Oct 10, 2006 8:58 AM, from staff and wire reports

Associated Grocers of the South is rolling out CipherLab’s CPT-8021 acoustic coupler terminals for the wholesale cooperative’s 300 member grocery stores in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Florida Panhandle. Deployment of the portable data capture units will eliminate ordering of discontinued items and streamline the ordering process.

Birmingham AL-based AG South is one of the oldest wholesale grocery store cooperatives in the United States. It handles more than 16,000 SKUs, including the private label Shurfine.

The company had been experiencing an estimated loss of more than $2 million annually in sales due to ordering of discontinued items.

AG South completed field tests with CipherLab’s terminals earlier in 2006. The rollout is now about 20 percent complete, with 50 percent of the AG South stores to have the CipherLab units by the end of 2006. Deployment of the remaining CipherLab terminals will be complete in 2007.