“Just walk out” technology by Amazon

Post by laughinghan » Tue, Mar 10, 2020, 5:41 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #645

CurrentB wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you close your eyes and visualize a grocery store experience where you put stuff directly into your tote bags or your backpack and walk right out, with 0 time spent on anything after you have everything you need, this doesn't seem like something completely beyond self-checkout to you? I've used plenty of self checkout lanes too and it's roughly the same satisfaction as going in a cashier lane. It's still X + Y…

What is stopping you from doing this and just not paying at all?

Post by laughinghan » Tue, Mar 10, 2020, 5:45 AM UTC

_8j50 wrote: post #640

Damn shame how there are no laws to regulate this sort of a thing. The obvious convenience means this tech will be the norm. Is it better to live in a society where my movement being tracked is the only way to buy groceries compared to a third world country where I barely survive? I don't know, but it truly is remarkable how technology has ruined even the most basic human freedoms and dignity. The more I look at new…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 10, 2020, 5:55 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #642

dosethree wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where’s the evidence anyone will actually use this thing? Maybe eventually. You can already do this at apple, but does anyone do it? Perhaps, they will get used to it in time, but i don’t know.

Looking at the status of American retail, not a chance. We put chips in credit cards 20 years too late, and to this day in major metro cities plenty of name brand stores have a little scrap of paper taped to the card reader telling you to swipe. No one likes chip readers unless you have a fetish for security, they are slow and fail before the rest of the credit card. Swiping is instant and works with the scrappiest o…

Post by asdff » Tue, Mar 10, 2020, 5:57 AM UTC

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #498

dcolkitt wrote: post #430

Here's an off the wall idea. This technology could be used in airport bathrooms to enforce hand washing during a pandemic. It's well established that hand washing, or lack thereof, in an airport setting can supercharge the global spread of disease. The spread of coronavirus could be reduced by up to 60% by consistent handwashing[1] by air travelers. This tech could flag people who walk out of the bathroom without sto…

Yeah and what happens when a false negative happens and you get an embarrassing unjustified alarm?

Post by asdff » Tue, Mar 10, 2020, 5:59 AM UTC

smoyer wrote: post #25

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…

Another major cost in retail is "loss" ... I can see this being pretty effective at loss prevention and coupon fraud (even my small town grocery store require an associate to visit the self-check kiosks if a customer has a coupon).