The right way to do this would be the concept of a giant vending machine. Keep the customers out of the store and bring the items to them.
So… Amazon?
Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
131–140 of 416 posts
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#132Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon Go was even more incredible than that. Walking out without even having to deal with those pesky self-service cash register, their sometimes finicky scales, and some supermarkets’ more than annoying rules, feels like a weird magic trick. You would just walk in, pick stuff up, and walk out. That’s it. Each time I couldn’t help but feel like I was shoplifting. And then the invoice came in by email, always accurat…
Wait, you don't even have to scan your items? Are they using cameras to detect the items you grab?
When I tried it I joked to my dad they offered San Francisco-style shopping: just grab the stuff and walk out
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Decathlon (sporting equipment stores like REI or MEC) stores in Spain (and other countries, I’m sure) have RFID self checkout and it works way better than the type where you scan everything yourself. There’s a big “basket”, you put in your items, and they’re just detected as they are put in. Then you just pay and go. They have the little barcode scanner guns for the bulky items that don’t fit in the “basket”.
Uniqlo does the same, at least in the UK.
I'm pretty sure some of the larger Uniqlo stores in the US also do this.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was on a jury for larceny from a Target. The footage they showed from so many points around the store made me feel creeped out with every store I go into now.
Target has a very impressive security system. There is a uuid on your receipt that can be used to track your movement within the store beginning from when you walked in They also have a top forensic lab that some smaller law enforcement units rely on, and they do it for free! https://corporate.target.com/article/2012/02/an-unexpected-c...
Target's procedure is that they don't bother with small shoplifters, but they track the value of the items stolen. Once you hit the felony limit, they go into action and provide all the evidence to law enforcement.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is a loyalty card a non-starter?
Privacy concerns?
Not being snarky, I'm genuinely asking. What are the privacy concerns here? That your name is associated with the store you shop at? Wouldn't one also get that from their debit or credit card that most people use to pay for things nowadays?
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#137The right way to do this would be the concept of a giant vending machine. Keep the customers out of the store and bring the items to them.
Do you remember Service Merchandise?
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait, you don't even have to scan your items? Are they using cameras to detect the items you grab?
Correct. It's pretty amazing when it works. I used to try and speedrun the Go store and see how fast it worked. My fastest visit was 9 seconds, receipt was 100% accurate.
Interesting. Another commenter made the point that retail stores already have massive surveillance systems in place, and that it was a good thing that they're being used non-punitively for once.
Me, I'm not so sure. I don't think I'd like being reminded that my every movement is being watched. At least when I go to a store, I completely forget about security because I'm, you know, not there to steal something. It doesn't even cross my mind.
Or maybe it's a good thing to remind people that they're constantly under surveillance? I dunno.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#139I 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…
The endgame in capitalism is something that is remarkably close to a bureaucratic all-controlling government.
Somehow comments like these are left to stand, so here's a counterpoint.
Amazon has emerged as an oligarch that will be broken up like the Bell system, Standard Oil, rail monopolies, and others before it - provided it and other oligarchs haven't fully compromised the government who hosts it. If Amazon, and the other FAANGs operating predatory surveiilance bureaucracies continue to exist in their current form in 4-5 years, we will know for sure the US is irrepairably compromised and once again, a generation will need to reckon with whether their self determination and survival is worth accepting sacrifices for.
Late stage capitalism is indeed dystopian, but if we call it early stage socialism somehow we're conspiracy theorists. The failure mode of the principled civilization created by the founders of the US reverts to the eurasian continential cultures and systems its citizens escaped. Those were pretty brutal, so much so that their own colonists revolted against them and achieved independence, and that's why american values are important to teach.
Every human endeavour fails without maintenance and upkeep. Being on the side of the forces of failure isn't the right side of history, it's forfeiting your humanity to the currents of inevitability.
If we're going to let tedious, low-effort tropes about "capitalism" stand, consider this one rebutted.
Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Privacy concerns?
Not being snarky, I'm genuinely asking. What are the privacy concerns here? That your name is associated with the store you shop at? Wouldn't one also get that from their debit or credit card that most people use to pay for things nowadays?
At least in Europe, you need a suitable legal basis for processing under the GDPR, at least in theory (we do know however that GDPR enforcement is significantly lacking so this might be just a false sense of security as there are no consequences to breaching the regulation).
Signing up for a loyalty card would give them that legal basis, where as merely using your payment card wouldn't, so they theoretically shouldn't be stalking you. In practice, not giving them your name/contact details also means there's no chance of spam arriving from them. There's was never a moment I said "I wish my supermarket would contact me out of the blue for any reason" and I'd like to keep it that way.