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Cashierless stores are popping up at gas stations, stadiums and even Dunkin':
Pretty soon you might find Amazon Go-like concepts just about everywhere.
Mastercard on Friday said it's joining the effort to create more of these kinds of cashierless stores, unveiling a platform it calls Shop Anywhere. It teamed up with retail tech company Accel Robotics to create a handful of new test concepts that let customers check into a store, grab what they want and walk out.
[...] For instance, the team created a new self-service Dunkin' store that allows people to check in at a kiosk, get doughnuts and coffee, and leave without stopping at a cashier. The store will be staffed with workers to restock items and provide customer service, but there won't be a register.
[...] The payment network pitched these concepts as more flexible than Amazon Go, with Shop Anywhere capable of going into all kinds of locations and being retrofitted into existing stores -- something Amazon Go hasn't yet done. Both Shop Anywhere and Amazon Go are powered by a series of cameras that are kitted with computer vision and AI.
Customers will no longer have to interact with proprietors or employees.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Saturday August 29 2020, @01:27AM (9 children)
Australian petrol stations tried "pay at the pump" card machines, but there were so many people driving off without oaying they took them all away.
Noe, the few places that offer cashierless fuel make you swipe your card for a default $100 purchase before the bowser will unlock. Once you've filled up, you swipe again for a refund of your the $100 minus your purchase.
Not sure the AI is going to help, unless it "recognizes" drivers or vehicles thta have been involved in thefts before...
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @01:35AM (8 children)
Wait, what? In the US you have to pay before the pump will start, either by inserting a credit/debit card or by finding the cashier and giving them cash (I assume you can get a refund if you manage to overpay... but I've never heard of someone trying to fill their tank when paying with cash). It's normal for a hold to be put on your account when the card is provided and the actual amount charged later (e.g. this happens for tips at restaurants as well). I guess cards must work differently there if a second swipe is required to finalize the amount.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday August 29 2020, @02:08AM (1 child)
A second swipe is not required. There's one near me that I regularly use because it's usually several cents/litre cheaper than manned stations. You insert the card (chip cards), key in the amount, and remove the card. The pump stops at what you keyed. If you stop earlier it only charges the card for how much you dispensed.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday August 29 2020, @04:16AM
That's how it works here in Ontario Canada.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @02:10AM (1 child)
In the US, you're not "paying" yet when you swipe your card at the pump to start the process - you incur a hold of like $100 that clears in a few days. Once the pump turns off again, the purchase goes through on the card.
If you pay inside with cash, you hand money to the cashier who then turns on the pump, which will automatically stop dispensing once the deposit has been used up. If you didn't use all, you get your change from the cashier.
As for people driving off, I think the industry has made arrangements with the state governments to cancel their driving licenses.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday August 29 2020, @06:22AM
Pay-at-pump card payments work just the same in the UK. But if you plan to pay at the cashier's desk, the cashier activates the pump remotely (once they're happy that numberplate cameras have noted your car's details, in case of a drive-off).
Oh, and service pumps are practically unheard of here: it's all self-serve.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 29 2020, @04:22AM (3 children)
I've done exactly that, often. Tell the cashier I want to fill up, I think it will take about $40, hand her the money, then pump. I can't overfill, as she has set it to shut off at $40. I end up pumping $32 or $36 or even $39.50, she cheerfully gives me the change.
I recently did the same using a credit card. Driving a different vehicle at the time, and the pump wouldn't read my card. Went inside, and paid in advance. Because I was annoyed and distracted, I told cashier it would probably take about $40 to fill up - but this vehicle has a smaller tank. $25 filled it up, so I went inside to ask for my change. Cashier informed me that the transaction would only take the $25 that I actually pumped, I was getting no change back. I watched the account until that transaction showed up, and she was right.
Ehhh - whatever works, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:32AM (2 children)
> I recently did the same using a credit card.
Man, things take awhile to get to Arkansas. I think I did that transaction, for the first time, about 40 years ago(??) So long ago that it's hard to remember where it might have been. Probably using a carbon-less credit card multi-part-form and a card imprinter, before mag stripe readers were common. I'm in the Great Lakes area.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @06:52PM
Until relatively recently, I never used a card at gas stations. Now though, the 10c/g surcharge for credit has disappeared nearly universally, and the pumps at most places have been replaced with more physically secure models, so I do it way more often.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:06PM
It's the drawl.
Washington DC delenda est.