Technology: Bellying Up to The Bar Code

It may prove to be a lifesaver for agoraphobiacs and those simply daunted by the quest for the perfect ripe tomato. ScanFone, a high-tech home-shopping and bill-paying system, is designed primarily for ordinary grocery shoppers too busy to get to the store. Introduced last week in San Francisco by Virginia- based US Order, ScanFone allows Bay Area customers to pay bills and buy their groceries using a special Touch-Tone phone, a bar-code scanner and a 6,000-item catalog from Safeway. Unlike some predecessors, including a discontinued supermarket shopping system introduced by the home-computer information network Prodigy, ScanFone is not linked to personal computers or terminals. Its cost, now $9.95 a month, is comparable to postage and gas expenses.

Each ScanFone unit, which can also function as a regular telephone, features a magnetic-stripe credit card reader and a light pen to scan bar codes. After selecting groceries, customers punch in a delivery time, run a credit card through the magnetic reader and await delivery. On the retailer's end, a computer registers the order and professional shoppers hit the aisles, instructed to select the best cuts of meat and the freshest vegetables and fruits for ScanFoners. If successful, the system is expected to serve 16 cities by June.