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from the yes-we-have-no-bananas-but-no-we-do-have-your-face dept.
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, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 02 2020, @05:01AM (12 children)
You're lucky that there are still supermarkets in your area. Most around here have closed down, along with drug stores and hardware stores. My wife does about 2/3 of her grocery shopping at either Walmart, or Dollar General, because it's a long trek to the remaining grocery stores.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:16AM (9 children)
No Krogers? You must live in some real boondock, even in po-dunk ozarks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:30AM (8 children)
No Krogers or any stores owned by them [wikipedia.org] here either. Manhattan [wikipedia.org] is such a backwater!
Moron.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:39AM (7 children)
Ok, I am a moron. Where the hell did you buy your grocery from? Piggly Wiggly?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @05:56AM (4 children)
You won't get an argument from me.
Mostly West Side Market [wmarketnyc.com]. Sometimes I go into H-Mart [hmart.com] to get their Chinese broccoli and fresh Kim-chi.
We have Fairway [fairwaymarket.com], D'agostino's [dagnyc.com], Shoprite [shoprite.com], Key Food [keyfood.com], Trader Joe's [traderjoes.com], Whole Paycheck [wholefoodsmarket.com] and others too, but they're far (subway distance) from where I live, so I generally don't bother with those.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @06:03AM (1 child)
"Whole Paycheck", eh?
You not from ozark, call me wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @06:09AM
Just an (apparently failed with you) attempt at humor [urbandictionary.com].
And no, I'm not from the Ozarks. I was born and raised in the place so nice, they named it twice.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday March 02 2020, @02:32PM (1 child)
Was that an argument? It sounded to me like a confession followed by a question.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @02:54PM
Was that an argument? It sounded to me like a confession followed by a question.
Really? I need to explain it to you? Man, I sure hope you're an ESL person. If you're not, I might have to group you with GP.
Okay. GP stated "Ok, I am a moron."
I replied that he "won't get an argument from me."
That statement, in this context, is roughly equivalent to "Yes. you are a moron. I'm glad we both agree."
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 02 2020, @06:07AM (1 child)
Various stores I have used throughout my lifetime, include Kroger's, A&P (Atlantic and Pacific) Giant Eagle, Brookshire's, Piggly Wiggly, Big A, Albertson's, Price Saver, Safeway, Food Lion, Pay Less, WalMart and Sam's, Winn-Dixie, IGA, Dollar General, Save-A-Lot, and a number of proprietor-owned small town grocers.
You specifically mentioned Piggly Wiggly, in what seems a derogatory manner. How are they any better or any worse, than any of those I have mentioned?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @06:25AM
Piggly Wiggly. Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time...
Now PayLess, their offerings taste like a cheap shoe.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @07:56AM (1 child)
I'm in Germany. I've had 7 or 8 supermarkets (ok, small markets by American standards) to get all food stuffs in a radius of about 1 mile. And then another opened up in my building, so about 1000 ft. from my house.
The city is not designed for a car. No place to park, so people don't drive so much. There are actually people walking in the street. In all these stores, most people shopping there are on foot.
On the other hand, Americans drive to end of their driveway to get the mail. You get based on how you behave - a ginormous store larger than local IKEA with parking lot to match. Yes, there are giant stores with giant parking lots in Germany too. But no one here could imagine living in a city without grocery stores like in America.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @12:52PM
That's pretty much what we have in New York City. Most people don't drive and shop at (smaller) stores closer to their homes.
What's more, starting yesterday we joined the 20th century and stores will charge for plastic bags, those fees going to buy reusable bags for low income folks.
Which is something I've been wanting to see for years, as disposable plastic bags are a pox on, well, everything and everyone.
Amaze the Soylentils with the reality that the markets near you don't even stock bags at all, so if you don't bring your own you have to carry everything in your arms.