Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 22 2018, @03:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the ripe-for-hacking dept.

Amazon Go is a go:

The first clue that there's something unusual about Amazon's store of the future hits you right at the front door. It feels as if you are entering a subway station. A row of gates guard the entrance to the store, known as Amazon Go, allowing in only people with the store's smartphone app.

Inside is an 1,800-square foot mini-market packed with shelves of food that you can find in a lot of other convenience stores — soda, potato chips, ketchup. It also has some food usually found at Whole Foods, the supermarket chain that Amazon owns.

But the technology that is also inside, mostly tucked away out of sight, enables a shopping experience like no other. There are no cashiers or registers anywhere. Shoppers leave the store through those same gates, without pausing to pull out a credit card. Their Amazon account automatically gets charged for what they take out the door.

[...] There were a little over 3.5 million cashiers in the United States in 2016 — and some of their jobs may be in jeopardy if the technology behind Amazon Go eventually spreads. For now, Amazon says its technology simply changes the role of employees — the same way it describes the impact of automation on its warehouse workers.

Also at TechCrunch.

Previously: Amazon Go: It's Like Shoplifting


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday January 22 2018, @03:32PM (15 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 22 2018, @03:32PM (#626100)

    This has come up in discussion before, its a very "white privilege" type of experience where it'll do great in my rich suburban white suburb demographic but not so practical for the rest of the world. Think of the kind of place where they couldn't keep pay phones working, or they'd be too trashed to use. Or the kind of place where the bus stops can't be used because they're too dangerous and filthy. Kinda like the car sharing apps which assume you and your neighbors are a civilized ultra-monoculture of shared values of respect for property and cleanliness, thats nice, but plenty of places not so much...

    Also its very modern app in the built in assumption that people are atomized isolated urban hipsters who have no family other than maybe a dog as a child substitute. Its for those friendless childless PBR drinkers, not 99% of the population. My wife and kid and I walk into a store, each with separate amazon accounts, and we shop together. Amazon bills us how? Its implied built into the DNA of the product itself its only for urban isolated alienated trust fund baby hipsters.

    some of their jobs may be in jeopardy

    Mostly from the normal death of retail. The nice legacy mall is losing its Sears and JCPenny this year.

    I suspect we'll be hiring guards as income inequality increases. Less customer service, more property protection.

    My wife was watching some hopelessly progressive hipster travel show on PBS the mythtv had recorded some weeks ago. Apparently there exists a restaurant that bills people based solely on how long they sit there, which is an interesting hack. I'm intrigued by the idea of a literal hardware store (not appliance store, not lunberyard, a place that sells literal hardware aka screws and nuts) where they bill you by the pound carried out the store.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Offtopic=1, Interesting=2, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday January 22 2018, @03:51PM (13 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday January 22 2018, @03:51PM (#626106) Journal

    We should compare it to ALDI. ALDI does some cheap shit like requiring you to insert a quarter to unlock a shopping cart. And they have streamlined their selection of goods and sell their store brands at rock bottom prices. The cashiers are expected to do any job in the store, like stocking shelves.

    Now you have Amazon creating a store where there is no cashier job, only restocking for the most part. Wait times for the customers are less, and there's no wrangling over coupons at customer service (ALDI also has no coupons).

    This is an experiment for Amazon, but it could lead to a real reduction in the cost of running a supermarket. Keep in mind that Walmart and Kroger are also experimenting with "Scan & Go" programs [soylentnews.org] that are similar to this one. Those programs use an app on your smartphone, so it is also a way to monetize the customer by tracking their habits and selling the data. Walmart is also experimenting with shelf-scanning robots [soylentnews.org] that could make restocking a little easier.

    Will these developments lead to lower prices on items, like ALDI has done (and yes, they do have a security guard at ALDI)? That remains to be seen. But they sure could put some people out of work at least. Walmart now sees Amazon as its biggest competitor and is competing on multiple fronts by offering free two-day shipping [soylentnews.org], grocery shipping, same-day delivery, delivery to the fridge [soylentnews.org], voice ordering [soylentnews.org] (see Alexa), and a similar experience to Amazon Go with the "Scan & Go" app. So Amazon may not have you convinced but Walmart is on board.

    (Target is also going to try same-day delivery. [soylentnews.org])

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @04:01PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @04:01PM (#626111)

      This store is also a privacy nightmare, where the option of paying cash doesn't even exist. At least I have the option of paying with cash in other stores, even if many fools sell out their privacy for convenience. This 'cashless store' (or worse: cashless society) nonsense needs to be nipped in the bud, because it's every authoritarian's wet dream.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @05:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @05:16PM (#626140)

        ID for everything!!! We must punish and abuse all people for the crimes of the few!

