I think these were some of the first, smaller stores from Amazon Go and probably very expensive to operate. It makes sense the the larger stores with newer hardware would be better financially.
Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
31–40 of 416 posts
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
My mother-in-law operates the self-checkout lanes at a Kroger brand store in the midwest. The honor system definitely does not work there. Shoplifting is through the roof over the past couple years. It's gotten so bad that management is debating shutting off the self-checkout lanes. A few months ago she was pepper sprayed after confronting a shoplifter who had an entire cart of things, but only scanned and paid for 3…
> $10,000 per day at her store. That seems intolerably high but I’ve never worked a day in a grocery store. Do grocery stores generate enough revenue to sustain? Fifty two-hundred dollar carts of cash is a lot to let go.
The anecdote is almost certainly made up nonsense. Grocery stores are incredibly low-margin businesses.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#33I shopped at their location at 30 rock. It was a mixed bag feeling. I was in awe of the technology, but at the same time I felt like I was being overly observed like in a prison.. I never went back, even though I work in the building.
In basically every retail store, and especially grocery/convenience stores, you are being observed by security cameras at literally every second. In every aisle. This has been the case for decades. It's how they catch shoplifters. I rather like the fact it can be used for customer convenience now, rather than just punitively.
In typical stores (e.g. Walmart, Target, etc), most of those cameras housings don't contain cameras.
The main issue isn't that cameras are expensive, it is that monitoring that many cameras is expensive/impractical, and automated theft detection systems are still in their infancy. So they just target high value/common areas, and rely on deterrents (like people believing they have a lot of cameras, off-duty cops at the door, and PR around some super secret new technology).
Quite seriously: Stores really need to look into vending machines for certain items. In particular with how advanced Gift Card Theft-Clone-Return Activation fraud is. Thieves have message-boards not dissimilar to this where they can share "pro-tips," and things have become quite sophisticated.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#34I'm really bummed about this! I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. I don't live in NYC or San Fran or Seattle, but I'd hoped these stores would spread.
>I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. So, basically something a vending machine could provide? We've had those since like the '50s, except without computer vision, user tracking and machine learning. I don't know why Amazon was trying to reinvent the wheel here in the most expensive way possible.
To stock more than 20 products?
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#35I've always wondered: Do we really need to put people in shops?
We have had vending machines for centuries, most kinds of shops (that don't need a social aspect) could easily just be sealed warehouses with product dispensers dotted outside the walls.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#36Amazon is such an anti-human company. From their warehouses to their tech workers they are terrible against people. That said, if people like these stores then good for them.
I am honestly shocked and confused when people enjoy this. Or targeted ads or *GPT generated content. I am not anti-tech by any means. Maybe I am just not impressed and awed enough by these technologies to overlook the downsides?
I don't support "all progress is good progress" mentality with tech. I find these cashierless stores lazy and needlessly compromising on privacy. Just have a man-trap (locking revolving door for the unaware) that lets you in after you scan a card or speak/type your amazon id and give shoppers a smart cart thay detects what you put in and use cameras only to enforce all items you take are put in the cart. That and facial recognition privacy protection will get me to go there (but hey, i order everything for delivery anyways).
They can do better while protecting consumers but choose not to because of the precedent set allowing them to track movements on a store as a feature. So why can't this be used to keep you safe in apartment complexes, parking lots (car theives),etc... soon facial recognition will be id'ing me everywhere I go! The laws to protect people are nowhere near where they should be. So what are my choices? Move to the arctic and build an igloo?
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#37I had to go to one to return a package. I couldn't get past the turnstiles because I don't use the app and don't know my password because I use a password manager. This meant I couldn't hand my parcel in at the counter. The woman on the turnstile wouldn't let me in even when I explained the situation. So she went off and got a scanner to take my package. She didn't offer a receipt, and when I asked for one said it wa…
Seems like a very weird way of blaming a well defined system for your unwillingness to meet its prerequisites. It would take approximately a few minutes to discover that you need the app to get into the store and get that sorted. You are capable of this, just apparently too lazy or unwilling for some unclear reason. The return experience seems entirely orthogonal to the rest of the story here, and I'm not sure why you included it.
For those of us who managed to download the app and login to it, walking into the store, grabbing something off a shelf and walking out was extremely convenient in a way unmatched by any other store. Calling it an unmitigated disaster in your situation is like calling a movie a failure because you couldn't be bothered to go to a theater and see it. Just bizarre.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#38I'm really bummed about this! I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. I don't live in NYC or San Fran or Seattle, but I'd hoped these stores would spread.
They seem to be doing pretty well, looks like they are closing their least popular stores. E.g. they are only closing 2 out of their 9 NY stores.
We have them in London and they are pretty convenient.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
In basically every retail store, and especially grocery/convenience stores, you are being observed by security cameras at literally every second. In every aisle. This has been the case for decades. It's how they catch shoplifters. I rather like the fact it can be used for customer convenience now, rather than just punitively.
In typical stores (e.g. Walmart, Target, etc), most of those cameras housings don't contain cameras. The main issue isn't that cameras are expensive, it is that monitoring that many cameras is expensive/impractical, and automated theft detection systems are still in their infancy. So they just target high value/common areas, and rely on deterrents (like people believing they have a lot of cameras, off-duty cops at th…
> most of those cameras housings don't contain cameras
Do you have a source for that?
Because at my local grocery store for example, above the customer service area they have a whole wall of TV's showing the live camera feeds. They're all working.
My local convenience store has the live TV's too, by the cashier.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#40I'm really bummed about this! I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. I don't live in NYC or San Fran or Seattle, but I'd hoped these stores would spread.
>I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. So, basically something a vending machine could provide? We've had those since like the '50s, except without computer vision, user tracking and machine learning. I don't know why Amazon was trying to reinvent the wheel here in the most expensive way possible.
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