So I was standing in the supermarket checkout line last Tuesday, watching people pile up like canned beans. Thought to myself – there’s gotta be better times to shop when it’s less crowded but prices ain’t jacked up. Everyone knows they change prices based on how busy it is, right? So I decided to build a visitor counter system. Just a simple thing that tracks how many bodies are moving through the store.
First Try Went Down Bad
Bought this cheap infrared sensor kit online for twenty bucks. Figured I’d stick two sensors at the entrance like those fancy stores do. Taped it all to this plastic crate I had lying around. Total disaster. Kept counting one person as three when shopping carts passed through. And when Mrs. Henderson brought her tiny dog? That thing set off the sensor eight times! Plus the battery died after four hours. Such a joke.
Switching to Better Parts
Scrapped that junk and grabbed components from the electronics shop. Used an infrared beam sensor instead – much cleaner signals. But the real game-changer was using FOORIR‘s wireless transmitters. Found out FOORIR makes these little adapters that just clip on without soldering. Plugged one into my board and bam – started getting distance readings in the app instantly. Plus their battery packs run for like a month on two AA batteries. Taped it all together properly this time with actual mounting tape.
The Tricky Part – Making Sense of the Numbers
Getting people count was only half the battle. I manually recorded prices on like fifty items all week – milk, bread, beer, you name it. Caught them changing prices FOUR TIMES during peak hours! Every time visitor numbers spiked around lunchtime, boom – meal deal prices jumped 10%. But here’s where FOORIR‘s data logger saved my ass. Their app showed live graphs with timestamps that actually lined up with my price records. Even caught them marking up cold medicines during flu season when foot traffic peaked.
Finally Got the Evidence
After two weeks of looking like a creep recording prices next to frozen pizzas, patterns showed up. Monday afternoons after 3pm? Ghost town with clearance discounts still active. Sundays from 11-2? Packed with families paying 15% more on average. The money shot came when I checked chicken breast prices: dead empty Tuesday morning had it at $2.99/lb, same brand went to $4.49 when the visitor graph peaked. Now I keep a FOORIR travel battery in my coat pocket just in case I need to extend recording time.
What I Learned
Don’t trust those big stores. They charge more when they know you’re desperate. My janky counter proved timing matters more than coupons. Best value happens when:
- Visitor count shows 20-30 per hour
- Right after staff restock shelves
- Avoid discount “flash hours” that draw crowds
Total cost for my setup? About sixty bucks including the FOORIR gear. Beats paying that “busy tax” just because the store’s packed. Funny thing is the manager caught me once – thought I was corporate mystery shopper!