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Amazon Go

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Re: Amazon Go

#121

Post by dpark »

raverbashing wrote: post #75
draw_down wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds great if it's not as unbelievably user-hostile as the self checkout machines. Those things are just total crap, every one I've ever tried.

Once I got the hang of it, I've had almost zero problems with self-checkout machines It's usually one of two things: a purchase that must be approved (either alcohol or some medicine) or scanning the single item barcode of a multi-item

They screw up for me about 60% of the time. Alcohol is annoying but understandable. More problematic is the weight sensor that misreads the product after I set it down and forces me to wait for an assistant to click a button that says it's okay. I'll occasionally get the register that isn't calibrated properly and then I need assistance for every item. That's fun.

I have given up on bagging as I check out. It goes crazy every time I open a bag and set it in the bagging area. So now I just pile up my groceries and bag them when I'm done, which wastes everyone's time.

Re: Amazon Go

#122

Post by jasonkostempski »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #74
elicash wrote: post #43

I worked at a grocery store for several years, and one thing I recall is customers CONSTANTLY putting items back in a random aisle, rather than where they found it. I wonder how this tech deals with that? Maybe they figured that out, too. But I was amused in the video when I saw the customer putting it back where it belonged, because that's not how I remember that going... All that said, this is fantastic and excitin…

I really wouldn't trust 'picked up off the shelf' detection, not without the whole thing looking like a giant vending machine. RFID tags on products probably works better.

"Spend $99 or more and get a cancer absolutely FREE!"

Re: Amazon Go

#123

Post by giarc »

gdulli wrote: post #92
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #22

My first thought is: I don't have a supported smartphone. The current checkout process entails the acceptance of common legal tender, but this process will require I have their app, and presumably allow it quite a bit of tracking permission. A cool demo, sure, but I think I'll stick to shopping like the normal folks.

If there's two things I get uneasy about, it's (1) giving up privacy in a whole new category of being filmed/monitored/tracked and (2) being guided into behaviors that encourage me to consume more and consume more casually.

If you've ever entered a grocery store, both of those things have already happened.

Re: Amazon Go

#124

Post by koolba »

How do they know you're you? Do you scan your phone on the way in / out and get tracked via RFID or do they do facial recognition?

If it's the latter there's no way I'd use something like this. I love Amazon (as a retail customer) and AWS, but no way I'm self registering my face with them.

Re: Amazon Go

#125

Post by hodgesrm »

elicash wrote: post #43

I worked at a grocery store for several years, and one thing I recall is customers CONSTANTLY putting items back in a random aisle, rather than where they found it. I wonder how this tech deals with that? Maybe they figured that out, too. But I was amused in the video when I saw the customer putting it back where it belonged, because that's not how I remember that going... All that said, this is fantastic and excitin…

How does this handle produce? The assumption seems to be that everything is packaged.

Re: Amazon Go

#126

Post by sqeaky »

seren wrote: post #82
jdmichal wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually read this completely differently with regards to shoplifting. How can you shoplift when you have multitudes of cameras watching your every movement and automatically assigning to you any products you take off the shelf? This is the dream anti-shoplifting system; it's automated loss prevention personnel.

It will flag clients for "suspicious" behavior, compare your face with known shoplifters in the last 10 years, and check if you are on the FBI most wanted list. You'll be arrested before having picked up a single item.

When it is installed and working it could be part a "The Culture" like utopia. But even if it has an error rate as low as 0.01% and ruins the lives and careers of people because of technical mishaps it can make their lives a dystopic nightmare.

Re: Amazon Go

#127

Post by tdeck »

bbrks wrote: post #41
Someone1234 wrote: post #18

Companies have been discussing "checkout-less" stores since forever, but nobody has been brave enough to do it due to the perceived threat of shoplifting. And while shoplifting is a legitimate threat, are non-shoplifters going to be turned into shoplifters without a checkout? Are normal shoplifters stopped by checkouts? These are the core questions, and until it is tested nobody will know for sure. Target is getting…

In the UK, Tesco have been running a 'Scan as you Shop'[0] thing for a couple of years now. Customers pick up a scanner as they enter, scan their items as they go into their cart, and they have special checkouts which read your scanner. There's a random chance that your scanner will be audited by a human against the contents of your shopping cart. Usually the first time you use it, then it backs off. [0] http://www.t…

This exists in the US, too. I saw one at Giant in Pennsylvania when I was home for the holidays.

Re: Amazon Go

#128

Post by JackFr »

What do you do with your children? What about your non-Amazon co workers who came out with you to get lunch? Do they stand on the sidewalk while you shop? Do you swipe them in? Do they get swiped in as guests (who then shoplift cupcakes?)

Don't get me wrong -- this is exciting and impressive -- but needing to swipe in to enter a store is, I think, a very significant change to how we think of stores as public places.

Re: Amazon Go

#129

Post by CmdrSprinkles »

ambicapter wrote: post #97
raverbashing wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I got the hang of it, I've had almost zero problems with self-checkout machines It's usually one of two things: a purchase that must be approved (either alcohol or some medicine) or scanning the single item barcode of a multi-item

I always either get erroneously told to put item in the bag, or have to take an item out of the bag because for some reason it shouldn't be there according to the register.

The secret is to hate the environment and just use the plastic/paper that is already there.

For me: When I am doing my weekly food shopping, I just use plastic. When I am grabbing something I forgot or picking up beer or something during the week, I just leave everything in the area, pay, and then bag with my reusables after the fact.

These days I only need human interaction when I buy booze, and that consists of a cashier eyeballing me and approving it.

Re: Amazon Go

#130

Post by draw_down »

jtcond13 wrote: post #100

Your periodic reminder that 'retail salesperson' is the most common job in America (~4.5 million). http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-10-m...

Supplemental reminder that tech exists largely to eliminate jobs. Whoops, that was a typo- I meant to write "increase productivity".
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