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

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

#341

Post by [deleted] »

boh wrote: post #195
zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #92

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

#342

Post by ChadNauseam »

rippercushions wrote: post #271
madballster wrote: post #261

I vividly recall seeing a feature on TV in the mid 80s where they were discussing future technologies for the year 2000. One of them was the cashier-less store: We'd all put in our grocery items in the carts and then the payment would be automagically calculated, no cashier or manual scanning necessary. They assumed it would be microchip based, the chip embedded in packaging. What ever happened to this? Why did this…

It didn't: Uniqlo and Decathlon, to name a few, use exactly this concept at their self checkouts. However, because RFID chips are too weak to be reliably read in bulk and at a distance, you need to deposit your items one by one in a special trough that scans them. And this is only possible because both Uniqlo and Decathlon are 100% house brand and can thus ensure the chips are present in everything, which is why rand…

The last time I went to Uniqlo, we just dumped all our clothes in the bin at once and it scanned all of them

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

#343

Post by wiseleo »

A better approach could be to mimic Japan and install vending machines. You walk into the store and see walls of vending machines. Shrink goes to zero. Restocking the machines becomes the only job. They can augment their Whole Foods chain first.

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

#344

Post by crazygringo »

bentley wrote: post #294
jrockway wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's somewhat unclear to me what you have to lose here. You're going to their retail store that is littered with cameras as a feature they heavily advertise. You're returning a package with your name and address on it. If typing your password into the turnstile is the last straw, that just seems weird to me. But even that wasn't required. OP did their return successfully.

The loss of privacy comes not from actions taken at the Amazon store, but from having the app installed on the phone 24/7, including when you’re not at the Amazon store. A somewhat similar example would be using Facebook purely through its Tor onion address, while simultaneously blocking facebook.com on your home network. The point is not to keep Meta from having any information about you, but to limit Meta to inform…

OK, I'll bite: what could possibly be the issue with keeping an app installed?

If you quit it it's not running, and if you don't give it location permissions it's not tracking your location.

Is there something I'm missing?

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

#345

Post by throwaway426079 »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #279
nprateem wrote: post #30

I 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 turnstiles are unfortunate. They send the wrong psychological messages -- complexity, exclusion, a barrier to entry. I can't imagine that they stop any actual thieves, considering how brazen shoplifters are these days. And they really aren't necessary. The Amazon app has location services permission; it knows when I'm in the store. That's apparently enough to track me along with my purchases, and to flag anyone w…

I've been in the Aldi version of this. By scanning an app qr code at the barrier I am associating my appearance with that account at that time. I can also bring someone into the store with me on my account (by the slightly clunky process of passing my phone back over the barrier to them).

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

#346

Post by aflag »

CydeWeys wrote: post #336
aflag wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds more like a failure on the returns drop off location listing. It seems that improving the filters and visibility of what you'll need to have to drop off returns in each location is a far less drastic solution than dropping some stores because otherwise it messes the website lists.

Amazon gives you very few choices on how to return items, oftentimes just 1 (and it'll be something bad like UPS pickup or Kohl's dropoff). They would need to change this too. The problem really is with the overall experience.

That's the experience with the Amazon website though, not the cashierless store. That's the point.

I personally don't like the website too much. Full of fakes, bad quality items everywhere. I only use it for cheap stuff I wouldn't return anyway. I do get that. Amazon go and whole foods are good though. Amazon go is very convenient and whole foods often have brands which I like and I don't easily find elsewhere. I also enjoy their fruit.

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

#347

Post by wiseleo »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #279
nprateem wrote: post #30

I 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 turnstiles are unfortunate. They send the wrong psychological messages -- complexity, exclusion, a barrier to entry. I can't imagine that they stop any actual thieves, considering how brazen shoplifters are these days. And they really aren't necessary. The Amazon app has location services permission; it knows when I'm in the store. That's apparently enough to track me along with my purchases, and to flag anyone w…

To keep people who don’t have a means to pay at that store by having the app installed and configured with their account away from the sales floor.

It’s one thing to stop a shoplifter at a normal store. Turnstiles reinforce the notion that this facility actively enforces access control.

This is similar to Passport Control line at the airport. If I have Mobile passport (MPC) app installed, I use a dedicated and usually empty lane. The same is true if I have my Global Entry card. It takes a couple of minutes to setup MPC while walking, but most people choose to wait in the main line.

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

#348

Post by crazygringo »

1bent wrote: post #228

I've always found the concept of these puzzling; I find interacting with the folks in stores, even if it's merely exchanging a smile and a friendly word with the cashier, to be a joy in the day to day chores; from the first I heard of these, I thought it tragic that some would want to go there. Horn&Hardart left a lasting memory, but I haven't felt it was nostalgia.

I enjoy interacting too.

On the other hand, I detest waiting in line for 5 minutes to pay, as happens frequently in e.g. CVS. Or 10 minutes at the supermarket.

It's not worth 5-10 minutes of my time for small talk with a cashier, especially when half the time the cashier isn't even in a social mood. (I'm sure I wouldn't be either half the time if it were my job.)

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

#350

Post by giaour »

philwelch wrote: post #317
capableweb wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lobster was once for prisoners and slaves or a poor mans food, while nowadays it's almost exactly the opposite. It'll be hard to find a prisoner or slave that gets to eat lobster.

That’s mostly because they didn’t really know how to prepare it back then.

Oysters were poor people food in the same era, and like now, many people ate them raw. It has less to do with culinary trends and much more to do with the relative productivity of the lobster fishery. (In recent years, the lobster fishery has been really productive, but prices have been pretty sticky[0].)

Mark Kurlansky's The Big Oyster has some great primary source research on the social status of eating shellfish through the years.

[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/us/in-maine-fishermen-str...

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