A TikTok user has gone viral after using an unlikely payment method at a Whole Foods Market.
Lauren Saponara, 23, posted a video under her TikTok handle @laurasaponara on May 11, which shows her buying a bag of cherries at a Whole Foods Market store just by using her hand.
“I’m trying to buy these cherries at Whole Foods, and I can pay with my hand,” she said.
Saponara and another customer were shocked after the payment method was implemented, shortly before walking away from the self-checkout.
Since then, the TikToker’s video has been viewed more than 1.5 million times and nearly 700 users have left comments about the payment method.
Lauren Saponara, 23, posted a video under her TikTok handle @laurasaponara on May 11 showing her buying a bag of cherries at a Whole Foods Market store just by using her hand
Saponara and another customer were shocked to see that the payment had indeed gone through and continued to do so as they walked away from the self-checkout
The 23-year-old TikTok user claimed in her profile description that she is an Aruban currently living in California.
Saponara did not clarify which Whole Foods Market location she went to, but there are currently seven locations in Los Angeles.
While in the store, she appeared to be wearing a dark sweatshirt and purchased only a bag of Primavera Select cherries.
The TikToker then chose to pay for the item using a palmprint recognition method called Amazon One.
The website describes the feature as “a free, contactless service that allows you to use the palm of your hand to pay, enter or identify yourself.”
The only way Saponara could have used this payment method in her TikTok video was to create a profile and link it to her Amazon account.
The TikToker was able to pay for the store item with her hand and it only took her about five seconds.
The palmprint payment technology was first implemented in select Whole Foods Market stores after Amazon acquired the grocery chain for $13.7 billion in 2017.
Saponara did not clarify which Whole Foods Market location she went to. There are currently seven Whole Food Markets locations in Los Angeles, where she lives
The TikToker managed to pay with her hand via an Amazon One account. This pay-by-palm technology is currently available at every Whole Foods Market location in the US
Officials installed the pay-by-palm technology in Whole Foods Market stores near Amazon’s headquarters in 2021.
It is now one of the available payment methods at all of the supermarket chain’s US locations and will be featured in upcoming small stores.
Several TikTokers who commented on Saponara’s video were not enthusiastic about the technology, with one person writing that the payment method left them “scared and confused.”
One user, claiming to be a Whole Foods Market employee, wrote in his comment that someone “needs to fully set it up for it to work.”
Saponara responded to the user’s comments which were made after another person questioned her answer and explained what Amazon One was.
The only way Saponara could have used Amazon One is if she linked the feature to her Amazon account
Other TikTok users were surprised by the payment method. Saponara didn’t respond to many comments, but she did write a few heated responses
“As a former Whole Foods employee, I was so scared when they brought them in. I haven’t used it either,” said a TikToker.
Other users explained in their comments how Saponara was able to use Amazon One, but it continued to scare other Whole Foods Market shoppers.
“Every time I see that at Whole Foods I panic, but I’ve never tried it,” one person wrote.
A few users asked questions about the method and one person wanted to know what would happen if some palms looked alike.
However, more than one TikToker also blasted the technology as a whole instead of the pay-by-palm feature.
One person wrote: ‘I refuse to believe this happens in my universe.’