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“Just walk out” technology by Amazon

justwalkout.com

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Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#741

From TFA: >Shoppers can think of this as similar to typical security camera footage. Great. Now they know not just what I bought, but also what I browsed as I was walking through the store. How long is this footage going to be stored for, and who is it going to be sold to? If there's a crime of happenstance around the store, will everyone who purchased (or looked at purchasing) the item used in the commission of the…

Are you really going to steal from a store that requires you to sign your credit card and surveils you throughout the shopping process? If anything I could see significant improvements in typical loss prevention numbers paying off pretty favorably. If there is a crime, would they know exactly who took the item and didn't pay, without you having to get "rounded up"? If not, can they really say their tech works? Relate…

I was talking about this[0] instance and not stealing from the store.

If there was a crime committed with an item available in the store, will everyone who handled, bought or looked at that item now be considered a suspect?

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/google-tracked-his-bike...

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#742
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Are the prices not listed on the individual items? This is not aimed at deanCommie, but I just want to comment on the massive cognitive dissonance in effect when the issue of listing tax-included prices on individual items in America is raised. Do none of those arguments hold anymore? Why? Because it isn't European tourists asking the question?

While I agree with listing tax inclusive prices. Is it really that much of a mental effort to add 7%?

If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, sales taxes in SF are 8.5% Tax rates in Oakland are 9.25%. South San Francisco: 9.75% Mountain View: 9% Humboldt County: 7.75% Sonoma: 8.75%

The mental effort is not in the calculation but in figuring out what the tax rate is where you are. There really is no excuse for retailers not listing "tax-included" prices.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#743
post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprising to me that Whole Foods still doesn't have this tech integrated. You'd think that'd be the "beta" step after the Amazon Store's "alpha" step.

Maybe they don't want to draw attention to how many people are going to lose their jobs because of this yet. Cashier is the #2 job in the US (by number of people employed) [0]. If they released this at Whole Foods, I'd guess they'd fire all the cashiers there. That would make this rollout a lot less exciting for a lot of people. I hope Amazon comes up with an awesome way to help the cashiers this technology replaces.…

We're already most of the way there with self checkout. My local Home Depot only has self checkout now, with 1 person managing something like 10-15 registers. They left the person running the "Pro"/lumber checkout area, but that area looks like it's being set up for self checkout too. They also seem to have removed the Garden Center checkout.

I'm not saying it's a great thing, just that the jobs Just Walk Out will be replacing are already being replaced by self checkout.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#744
post #711

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the false-positive/negative rates of this technology? What if I grab two items with one hand, and then put one back? Will the system correctly track this?

I think there is an argument to be made of an acceptable increase in false negatives as the cost can be recouped through the efficiency of the system. Not to mention that a system like this should also cut down on theft.

I don't think so, because people will figure out the weak spots and share this information. It will become a sport and people will think "last time I grabbed the milk like this, and they didn't charge me for it, what if I do it again tomorrow?" Hackers will start wearing special clothes with dazzle patterns or with grocery items to fool the system, etc.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/ - real customers - real money - multiple-sites Plus they beat Amazon to this concept by a good few months. https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/news . Granted all the focus/attention in this space is in the US. But it is happening elsewhere too.

"Beat them to this concept"? I can't even remember the first time I heard about this idea. 2003? 1995? I half-suspect I read about the idea in OMNI Magazine. It's always been a question of when the supporting technology was going to be good enough to make it work. The idea has been around long enough for most of the early patents to expire.

> It's always been a question of when the supporting technology was going to be good enough to make it work.

Yep, I meant more along the lines of how you put it i.e. packaged up and ready to start selling it as a boxed-up/drop-in solution.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#746
post #650

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you prove you didn't buy something? Or will they just accept your word? I I'd imagine it's similar to the heuristic Amazon uses today with their A-Z Customer Guarantee. If you request a lot of refunds for a single trip, or have a history of requesting refunds, your individual risk score goes up, and the hoops you jump through to get a refund increase. Also for retail grocery stores now, loss prevention is al…

How does amazons tech add defense? You still need human personnel to do anything about theft. People shoplifting don't care if the door is beeping while they walk out and disappear.

Without amazon tech, you take an item off the shelf, hide it, and leave. There are cameras with loss prevention staff monitoring the feeds, and in some stores, sensors that trigger an alarm upon leaving.

With amazon tech, in addition to manually monitored cameras, you add AI monitored cameras, and sensors on shelves to detect an item has been taken.

Without Amazon's tech stores rely on staff members witnessing the item being hidden.

With Amazon's tech, the item is taken and marked for payment as soon as it's removed.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#747
post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, large swaths of the population can't do simple mental arithmetic like this at all. The US system discriminates against those people, no denying it. That said, I'm sure our European friends are absolutely drooling at the thought of a 7% VAT...

I’m not sure that’s unfair, because they ostensibly all learned it in elementary school. If they willfully forget/ignore something as basic at that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No, you misunderstand, they can't. It's not for lack of trying.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#748

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/ - real customers - real money - multiple-sites Plus they beat Amazon to this concept by a good few months. https://www.thirdeyelabs.com/news . Granted all the focus/attention in this space is in the US. But it is happening elsewhere too.

"Beat them to this concept"? I can't even remember the first time I heard about this idea. 2003? 1995? I half-suspect I read about the idea in OMNI Magazine. It's always been a question of when the supporting technology was going to be good enough to make it work. The idea has been around long enough for most of the early patents to expire.

IBM had a commercial years ago, probably intended to be based on RFIDs, but same concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvHK40N87mE

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