a hassle to get my temperature checked before shopping.