Live data from Hacker News

Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

cstoredive.com

211–220 of 416 posts

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#211
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are very few items I would ever buy from such a store. You can't really get a good look at the items in a vending machine, and you can't put an item back.

But for something you've always bought, the mundane daily items, you don't really need to check anything, same as with regular vending machines. Returns could be implemented.

I don't want to buy bruised apples or cracked eggs or overripe melons. I'm not going to go to a second store just for, I don't know, milk and dish soap.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#212
post #115

I hope this doesn't signal the end of the entire business model. I know there are still speed bumps and problems to address, but cashier in a convenience store is one of those awful jobs I don't think anyone should have to do if we can avoid it. I've had plenty of friends and family work those jobs, and briefly did it myself (at a gas station). Often these friends worked overnight, with the risk of being held up at 3…

This is easy to say from the perspective of someone making tech money, but plenty of people (immigrants, minorities, people below the poverty line, people without a high school diploma) depend on such jobs and will gladly do them. Unless you also have a solution for employment for all such groups, "let's get rid of these jobs" comes off as way too simplistic. The benefits of automation are largely enjoyed by the upper classes, not the people who are displaced.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if monopolies are allowed to flourish, because, that's what the government basically is - a monopoly on all services for which there's no private counterparts.

does that not seem at all contrived to you? government is an organisation of humans within a geographical region that work for the benefit of all the other humans within that region. it's as simple as that. it's the exception not the rule for there to be no private competition; unless you live in Cuba, in which case you're describing communism, not government

Just to clarify, communism is a specific type of government. (but yeah i assume you're saying its not government in general)

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#214
post #206

The cashierless thing is fine, but is never going to be the reason people pick one store over another. The problem with Amazon Go is that they have been trying to target the "upscale convenience store" demographic which doesn't really exist. If getting rid of human labor lowers operating costs then why doesn't that reflect on the price tag on the shelf? Charging 2x what the CVS next door does defeats the purpose. Mor…

> If getting rid of human labor lowers operating costs then why doesn't that reflect on the price tag on the shelf

Are they getting rid of human labor? Who is doing stocking, as needed cleanup, opening/closing, and overseeing all that?

I'm guessing humans are doing that. And as a customer. It seems to be most of what the people who also work as cashiers are doing, outsidd of a few rush periods where those other tasks, except emergency safety-necessary cleanup, aren’t happening or are deferred.

Seems to be its more likely Amazon is adding tech (which has a cost) which mainly serves to enable less efficient use of human labor.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a criminal charge, so yes, according to the Sixth Amendment it could go to a jury trial in any jurisdiction.

Maybe I've been living in California for too long, but I'm kind of shocked/confused at how someone stealing from a Target would go all the way to a jury trial. Surely the amount stolen was less than the cost of the police's time, the legal system, judges, attorneys, clerks, jurors, and so on. It would be more cost effective to simply have the local government reimburse Target for the loss.

That's not really how criminal justice works. If someone murders you, no money is lost. They aren't trying to figure out who killed you so they'll pay what you would have paid in taxes. They investigate and prosecute murders to discourage murder.

The same is mostly true for every crime. If you steal something of value and the insurance company gets reimbursed, that's just a bonus.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#216
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are people so weird about food? What about quinoa made it associated with rich yuppies? If you didn’t already know you would probably assume the main consumers would be dudes who want their chicken and carb to have even more protein.

> What about quinoa made it associated with rich yuppies? poor people use wheat etc.

Oh the irony. Rye was poor people’s cereal back then, wheat was for the rich.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#217
post #195

I used to visit one of the NYC the Go stores daily until covid happened. It was cute and surgically clean, worked wonderfully, and their inventory management was much better then CVS and Duane Reade which often sell out of things and have empty shelves for days. But nobody ever went there - no matter what time of the day I went, there would be one person doing inventory and stocking, two people standing by to help pe…

I think "nobody ever went there" is difficult to gauge since most purchases are very quick. Typical purchase would take 30-60 seconds for me to make. Since people are quick in/quick out it seems less people shop there.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's different because there's a long-standing precedent that you don't need to install a smartphone app to use a store.

At Kroger and Albertsons stores, you might be paying a lot more if you do not use the coupons that are only available in the app.

The coupons, at least for Kroger, are loadable from the website.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#219
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The endgame in capitalism is something that is remarkably close to a bureaucratic all-controlling government.

Only if monopolies are allowed to flourish, because, that's what the government basically is - a monopoly on all services for which there's no private counterparts.

Monopolies are a fact of Capitalism. One of the roles of government is to provide a counter balance to that.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#220
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The endgame in capitalism is something that is remarkably close to a bureaucratic all-controlling government.

Only if monopolies are allowed to flourish, because, that's what the government basically is - a monopoly on all services for which there's no private counterparts.

You could always go for a US federalism type deal (but made more extreme), where you try and make the Federal government as minimal as possible and cities/towns as in in control as possible. Then there would be competition between cities for tax payers, with the ability to move limiting monopoly.

But that would probably be a negative for the same reason that bigger companies inevitably swallow smaller companies without government intervention: in the modern day economies of scale are everything. 10 companies that make 10,000 of something will generally lose to 1 company that makes 100,000. Monopolies will inevitably flourish without a strong government controlling them. (And moreover, in a globally connected world, if you kill all your monopolies it’s very possible another state that allowed their’s to flourish will have companies that can outcompete yours)

I’m not exactly going anywhere with this, I don’t have a great answer to what the best option is. You can try and force there to be 2-3 companies in every sphere…but that’s barely competition. You can try and regulate the massive companies…but almost inevitably large cash-rich employers end up with sway over the government. You can try for lots of local competition and shut out foreign companies…and lose out on the many benefits of free trade. You can try and cut a balance between all of the concerns, but it seems that whenever government tries for nuance it ends up creating a very expensive bureaucracy.

Post reply on HN