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by shrewdsheep on Monday January 22 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)

      by shrewdsheep (5215) on Monday January 22 2018, @04:20PM (#626119)

      This is an experiment for Amazon, but it could lead to a real reduction in the cost of running a supermarket.

      Now, that you bring up ALDI. I read somewhere that the personnel cost is roughly 3-5% in supermarkets. I believe that the amortization cost of the all new amazon go and friends will allow ALDI-like supermarkets to compete for a long time. For some time (maybe 5 years) personnel will also still be cheaper. After that, yes, real competition but it will be high tech vs. very robust low tech at a margin of say 2-3%.
       

      • (Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday January 23 2018, @03:18AM

        by arslan (3462) on Tuesday January 23 2018, @03:18AM (#626405)

        If you look at it purely from a single market sector, then yea. In Amazon's case, the experience extends to complement their other market sector. For those that opt a digital lifestyle, it is an interesting proposition where you a singular seamless experience across various aspects of that digital lifestyle from entertainment, groceries, retail, etc.

        Not sure what ALDI/Walmart does besides the supermarket business.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday January 22 2018, @05:35PM (5 children)

      by frojack (1554) on Monday January 22 2018, @05:35PM (#626146) Journal

      Those programs use an app on your smartphone, so it is also a way to monetize the customer by tracking their habits and selling the data.

      Chuckle.

      1) Tracking has been going on for decades. A recall on a food item that occurred 8 years ago was followed by an email from Visa (credit card company) because we had purchased that item at a local store. The email told us date and time and store that we purchased from and urged us to return it for a full refund.

      2) Nobody cares that you like Caraway Rye read or Ranch dressing. There's no money to be made by selling those facts.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 22 2018, @05:50PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday January 22 2018, @05:50PM (#626154) Journal

        Not all customer data is created equal. And those smartphone apps sure ask for a lot of permissions...

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Monday January 22 2018, @06:07PM (2 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday January 22 2018, @06:07PM (#626160)

        2) Nobody cares that you like Caraway Rye read or Ranch dressing. There's no money to be made by selling those facts.

        Why not? Companies selling rye bread or ranch dressing can use that info for targeted advertising: they can advertise their competing brand of dressing to you in an effort to get you to try it, because they know that you already like ranch dressing, whereas they can *not* advertise to me, because my data shows that I never buy ranch dressing so it's probably a waste of money to show me an ad for it, instead of, say, Earl Grey tea, which I do buy.

      • (Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Monday January 22 2018, @07:48PM

        by The Archon V2.0 (3887) on Monday January 22 2018, @07:48PM (#626201)

        > Nobody cares that you like Caraway Rye read or Ranch dressing. There's no money to be made by selling those facts.

        Yep, I can't see any use for knowing your customers are pregnant before their own families do.

        https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/ [forbes.com]

        "... we found out that as long as a pregnant woman thinks she hasn’t been spied on, she’ll use the coupons. She just assumes that everyone else on her block got the same mailer for diapers and cribs. As long as we don’t spook her, it works."

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday January 22 2018, @07:16PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday January 22 2018, @07:16PM (#626192)

      > ALDI does some cheap shit like requiring you to insert a quarter to unlock a shopping cart.

      Reduces the number of teens hired to shuffle carts around, and therefore saves money, and the frustration of customers who find a cart where they need it, not in the middle of the parking row blocking two spots.
      Pretty standard fare in France, and probaby in Germany where Aldi is based.
      If European labor was cheap, or Europeans were more respectful of property, that wouldn't be worth the annoyance.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @12:00PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @12:00PM (#626521)

      ALDI does some cheap shit like requiring you to insert a quarter to unlock a shopping cart.

      No you turd. They do it because of assholes that don't return the shit to proper place. So they charge them a quarter if they don't.

      Fix society and we don't need to put quarters or dollars or euros into shopping carts.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @03:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 22 2018, @03:52PM (#626107)

    Some seem's as if the elites on the grapevine are discussing some sort of rumor about you. Let me check what sort of rumor this is. Wow! It's a dark rumor. To be precise, It's a super ultra mega calooby extremyoly of the whisp dark rumor! I wonder what the contents are, and I wonder why everyone on the grapevine is laughing? Let's see...

    Hahahahahahaahhahahahaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! What a revealing rumor indeed! It's from... Komen Bryce himself, the God of Computers! Hahahahahhahahahahaahha! I can't stop laughing whenever I see your name. It says this: "VLM is misign a few gigabits on his puter and he doesnt purposly disable the fan on his GPU to overheat it... bai2u... _>"

    Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Such a fuckin' thing! Your true power has been revealed, and it is truly worthless! You are nothing! You are toxic! You need to vanish from existence! The very concept of someone such as yourself existing needs to be erased. Vanish from existence you fuckin' eyesore!