Inside Amazon Go • Hacker News Board

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#231

Post by thatfunkymunki » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:41 AM UTC

silveira wrote: post #187

samwillis wrote: post #169

Waitrose in the UK has had something called "Quick Check" for maybe the last 10 years. On the way into the store, you swipe your "My Waitrose" card and collect a barcode scanner. You then scan and bag everything on the way around and return your scanner to a dedicated terminal (which generally have no queue) and very quickly pay. More recently they added the ability to use your smartphone as the scanner so that you d…

Costco had something like that a few years ago. It would not save much time because in the end someone would need to check if you were not stealing anything. After maybe less than a year in operation they returned to old cashiers.

That's because Costco has an awfully consumer hostile policy of accusing every customer of theft as they exit the warehouse. I absolutely can't stand being accused of crime in this manner.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#232

Post by rtkwe » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:46 AM UTC

Tiktaalik wrote: post #125

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?)

This is totally a real problem. I just celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday. She still lives independently and regularly goes shopping. She doesn't own a mobile phone, let alone a smart phone. In a world where services that require phones are dominant, choice narrows for elderly and low income persons.

There's a lot of ways around the broken/lost/phone-less populations in a system like this. The phone doesn't really do any more than provide the initial authentication and receipt delivery. If these really took off and started replacing normal systems it'd be really easy to add a receipt printer and to add a card reader for a 'members card' that does the same thing as the QR code on the phone.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#233

Post by dingo_bat » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:50 AM UTC

Get ready for some insanity in the next decade as this tech is adopted by walmart. https://i.redd.it/shbv27xwmzoy.png

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#234

Post by perseusprime11 » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:51 AM UTC

samwillis wrote: post #169

Waitrose in the UK has had something called "Quick Check" for maybe the last 10 years. On the way into the store, you swipe your "My Waitrose" card and collect a barcode scanner. You then scan and bag everything on the way around and return your scanner to a dedicated terminal (which generally have no queue) and very quickly pay. More recently they added the ability to use your smartphone as the scanner so that you d…

What happens when you bag something without scanning?

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#235

Post by syshum » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:53 AM UTC

anilshanbhag wrote: post #205

samwillis wrote: post #169

Waitrose in the UK has had something called "Quick Check" for maybe the last 10 years. On the way into the store, you swipe your "My Waitrose" card and collect a barcode scanner. You then scan and bag everything on the way around and return your scanner to a dedicated terminal (which generally have no queue) and very quickly pay. More recently they added the ability to use your smartphone as the scanner so that you d…

The system will not work in many places. It is based on honor code i.e, no body will take an item without scanning it. Most supermarkets have razor thin margins - add theft and they will not be able to make money.

Anyone in Retail Loss Prevention will tell you the Front Door is not where the Loss is, The Loss is going out the back door i.e employee theft.

As to "Razor Thin Margins" that relative, Walmart got in to Groceries because they could make more money then when they were just a General Goods Store. While the per item margin might be slightly lower than General Goods the volumes are WAY higher thus making it over all more profitable. That also means loss is actually less impactful

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#236

Post by syshum » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:55 AM UTC

silveira wrote: post #187

samwillis wrote: post #169

Waitrose in the UK has had something called "Quick Check" for maybe the last 10 years. On the way into the store, you swipe your "My Waitrose" card and collect a barcode scanner. You then scan and bag everything on the way around and return your scanner to a dedicated terminal (which generally have no queue) and very quickly pay. More recently they added the ability to use your smartphone as the scanner so that you d…

Costco had something like that a few years ago. It would not save much time because in the end someone would need to check if you were not stealing anything. After maybe less than a year in operation they returned to old cashiers.

Maybe Costco should try not treating people that paid for the "privilege" of shopping there like they were criminals..

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#237

Post by hn_throw3 » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 2:56 AM UTC

melq wrote: post #129

hn_throw2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but it's completely unclear how nice chats do anything to resolve "American tribalism", or, more pertinently, why it's the responsibility of marketplace owners to generate squares of social interaction at all. Even if this slight increase in social interaction did anything ("cash or credit?" -- "Credit, ma'am"), that's as ridiculous as fixing race conditions with sleep() calls (hehe, race conditions).

Nice chats don't have to resolve 'American tribalism' to be worthwhile.

Sure, they might be worthwhile in isolation, but the context from the GGP was that they're worthwhile enough to worry about Amazon Go (by being a valuable source of interpersonal contact during times of "increasing tribalism").

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#238

Post by hn_throw3 » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 3:00 AM UTC

1024core wrote: post #128

hn_throw2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but it's completely unclear how nice chats do anything to resolve "American tribalism", or, more pertinently, why it's the responsibility of marketplace owners to generate squares of social interaction at all. Even if this slight increase in social interaction did anything ("cash or credit?" -- "Credit, ma'am"), that's as ridiculous as fixing race conditions with sleep() calls (hehe, race conditions).

Why use a throwaway account? But to answer your comment: the comment was not about the chit-chat with the cashier, but other people in the line.

I am genuinely afraid of any even modestly political claim being publicly attached to me ("it's not the marketplace owner's responsibility" has a libertarian flavor to it).

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#239

Post by dingo_bat » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 3:01 AM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #82

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.

It's not about self checkout, its about no checkout. I get really irritated when stores try to outsource their work to me. If I'm going to be scanning items myself, they better pay me for it. Ditto with restaurants expecting me to clean their table up after eating.

Re: Inside Amazon Go

#240

Post by hbosch » Mon, Jan 22, 2018, 3:04 AM UTC

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?)

You need an Amazon account just to get in the door. I imagine the group of people with Amazon accounts and without cellphones is small enough to ignore.