Ars Technica has a "review" of the new Amazon Go Grocery store in Seattle, WA.
Apparently, the author's first thought was to engage in some petty theft, given that there are no cashiers or visible security guards.
The article is fairly verbose, with lots of photos of the crime scene store. Overall, the new store is just like the original Amazon Go stores, but with extra surveillance features.
From the Ars article:
Because Amazon Go Grocery revolves around the same creepy, watch-you-shop system found in smaller Amazon Go shops, I encourage anyone unfamiliar with the concept to rewind to my first look at Amazon Go from early 2018. Functionally, the newest store works identically. You can't enter the shop without entering your Amazon account credentials—complete with a valid payment method—into the Amazon Go app on either iOS or Android. Which, of course, means you can't enter the store without an Internet-connected smart device.
Once the app has your Amazon information, it will generate a unique QR code. Tap this onto a gated kiosk's sensor, and after a pause, a gate will open. During this brief pause, the shop's cameras capture your likeness and begin tracking your every step and action.
[...]
Where AGG differs is its selection, which is simply bigger and more diverse. Instead of limiting its healthiest options to pre-made meals, AGG goes further to include a refrigerated wall of raw meat and seafood, a massive stock of fruits, and a wall of veggies. The latter receives the same automated water-spritzing process you'd expect from a standard grocer. (See? Amazon knows how lettuce works.)
[...]
The store's massive bathroom hallway is lined with sensors and cameras, but the bathrooms themselves do not appear to have any form of camera or sensor inside them. (I didn't take photos inside the bathroom, because I'm not DrDisrespect. You'll have to trust me on that one.) The hallway also includes a little tray outside each bathroom door where customers are encouraged to put merchandise before using the facilities. I left the only other produce in my hand at that time, a single avocado, on that tray.
[...]
This moment included a dramatic turn to the bathroom's mirror, which is when a lightbulb went off in my head. I had taken off my jacket and put it into the backpack before entering the shop. Could I confuse the cameras with a wardrobe change?It sure seems like it.
[...]
Surprisingly, then, my "costume change" fooled Amazon Go Grocery. Everything I picked up before ducking into the loo was charged correctly. After that, the app clearly lost track of me, which may align with the receipt's claim of a 2-hour, 23-minute shopping trip, well above the 20 minutes I was actually there. And Amazon needed another hour and a half to conclude that I had picked up those first items, ducked into a bathroom, and then was incapacitated by a jacket-wearing madman with an identical beard and haircut. I hope they catch that guy. He might be armed—with a banana!
So, what say you Soylentils? Is this the future of grocery stores? Should the author be arrested and charged with shoplifting? Would you go into a store like this just so you don't have to deal with cashiers (human or automated)?
I encourage (against current best practices) reading TFA, as I left out quite a bit of detail and the many photos have descriptive text as well. Just a crazy thought.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 02 2020, @04:56AM (7 children)
Did he get away with the theft of a banana? He doesn't actually state that he carried the banana out of the store, but that he was NOT CHARGED for it.
No, I won't be using anything like this. Sometimes, I actually want to study the receipt. Sometimes, I even do that before I leave the store. More often, I'll look the receipt over once I'm in the car. And, sometimes, the wife looks it over after I get home, to see if I got everything I went after. Or, to determine whether I ate a box full of candy bars, and didn't share with her.
"You bought a whole box of Reese's peanut butter cups? There aren't any in these bags. Did you eat the WHOLE BOX of peanut butter cups on the way home?"
"Well, Honey, that's only twelve peanut butter cups. You make it sound like it's a lot of peanut butter and a lot of chocolate."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:20AM (4 children)
Read TFA, unless you're too busy stuffing your face with Reese's peanut butter cups and looking over your shoulder to make sure the wife isn't looking.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 02 2020, @06:11AM (3 children)
I read it. It seems that he got the banana out the door in his backpack, but he doesn't say whether he fooled the cameras. Was he charged for the banana?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @06:15AM (2 children)
Apparently, you didn't read it very well.
Here's a hint:
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Screenshot_20200225-191809_Amazon-Go-640x971.jpg [arstechnica.net]
Now go back and try again [arstechnica.com]. And stop smearing peanut butter on the keyboard!
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday March 02 2020, @10:03AM
Is it Jif peanut butter, of Gif?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 02 2020, @10:17AM
Damn, he spent 2.5 hours casing that joint.Ah, I see Amazon's surveillance is far from perfect.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Funny) by sjames on Monday March 02 2020, @10:33AM
It's a well known fact that 12 is not a lot of peanut butter cups. I'm pretty sure at least half are lost to evaporation because I certainly didn't eat that many.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:15PM
It's Seattle -- shoplifting is no longer a crime.