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Amazon Go

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Re: Amazon Go

#341

Post by veritas20 »

DashRattlesnake wrote: post #171
kirykl wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Avoiding getting charged is an incentive to put it back in the right place that doesn't exist currently. Maybe not even where you picked up just a discard area

Honestly, that's an "incentive" that should be illegal. You should only get charged for something if you actually take it home or use it. Anything else is a cop out to push the costs of a deficient system onto the user/customer.

Interesting considering the case of hotel mini-bars. In some cases, you get charged regardless of use it. If it senses that you removed the item, you will be charged.

Re: Amazon Go

#343

Post by tgb »

Someone wrote: post #281
cobookman wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RAIN Rfid tag is < 10cents.

1% is a decent average margin in a grocery store ( http://smallbusiness.chron.com/industry-standard-gross-margi... ). So, it would require a $10 item to break even on a €0.10 tag.

I don't think you can make that conclusion. Presumably this store will be saving money on cashiers by instead using RFIDs.

Re: Amazon Go

#344

Post by pimlottc »

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #325
Merad wrote: post #86

I hate it when companies offer a "how this works" section that doesn't actually tell you a damned thing about how it works. * How does my Amazon account get associated with the items I take? * How are items detected when leaving the store? If my friend and I walk out side by side, how does it know (if it does) which items are mine and which are hers? * What happens when someone picks up an item and leaves without fir…

How it works sections aren't designed for the technically inclined user they are designed for the layman.

They don't have to get intensely technical but they could say a little more than basically, "magic".

Re: Amazon Go

#345

Post by anonbanker »

monochromatic wrote: post #314
anonbanker wrote: post #275

Thank you for this idea. I will be doing this every time I set foot in a wal-mart from this day forward. "Two pounds of ham, please. Can you slice it really thin? I have a date with the household appliance section of the store"

"I don't like the company that you wageslaves work for, so I'm going to create a big stinky mess for y'all to clean up. (And also waste some trivial amount of the company's money.)"

If this was the only tactic one could use to waste money at Walmart, then yes, it would be trivial.

Now, imagine a team of 20 people doing this, as well as numerous other tactics to waste their money, weekly at 5 locations in a city. the numbers start adding up real quick.

the wageslaves don't care. Wal-Mart pays them low enough that the company assists them with acquiring welfare benefits to supplement their incomes. Such a scheme does not ingratiate your employees to helping with loss prevention. in fact, I've had employees give me tips on how to be better at my sabotage.

(Note, this is negatively impacting my karma, and I'm enjoying every second of it)

Re: Amazon Go

#346

Post by mortenjorck »

0xfeba wrote: post #252
makecheck wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One interesting benefit of the “detect removal from shelf” concept is that there might finally be a time stamp associated with the removal of the item. Right now, if you see a random perishable item sitting on a shelf, you HAVE to throw it away because it could have been there for a long time. On the other hand, if you can see that some Frozen Peas were only taken off the shelf 2 minutes ago, you can just put them ba…

> I'm sorry but if you cost the store $25 by leaving a damned ROAST in the cereal aisle, I would be perfectly happy to never let you in the store again. Wouldn't a better solution be to charge the customer for the roast and if they complain, you explain: "sorry, you didn't put it on the proper shelf, the technology considers that as a purchase", and possibly eat the cost in the form of some incentive to come back to…

According to the cupcake example in the video, this is all in real-time, right? A much better experience would be warning the user as they go - the ham remains in their "cart" and is clearly flagged as abandoned (maybe with a push notification if they don't have the phone out, though I imagine most customers will be double-checking).

Re: Amazon Go

#347

Post by hasbroslasher »

Merad wrote: post #86

I hate it when companies offer a "how this works" section that doesn't actually tell you a damned thing about how it works. * How does my Amazon account get associated with the items I take? * How are items detected when leaving the store? If my friend and I walk out side by side, how does it know (if it does) which items are mine and which are hers? * What happens when someone picks up an item and leaves without fir…

I'd assume the sensors can do a couple things - sense your proximity to your goods (the closest) and sense the difference in time between when you leave and when your goods leave (the smallest). I'd also assume that they use logic along the lines of "your goods are those which have been closest to you (and not on the shelf) for the most time since you entered the store.

I'd assume trying to forcibly enter the store without registration will set off an alarm. I can't wait to show up with 15 of my friends and run amok in the store - it'll present an interesting legal experiment (unless they just get us for trespassing).

Re: Amazon Go

#348

Post by remarkEon »

elicash wrote: post #43

I worked at a grocery store for several years, and one thing I recall is customers CONSTANTLY putting items back in a random aisle, rather than where they found it. I wonder how this tech deals with that? Maybe they figured that out, too. But I was amused in the video when I saw the customer putting it back where it belonged, because that's not how I remember that going... All that said, this is fantastic and excitin…

Another thought I had was how it will handle multiple people filling the same "cart". Often I'm shopping with my girlfriend and, being the time-strapped millennials that we are, we'll split up the grocery list to divide and conquer and meet back up at the checkout aisle. How does this reconcile that? Would both of us have to scan in when we enter the store, or link our accounts in some fashion?

Re: Amazon Go

#349

Post by digler999 »

Declanomous wrote: post #309
cpmsmith wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, any messaging in the format "sorry, $thingYouDid, the technology considers that as $notWhatYouDid" is a recipe for customer loss.

I agree with your point, but at the same time, you should be charged the price of the food if you grab perishable food and place it in an area that renders it unsafe. I worked in retail and at theme parks, and I'm personally of the opinion that it's better for everyone in the long run if you fire entitled customers.

> if you fire entitled customers.

That would be fine in the ages before social media. Now everyone "takes to twitter" and tries to organize a social pitchfork campaign. The victimhood mentality is real. People get off on the celebrity from being wronged by a big bad corporation. It wouldn't be long before some jerk posts a video of himself leaving a roast on the cereal aisle and being '86'ed from the store, then post it straight to Youtube for all the delicious karma points. Corporate image is a big deal.

Re: Amazon Go

#350

Post by tedmiston »

jpalomaki wrote: post #224
stevenmays wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think RFID tags are too expensive to put on every product. I may be wrong on this.

Quick search on Alibaba shows that on volume these are just $0.01 each (and probably lower when you buy larger volumes). Of course sticking these to each product is inconvenient and I would assume the tags are not yet built in in most grocery product packaging. https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-Professional-ma...

Also the cost of labor and/or machines to stick them on.
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