# I picked up some items at Sears today & the clerk checked me out with an 18 year old Palm Pilot! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033 "2017-04-23T01:21:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/1 "2017-04-23T01:21:41Z")
I was picking up some items I ordered online at Sears this afternoon and as the warehouse clerk handed me the items at the pickup kiosk he entered a few details into his handheld scanner PDA style device. I glanced at it and had a double take. It was an old school monochrome [Palm IIIX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_IIIx)enclosed in a protective plastic housing. It kind of looked [like this device.](https://www.barcodesinc.com/symbol/spt1700.htm) I asked him about it and he indicated it was indeed a Palm Pilot. He said that parts were getting harder to get but they were still using them. It was real blast from the past. Sears is getting it’s moneys worth out of those things after 18 years! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/2 "2017-04-23T01:40:13Z")
I’m more stunned by a working SEARS than I am by a working Palm Pilot. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/3 "2017-04-23T03:23:58Z")
As the POS systems die, they have to close stores. It’s starting to make sense now… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/4 "2017-04-23T03:30:42Z")
Love my Palm IIIxe as an ereader. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/5 "2017-04-23T03:49:28Z")
Sears went out of business 15 years ago, and their stores are all shut down. You were in a time warp. In more extreme cases, shoppers at Sears are being served by associates wearing leisure suits. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/6 "2017-04-25T01:59:17Z")
My anachronistic check out experience: I occasionally grab take out pizza from a small business restaurant. I swear the cash register is a 1970s era adding machine. The one inch wide receipt displays only numbers and dollar signs…no name of the business…no words. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/7 "2017-04-25T04:02:14Z")
I rented a car from Avis last week and commented to the CSR that I was surprised they didn’t have card scanners as he was typing in my DL data. He turned the screen around showing me the DOS based application he was using to rent me a jeep. Pretty sure it was at least 25 years old. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/8 "2017-04-25T04:44:39Z")
If it ain’t broke, don’t need to fix it. Until your last Palm IIIx dies. Then you need to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/9 "2017-04-25T11:25:43Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Love my Palm IIIxe as an ereader. I used PDAs for ebook readers for years, but used Handspring Visor models. Got them cheap on Ebay years after they were obsolete as PDAs (including group lots of broken units, which I would swap parts between to build working units.) I moved on to “real” ebook readers once they broke the $200 level, but I still have the Visors around–probably at least 10 of them of various models working, plus various parts of several more. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/10 "2017-04-25T12:14:23Z")
When I worked in local government, one of the tenders for a new system (for health and safety checks on playground equipment) was a PalmOS spplication - this was only a few years ago - and the platform was already obsolete then. The vendor suggested that we buy a fleet of random used Palm devices on eBay (or they could source used devices on our behalf, as a chargeable service - probably also just buying them on eBay). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/11 "2017-04-25T12:53:51Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I rented a car from Avis last week and commented to the CSR that I was surprised they didn’t have card scanners as he was typing in my DL data. > > He turned the screen around showing me the DOS based application he was using to rent me a jeep. Pretty sure it was at least 25 years old. And the dot matrix printers! Last big trip encountered them twice: once at the airport gate and the 2nd at the car rental place. I keep and use old electronics/computer stuff years longer than most people. But even I ditched our dot matrix printer at least 20 years ago. (OTOH, still have half a big box of perforated printer paper. Use it for scratch paper when I remember to.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/12 "2017-04-25T13:11:37Z")
Dot matrix printers are still in production - there’s a niche where they are still used for printing multi-part NCR invoices and forms - where the customer signs something and the sheets are then all separated. There’s still a bit of that around, so still a demand for new dot matrix printers - Lexmark has one that can be connected to a network ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/13 "2017-04-25T15:00:28Z")
Yes, I saw a dot matrix printer just a few days ago at a Delta Airlines departures gate in Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/14 "2017-04-25T15:06:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There’s still a bit of that around, so still a demand for new dot matrix printers - Lexmark has one that can be connected to a network Yep, they are still being used by various systems to record alarms (like on ships). For these applications, it needs to print one line with a time, a system, and a alarm code on it. Then sit there for 30 minutes and print one line again. Perfect for a continuous feed dot matrix printer. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/15 "2017-04-25T16:05:31Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > If it ain’t broke, don’t need to fix it. > > Until your last Palm IIIx dies. Then you need to fix it. Or get a new one at KMart. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-picked-up-some-items-at-sears-today-the-clerk-checked-me-out-with-an-18-year-old-palm-pilot/785033/16 "2017-04-25T16:08:19Z")
Ooh, I remember developing custom software for the Symbol Palm scanners! They were nifty little machines.