Re: Why has it been made so difficult?
Easier still would be to use the phone as the scanner and have a supermarket app that tots up the total as you go along.
I strongly suggest you read it again. To make it a bit easier on you, I quoted the relevant part below.
If you have sold your soul to Google, or given in to Apples overpriced stuff you can also install an app and do the scanning from there. If you choose the last option you can also pay directly from your cellphone.