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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @12:20PM (5 children)
I investigated that and AmazonFresh is outrageously expensive. Especially as compared with FreshDirect [freshdirect.com] or PeaPod [peapod.com].
I'd note that FreshDirect has no stores, so you don't have customers pawing the produce, then putting it back on the shelves before they pack it up and deliver it to you like they do with PeaPod (Stop & Shop).
What's more, given the lack of benefits afforded Amazon employees, it's unlikely that something like Coronavirus would stop them from coming to work, since taking a sick day probably means getting fired.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Monday March 02 2020, @01:15PM (4 children)
I was joking a bit, and I do not use AmazonFresh. Let me put some actual thought into it.
You would think that replacing a B&M store with a warehouse would reduce costs. Streamlined, no customers to deal with, maybe no/low air conditioning except for fresh/frozen food storage, larger than a supermarket, better use of the volume than a Sam's/Costco, etc. There is a cost associated with delivering to the customer, and Amazon and others are looking at using driverless vehicles and drones to lower the cost. You could actually have both at once (driverless van with drones going the last mile), and driverless trucks could be used to ship products to warehouses (eliminating truck drivers and reducing those costs by 35-50%).
Amazon is mistreating its warehouse workers, but it is also looking to replace them with robots:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-automation-exclusive/exclusive-amazon-rolls-out-machines-that-pack-orders-and-replace-jobs-idUSKCN1SJ0X1 [reuters.com]
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/1/18526092/amazon-warehouse-robotics-automation-ai-10-years-away [theverge.com]
It will take a while to complete (10+ years), and it probably won't be perfect, but that is the endgame. There will be a reduction of the amount of people handling goods and produce, and UV irradiation could be used to kill viruses on the surface of foods at several points in the chain.
Amazon Go in Seattle, Washington may have less employees than a typical store, but it still has infected coofers hanging around. The first two U.S. coronavirus deaths [businessinsider.com] are in the Seattle area. It is past time to have obtained your 50 lbs of rice and beans if you live there.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @02:04PM (1 child)
Pacific northwester here. Yes, covid-19 is live and local. In fact my son's wife worked shift in the hospital where first death happened. They called and asked me (high-risk age-group) not to visit them for a few weeks. Thus far all quarantines have been voluntary.
There is still rice to be had here, although the stores have been mobbed (and shelves decimated) for the past few days.
The latest news here is that virus seems to have been active in this region for the past six weeks - give or take - and many have already survived it.
My "on-topic" comment is merely to point out that vending machines have no heart, and a store devoid of human operators might likewise be lacking in humanity (in the sense of spontaneous acts of charity).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @02:46PM
There are a couple (one confirmed, one pending test results, but the second person traveled with the first to Iran, where she presumably was infected) cases here in NYC too. No deaths so far, and the local news reports [ny1.com] that the confirmed case is quarantined in her Manhattan apartment.
Given that Manhattan [wikipedia.org] is the most densely populated county (26,821.6/km2) in the US, it's almost a given that there will be more cases.
More details about the virus in NYC and its response can be found here. [ny1.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @02:38PM
I *do* use FreshDirect. For some things. Their protein selection is much superior to that of the Westside Market near me. Also, their produce is generally better (for the reasons I stated above). Also, it's nice for them to deliver bulky stuff like a dozen rolls of toilet paper or 8-10 rolls of paper towels (note that I live in NYC, and not only don't I own a car, owning one is incredibly expensive for the amount I'd actually need to use it).
For most other stuff I shop at my local supermarket, which has a great selection of coffee, cheese, cold-cuts, prepared foods and staples at quite reasonable (for NYC) prices. Their produce isn't too bad either and I do purchase fruits and vegetables there, and they do have a broader selection than FreshDirect of the stuff I like, but they don't sell chinese broccoli. However, when I'm ordering proteins from FD, I'll also order fruits and veggies too. And, if I order in the morning, they'll generally deliver it the same day and hump it up three flights of stairs to my apartment door -- which Amazon's delivery partners most certainly *won't*.
AmazonFresh is a distant also-ran for that stuff, even with their acquisition of Whole Foods. I also hate how they (across all Amazon units) manipulate prices so that if you buy something a couple times, they jack up the price 30-70%, then when you don't buy it they slowly ramp the price back down. I got your price elasticity right here, scumbags.
As for replacing humans with robots and driverless vehicles, that's a ways down the road, as Tim Harford discusses here [c-span.org]. It's an interesting talk and likely an even more interesting book.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02 2020, @03:07PM
I forgot to mention that FreshDirect dispatches refrigerated trucks to areas where the orders are. Given that Manhattan (as I mentioned in another post on a different topic) is the most densely populated county in the US, they can generally fill up the trucks and then spend the day delivering to the customers within walking distance of the trucks.
FreshDirect also adds a delivery charge and a fuel surcharge to all deliveries to defray the costs of deliveries.