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“Just walk out” technology by Amazon

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Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#101

Post by bnjms »

dekhn wrote: post #30
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if only most of the US labor force didn't rely on jobs in that sector...

If only manual laborers in 1850s England didn't rely on jobs that were replaced by machines (England went on to be far wealthier and provide far more opportunities to its people after the industrial revolution).

I see this all the time as the response to the argument that people rely on these jobs. The difference will be if, like England, the replacement jobs are more valuable by having greater leverage and impact. Or, as I suspect, the replacement jobs are fewer with similar or less value. I suspect we will see the latter pushing our lower classes into a tighter and lower band of incomes.

As far as I can see many of the jobs we do these days don't provide any real value. In this case cashier doesn't provide real value so good riddance. But I'm not confident we'll find ourselves in a better place in the future.

Also, somehow we undervalue manual labor with some skill and unions don't seem to work as well for non-factory/hospital/plant jobs.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#102

Post by vikramkr »

judge2020 wrote: post #82
vikramkr wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also referring to trusting amazon specifically. They're a competitor, and not one known for playing nice. I've heard that retailers are hesitant to even use AWS (I don't have a source for that and would love to hear otherwise if that's the case?) - because of competitive concerns- so will people want to work with amazon for something so core to their business?

> I've heard that retailers are hesitant to even use AWS (I don't have a source for that and would love to hear otherwise if that's the case?) - https://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-to-vendors-get-off-ama...

Oh wow so that's worse than I had heard - not just avoid AWS but also force suppliers off of AWS.

Yeah, I wonder how retailers are going to feel about amazon having a direct pipeline of purchase data at all their competitors fed directly to a division of the company that I'm sure they'll claim is sealed off from the rest of operations. Even if amazon is playing totally fairly here, I don't see why it makes sense for people to trust them with so much at risk

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#103

Post by dazc »

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #15
vessenes wrote: post #13

Seeing a few negative comments here; I think these are short-sighted in the extreme. Labor is a major cost for retail; anything that massively reduces labor costs is going to be hugely game changing. Combined with amazon promises that it takes only a few weeks to integrate (seriously??) if this works at all, this is going to be a super fast growth group at Amazon. For reference think back to how many stories you’ve r…

if only most of the US labor force didn't rely on jobs in that sector...

In the UK, many shop floor staff in supermarkets work part-time and it's been designed that way to exploit the benefit system. Very few traditional 40 hour week jobs are actually available but lots at 16 hours or so with lots of unfilled vacancies.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#104

Post by [deleted] »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #72
JohnFen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not in most (all?) online shopping scenarios But this is real-life shopping, not online. Online shopping is 100% optional. Real-life shopping is not. > Is it just because this one is Amazon and it's fun to hate on them? No, my criticisms and concerns about this would be no different regardless of what company was doing it.

>But this is real-life shopping, not online. Online shopping is 100% optional. Real-life shopping is not. What? Is someone holding a gun to your head and forcing you to go shopping? I don't understand this statement. "Real-life shopping" is just as optional as online shopping is. Hell, "real-life shopping" is more optional in this regard because you can always pay with cash and escape the aforementioned privacy conce…

[deleted]

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#105

Post by JohnFen »

Leynos wrote: post #49
JohnFen wrote: post #3

> In Just Walk Out-enabled stores, shoppers enter the store using a credit card. They don't need to download an app or create an Amazon account. But you may as well. By giving them a CC# you're allowing Amazon to spy on you anyway -- and that's not even mentioning the copious surveillance in such stores in the form of cameras and behavior detection. > If shoppers need a receipt, they can visit a kiosk in the store an…

I really wish everyone offered email receipts. They soon build up, and you spend a lot of time shredding them.

I just tell them I don't want the receipt. Then they either don't print it, or dispose of it for me.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#106

Post by egdod »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #72
JohnFen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not in most (all?) online shopping scenarios But this is real-life shopping, not online. Online shopping is 100% optional. Real-life shopping is not. > Is it just because this one is Amazon and it's fun to hate on them? No, my criticisms and concerns about this would be no different regardless of what company was doing it.

>But this is real-life shopping, not online. Online shopping is 100% optional. Real-life shopping is not. What? Is someone holding a gun to your head and forcing you to go shopping? I don't understand this statement. "Real-life shopping" is just as optional as online shopping is. Hell, "real-life shopping" is more optional in this regard because you can always pay with cash and escape the aforementioned privacy conce…

Gotta eat. Some kind of shopping is essentially non-optional unless you grow all your food.

And using cash isn’t opting out of real-life shopping, it’s just opting out of one payment method.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#107

Post by shadowgovt »

phamilton wrote: post #36
sschueller wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since petty theft is no longer prosecuted in some places what stops someone from just walking in taking what they want without paying?

The current Amazon Go stores have entrance gates that only open if you scan your app. That's not a complete deterrent, but it's something.

It's honestly a pretty good application of "trust but verify."

How does the system deter shoplifting? You can just do it.

... approximately once. ;)

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#108

Post by throwaway3157 »

thinkling wrote: post #90
nck4222 wrote: post #63

My biggest problem with this is that from what I can tell, the only way to know how much you're going to be automatically charged (as well as what items the tech thinks you're purchasing), is to go to a kiosk in the store and get a receipt. Which seems to completely defeat the convenience of just walking out in the first place. I wouldn't feel comfortable just walking out without knowing how much I'm going to be char…

When I've used to Amazon Go store, it has usually taken a while for the app to update with a receipt. Last time I went to the new, bigger store it was about an hour before they had the receipt available.

> When I've used to Amazon Go store,

My receipt was in the app shortly after (I walked about two blocks and checked). I think it took longer for an email to show up, but can't recall exactly

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#109

Post by baryphonic »

dekhn wrote: post #30
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if only most of the US labor force didn't rely on jobs in that sector...

If only manual laborers in 1850s England didn't rely on jobs that were replaced by machines (England went on to be far wealthier and provide far more opportunities to its people after the industrial revolution).

On the whole, I agree with your sentiment.

I think the one difference is that despite the 1850s UK having (some) protectionism and (loads of) imperialism, they didn't have massive bureaucracies forbidding everyone from doing everything without permission.

This is not actually a problem of technology but of governance. And we should keep in mind that this kind of improvement would make retail workers much more productive as well as the industry more sustainable.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#110

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

I hate the no people future, therefore, I hate this service. Unfortunately for me, that means nothing.

I see this service taking over, at the very least, a large percentage of the 7/11 bodega type of stores. I see a future where the corner store will return. Over the last few years, companies have gone large so they can take advantage of the economy of scale. This service will reduce labor costs and have costs fall relative to similar stores previously.

Pundits were talking about Amazon opening stores with this tech. Why bother when you can get someone else to do it while expanding your core business. Imagine this, a one-man store where I order my inventory from Amazon and have it delivered daily or close to that. They brought their multivendor Amazon model where anyone can sell online using their online tech to the real world. This is a case of most retailers playing checkers while Amazon is playing chess. Yikes.

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