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Inside Amazon Go

nytimes.com

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Re: Inside Amazon Go

#81

Post by lykr0n »

chrisseaton wrote: post #65
seangrant wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle area here. All my life I remember waiting in lines 10-20 minutes if you go to a store on a busy day (fri/sat/sun). It's just simple math sometimes where there's so many people with $400+ carts trying to check out and cashiers can only scan so fast. Everyone with medium or small sized carts have to wait in this. I've seen great strides in recent years to advance self checkout technology and its user flow. Walm…

> It's just simple math sometimes where there's so many people with $400+ carts trying to check out and cashiers can only scan so fast. Everyone with medium or small sized carts have to wait in this. Why don't the customers scan the items themselves as they put them into their carts while at the shelves, rather than waiting until they get to the checkout? That's what we do where I live in the UK.

Stop n Shop in the NYC Tri-State area has this, but they are the only store that I've seen that does. I'd assume it has a technical barrier to implementation, and large-ish up front cost.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#82

Post by Kiro »

Am I the only one living in a country where most stores have self-checkout already? The comments here make it sound like it's either Amazon Go or having to pay through a cashier.

Jobs and social interaction have already been elminated by self-checkout. The revolution with Amazon Go is that you don't need to scan anything yourself, not that it removes the cashier.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#83

Post by blibble »

not entirely serious, but not entirely joking: in a world where all stores are like this; you drop your phone and it smashes, can you still buy food?

(what about people without phones?)

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#84

Post by Kiro »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #41

I know the standard reaction from a lot of HN folk will be to celebrate this progress: it's faster, more efficient, and no one likes to waste time waiting in line. Still, though, I think Amazon's automation of the retail experience is helping to create a society where there is even less real social interaction, and I think it's a factor (if even a small one currently) in the increasing tribalism in American society.…

The revolution here isn't self-checkout. In my country most stores already have that, which means all social interaction is eliminated already. So your argument is less about Amazon Go and more about self-checkout. The revolution is that you don't need to scan any items yourself or do anything at all. Just pick your items and go out.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#85

Post by tuna-piano »

freehunter wrote: post #74
tuna-piano wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're right, and I haven't seen the answer from our society yet. If you can sit at home and get things delivered (which is easier and addicting), you do miss out on different experiences (some good, some bad). You can imagine a world where many of our storefronts could empty out. If you work from home, get Amazon deliveries, go to school online, etc... what will you do and what storefronts do you need? Are b…

The example is obvious if you actually step outside your door. Anyone can get anything delivered at any time of day or year, so other than going to work, there is no need right now for anyone to leave their house, ever. But funny enough, if you go into any downtown area, any park, any waterfront, any restaurant, they're busy. Abnormally busy, based on the fact that, again, none of them have any need to be there. Turn…

Good point! Cities are doing great worldwide, and few seem like they lack people doing stuff.

But of course you don't see the people who are at home or in the suburbs (shudder). Loneliness and solitude seem to be growing as well. Maybe worst in Japan, but the problem also exists worldwide.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/asia/japanese-millennials-hiki...

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#86

Post by misterbowfinger »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #41

I know the standard reaction from a lot of HN folk will be to celebrate this progress: it's faster, more efficient, and no one likes to waste time waiting in line. Still, though, I think Amazon's automation of the retail experience is helping to create a society where there is even less real social interaction, and I think it's a factor (if even a small one currently) in the increasing tribalism in American society.…

Interesting, I saw this as the opposite. Without the existence of centralized checkouts, retailers can craft totally different experiences for shoppers. It's in their best interests to keep shoppers in stores for longer. A great example is wine tastings at Whole Foods locations - it's clearly a social event within a grocery store.

I'd say there's going to be even _more_ opportunities for social interactions at grocery stores like Amazon Go.

To your point, though, the "marketplace" you're talking about is the ambiguity between the consumer and the worker, aka Marx's point about the commodity fetish. That's something that's existed since the late 1800's, though. I don't think that's going away anytime soon.

Although I can see something similar to a farmer's market run in the same format as Amazon Go. I haven't thought through all the edge cases yet, but it feels like a solvable problem.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#87

Post by icelancer »

resu_nimda wrote: post #30
panarky wrote: post #19

There were a little over 3.5 million cashiers in the United States in 2016 — and some of their jobs may be in jeopardy if the technology behind Amazon Go eventually spreads. Why is this the knee-jerk response to technological progress? True progress isn't forcing millions of people into low-wage routine work. True progress would emancipate people from this drudgery entirely. Isaac Asimov questioned why the goal of bo…

Because the politico-economic system Asimov referred to is still intact. Our society does not use technological advances to emancipate the general populace. It would be amazing if McDonalds fully automated their stores and allowed their current employees to work one day a week for the same pay they receive now, but we both know that's not how it would work out.

>> Because the politico-economic system Asimov referred to is still intact.

And it always will be until there is stimulus to change. Government - large systems in general - don't change the other way.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#88

Post by FLUX-YOU »

yodon wrote: post #76
FLUX-YOU wrote: post #70

Attacks I'd like to try but would get picked up by the cops if I did: - Carry empty bags/containers of cheaper items in the store and place products inside these before pulling them off of the shelf. - Pull products off of the shelf and give them to a friend. Place identical empty bags/containers back to re-credit your account while your friend never has the item debited and walks out. - Drape a blanket over yourself…

Amazon has had this store open for employees to use for some time. Think of that time as a massive bug bash hacking project where really smart people are encouraged to try to find ways to wreak havoc with the system. There are undoubtedly attacks still to find but Amazon is definitely not being clueless about this.

>There are undoubtedly attacks still to find but Amazon is definitely not being clueless about this.

They likely have people watching the cameras full-time and will just report you to the cops if they see sleight-of-hand, now with identification and an address since you have to show your Amazon account when walking in. This is probably forever tenable to the bottom line since they're eliminating cashiers and security folks aren't paid that much more than cashiers anyway.

There's also probably a healthy amount of resolution and numerous camera angles that it'll be impossible for your face to not be picked up. Even using a fake account, you're still likely to have something Amazon-related installed on your phone that can be traced back to a telecom account.

And really, none the effort to avoid getting caught/traced is worth it to steal some bags of chips.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#89

Post by iandioch »

blibble wrote: post #83

not entirely serious, but not entirely joking: in a world where all stores are like this; you drop your phone and it smashes, can you still buy food? (what about people without phones?)

It looks like you need to scan in on the way into the shop. If your phone runs out of the battery, is it impossible to eat?

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#90

Post by devoply »

Kiro wrote: post #84
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #41

I know the standard reaction from a lot of HN folk will be to celebrate this progress: it's faster, more efficient, and no one likes to waste time waiting in line. Still, though, I think Amazon's automation of the retail experience is helping to create a society where there is even less real social interaction, and I think it's a factor (if even a small one currently) in the increasing tribalism in American society.…

The revolution here isn't self-checkout. In my country most stores already have that, which means all social interaction is eliminated already. So your argument is less about Amazon Go and more about self-checkout. The revolution is that you don't need to scan any items yourself or do anything at all. Just pick your items and go out.

The revolution is more about Amazon getting into grocery shopping. What they are hoping to do with this concept is to create an automated store that can be supplied via there warehouses. So that with minimum effort they can run grocery storefronts all over the United States and take over that business as well.
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