Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Just walk out” technology by Amazon

justwalkout.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 769 posts

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#201

Post by exhilaration »

superkuh wrote: post #39

As long as there's still an option for human people to pay using their own money it's fine. But if these stores only allow for corporate people to purchase items (on behalf of their customer humans (credit cards)) then it is a very unethical system and probably should be made illegal.

Oh they will, but it'll be the minimum number of checkout lanes and you'll have to wait 15 minutes in line.

That's my experience at my local Walmart. There are maybe 2-4 lanes with human cashiers (2 when it's slow, 4 when it's busier, but I've never been there at peak) and 10-15 stations for self-checkout.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#202

Post by gok »

vsskanth wrote: post #127
gok wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self checkout works ok until: 1. A customer born before 1968 or so shows up 2. The scale's state machine gets corrupted ("UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA") Both of which end up needing more retail labor than a traditional checkout line.

How would this person in case 1 feel about not knowing what they're being billed for when they walk out ?

I think just having an employee explaining "just leave, we'll send you a bill" would be pretty fast, and wouldn't hold up the queue for people who know what's going on.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#203

Post by greenshackle2 »

vsskanth wrote: post #66
reggieband wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love self-checkout and use it when available and reasonable. However, I have seen lines. It feels the same as ATMs for me. Occasionally I am waiting behind someone who just takes forever. I always wonder what they are doing, how it can take what feels like 10 minutes to do what I attempt to get done in 1 minute. Self-checkout is a bottleneck since there are a limited number of available machines. I can see efficien…

I'm surprised many people here mention lines at the self-checkout. I shop in a fairly busy Walmart and I never had to stand in line, even on Saturdays and Sundays. They have like 15 of those counters on each side.

In shops I frequent, there is usually a single line for all 3-8 self-checkout machines, but separate lines for each individual cashier.

I've noticed that the line for self-checkout is usually roughly the same length as the lines for individual cash registers, regardless of how many machines there are.

I'm not sure if people just don't like self-checkout or if they have failed to notice that the "go to the shortest line" heuristic doesn't work anymore when one of the lines moves much faster than the others.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#204

Post by zepto »

dekhn wrote: post #85
oarsinsync wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The information revolution appears to be having the opposite effect, with massive productivity gains resulting in fewer employees needed. One of the outcomes of this is that parts of the country have been 'left behind' economically. This isn't only in England, but happening in other countries too (e.g. the USA). The surge in 'nostalgic'[0] voting (Brexit and MAGA spring to mind, respectively) is one of the outcomes o…

I think in the short term, the information revolution appears similar to the industrial revolution: a category of jobs become obsolete, but long term, the economy grows, and adds many more categories of jobs.

The logic seems to be:

B followed A once before, therefore B always follows A.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#205

Post by noahtallen »

noja wrote: post #193
deanCommie wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the "lame - no wireless, less space than a nomad" take. Are the prices not listed on the individual items? Purchasers make decisions on a product by product basis, not based on the total. How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back." Sure, it happens, but it's a 0.0001% use case. edit: OK, fair play to everyone who responded and said…

> How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back." Not often, because I can look at the prices of things as I buy them. Unlike here.

In the Amazon Go stores, there are still price labels on the shelves, if I recall correctly. Nothing stopping a retailer from doing that.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#206

Post by ben174 »

noja wrote: post #193
deanCommie wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the "lame - no wireless, less space than a nomad" take. Are the prices not listed on the individual items? Purchasers make decisions on a product by product basis, not based on the total. How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back." Sure, it happens, but it's a 0.0001% use case. edit: OK, fair play to everyone who responded and said…

> How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back." Not often, because I can look at the prices of things as I buy them. Unlike here.

And how often do you stop your checkout clerk and tell them to stop scanning because you've exceeded N number of dollars? Once you've pulled your cart up to the checkout line, I'm betting you've most likely settled on what you want to buy.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#207

Post by maest »

nimblegorilla wrote: post #156
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…

> I wouldn't feel comfortable just walking out without knowing how much I'm going to be charged, so this tech is essentially useless to me. I'm sure they can make an app for that.

I am not sure they can make an app for that.

For one, there's usually a delay before you get your receipt.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#208

Post by sincerely »

deanCommie wrote: post #186
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…

This is the "lame - no wireless, less space than a nomad" take. Are the prices not listed on the individual items? Purchasers make decisions on a product by product basis, not based on the total. How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back." Sure, it happens, but it's a 0.0001% use case. edit: OK, fair play to everyone who responded and said…

>How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back."

That's a pretty common occurence for poor people. If you only have $70 and your bill comes to $72 because you did the mental math wrong you're gonna have to put something back.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#209

Post by nevir »

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…

> Combined with amazon promises that it takes only a few weeks to integrate (seriously??)

I believe it. Their new grocery was really quick to fill in (I walk by it every day, and was able to see progress while it was being built)

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#210

Post by noahtallen »

pjmorris wrote: post #191
deanCommie wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the "lame - no wireless, less space than a nomad" take. Are the prices not listed on the individual items? Purchasers make decisions on a product by product basis, not based on the total. How often are you at the checkout and say "Wait, HOW MUCH is my bill? never mind then, going to go put some things back." Sure, it happens, but it's a 0.0001% use case. edit: OK, fair play to everyone who responded and said…

I'm more concerned about whether the store system gets my order right than whether I do. What if it, e.g., mistakes a can of soda for a 12-pack? Three hundred times on the order?

I wonder if Amazon can offer some kind of good-will insurance here. Like “if our system mistakenly looses a customer money, we’ll cover it for you.”
Post reply on HN