Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:32 pm

John, you didn't do a good review.

The whole idea of an electronic-based shopping list is to ALSO keep track of how much each item (going to be purchased) will cost, including tax on that item when needed.

Otherwise, an electronic-based shopping list is about as helpful as cutting off your arms prior to helping someone out who is hanging on to branch on the side of a deep cliff with dragged rocks below.

So, within the Shopping List (I would conclude that the Shopping List is 'separate' / autonomous from the actual 130,000+ items avaiable) include the ability to add the cost of the item, then multiply by the quantity, add the tax, and you have the cost for that item. A programmer should deduce that a global sales tax setting would be made available, and can change for a given shopping list (lest the store be sitting on a state/county/city border wherein tax is different in different parts of the store!) As well, some states don't tax food, so the ability to set the item as taxable or not should be implemented. Both globally in the huge database and locally in the Shopping List on a per-item basis.

Include a "Budget" field for that Shopping List, denoting what limit the shopper is seeking to spend.

Then, include a "Total Cost" for all current items pending purchase along with the color codes (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) showing how close to the budget the person is getting. That is, the Total Cost would change colors as the budget is reached and/or exceeded. For Yellow, Orange and Red, perhaps being 2%, 5%, and 10% overbudget, of which each "level" percent can be set by the shopper (again, both a global default and local shopping list fields).

All this would be a waste if ther wasn't the ability to "keep" previous shopping lists to compare purchase trends. That is, what is changing in price each shopping excursion. This will help the budget-focused minded folk keep overall tabs not only on the entire shopping picture, but also the details.

Yes, this does include that when I buy a 12oz can of chicken soup on shopping trip #1, that when I buy this same product on shopping trip #2, or #22, it is flagged (yellow, orange, or red) if the price is (2%, 5%, or 10%) greater than the last time I bought it. This would allow me to reconsider that given item's purchase or a comparable brand which may be less costly.

And when I make Shopping List #23, since it knows how much I've spent recently on items, when I punch in my budget and select the items to buy, I'll have an idea what I can spend and on what items BEFORE I go shopping.

Now, *THAT* is a true app that has true IQ.

Oh, and I did I mention that this is exactly what I am developing? And, if y'all beat me in getting these features in, then we all win!

GaryN

Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:40 pm

John, you didn't do a good review.

The whole idea of an electronic-based shopping list is to ALSO keep track of how much each item (going to be purchased) will cost, including tax on that item when needed.

GaryN[/quote]

Are you kidding me. I just want a shopping list not something that I analyze like an annual budget for a Fortune 500 company.

This app sounds like a winner.

Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:45 am

I need to know if the grocery list is saved on the iPhone or out there on their system. I currently use evernote for my grocery list, but as I can't get service on my iPhone in one of the groceries I go to, the list is no good. Does anyone know how this program actually works? I would like to know before I pay $4.99 for it. Thanks Nancy

Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:51 pm

Guest wrote:

Guest wrote: I need to know if the grocery list is saved on the iPhone or out there on their system. I currently use evernote for my grocery list, but as I can't get service on my iPhone in one of the groceries I go to, the list is no good. Does anyone know how this program actually works? I would like to know before I pay $4.99 for it. Thanks Nancy The list is stored on your phone and requires no Internet access for anything. I've been using it for a couple of days now and I love it!

Thank you! I'll try it then.

Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:55 pm

I purchased Grocery IQ about two weeks ago for an iPhone 3G and was very excited about the application's promise.

I may be missing something about the best way to get started with this software, but I have been extremely disappointed with the design and usability of the product. Every time I begin to create a shopping list of items, I hit a data-entry wall after just one or two items. We probably have 750 basic Pantry List staples (Bread/English Muffins, Bread/Sourdough, Bread/Wheat Sandwhich, Can/Soup, Can Vegetables, Dry/Cereal, Dry/Flour, etc.) that we purchase over and over again each month for our household. I simply don't understand why the developers think people have the time to create their own pantry list from scratch just to begin using this software. It seems to me that this list already should be in any software product si that we can select the items to add.

The Catch-22 with the Grocery IQ product, is that you need a "cheat sheet" list of grocery items to use as a foundation for starting data entry -- otherwise you end up with random items added to your own list of Favorites. All the brand and size options are nice, but this data entry model is precisely why I want a shopping list with pantry items! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO TRY AND THINK OF ALL THESE ITEMS -- It's just way too tedious, even with predictive spell check and automated data entry! Besides, I believe, like items should be listed with last (label) name first (as in Beef/Ground rather than Ground Beef followed by Pot Roast or Chicken/Breasts rather than Chicken/Breasts separated by Whole Chicken, which would appear much further down an alphabetized list). With my way, all the beef appears together in an alphabetized shopping list and all the chicken items also appear together. This just seems most logical to me and I think it more closely replicates how most people think.

Why can't we just scroll through categorized and organized lists of items that we checkmark to add to our Favorites? It seems to me that this would be much faster and less random than merely adding the items I happen to be able to think of at the moment.

So, am I brain dead -- and simply missing something here?