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Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

gizmodo.com

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Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#161

Post by rootusrootus »

hot_gril wrote: post #138
frakkingcylons wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a huge advantage if you don’t have to wait in line for self checkout machines or human checkout.

I don't feel like checking out is any faster than it used to be. They replace 10 human checkout lanes with maybe 15 self-checkout lanes and 2 human checkout. Maybe the self-checkout is a cheaper so they can have more, but people are so much slower on those that it doesn't win in the end. Dunno if the store is even really incentivized to make checkout fast, given that they sell high-margin stuff in the lines. Maybe on…

My local grocery store replaced about half the human checkout lanes with 3-per-lane self-checkout, and about 90% of the time I go shopping I don't have any line to wait for. The problem arises when they try to do a 1:1 (or nearly so) replacement.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#162

Post by riotnrrd »

pimlottc wrote: post #88
code_runner wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

amazon is notorious for paying late night sketch comedy shows to make fun of them in order to promote their niche projects that only exist in a few cities.

do you have a source for this?

[flagged]

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#163

Post by CSMastermind »

Ajay-p wrote: post #80

I recently finished a book called "The Secret Life of Groceries" by Benjamin Lorr. Amazing book. I learned that grocery and supermarket stores of the past, seemed to have worked very hard to give the best customer experience possible. Today it feels that customer experience has been replaced by cost cutting. Self checkout has been rife with problems, internally and socially, but supermarkets keep pushing them. I can…

Self checkout is a better customer experience for me personally.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#164

Post by yencabulator »

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #104
diggan wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that the scan-as-you-shop style systems are definitely the next realistic step for grocery stores. Scan-as-you-shop has been around for at least a decade at this point I think, at least in some parts of the world. ICA (supermarket in Sweden) been doing it for as long as I can remember, and I came across this image of the scanner being used at the store on Mediawiki: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S…

Wal-Mart tried it here in Canada for a bit, but it didn't last long at all.

US side Sam's Club (same Sam Walton) has scan-as-you-shop.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#165

Post by timr »

jcrawfordor wrote: post #120
timr wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It always seemed so needlessly complex, relative to well-established RFID tech -- Uniqlo can count the number and type of garments in a pile in a big bucket, and compute an invoice from that. Even if you couldn't do this at the exit, seems like it would have been a far easier lift to incorporate the same idea into shopping carts or baskets all along.

The cost-per-unit on RFID product tags (EPCs) has tended to limit them to products with a relatively high margin and a relatively high theft potential---clothing being the most obvious example and the most common application of EPCs, with retailers all the way down to WalMart using them for apparel. You'll note that WalMart doesn't even use the EPCs at POS, which is telling: for most retailers, the main advantage of…

Amazon Fresh was definitely not the cheapest option. It was on par with Whole Foods for groceries, IME.

But that said, interesting point. Didn't know the cost of an RFID tag was that high -- after all, Uniqlo is putting them on some pretty cheap clothing items!

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#166

Post by walterbell »

giantg2 wrote: post #155
walterbell wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After advertising "Just Walk Out"?

Yeah, the author is trying to see what would happen if they roll a can into the bag. This is meant to conceal the act from the computer. The act of concealing merchandise is all that is required in many jurisdictions. If they walked out without the concealing act, then I would think the error should be on the store. There have been some cases of self checkout prosecution too. They don't need any proof of intent. Even…

> Even regular errors can be prosecuted.

Volunteer to work for free, with bonus legal liability, as a self-service cashier.

So convenient!

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#167

Post by signal11 »

noodlesUK wrote: post #6

I think that the scan-as-you-shop style systems are definitely the next realistic step for grocery stores. I really like using them, as they allow me to put stuff directly into my bags as I go. I think a further improvement on a system like that would be to use the cheap RFID tech (UHF EPC) so that when you walk through the anti-theft barriers, the system knows exactly what you got, and then there's no need to scan a…

Scan as you shop is already mainstream in a bunch of British supermarkets (exception: Costco UK).

Definitely makes big shops easier.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#168

Post by charlieflowers »

jhbadger wrote: post #128
graemep wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the supermarkets where I live (English Midlands) have scan as you shop. I stopped using it after they required using their loyalty cards/apps to use it.

I'm not a fan of the data tracking that I know those loyalty programs are for, but at least in the US most stores overcharge you if you don't use them (they present it as giving a "discount" if you use them but really you are just getting the fair price denied to non-members) so you would need to have deep pockets to resist them out of principle.

Just yesterday I bought some steaks that were $55 with the loyalty card and $130 (no typo) without.

I’ve never seen a difference that huge before.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#169

Post by gsa »

PodgieTar wrote: post #56
noodlesUK wrote: post #6

I think that the scan-as-you-shop style systems are definitely the next realistic step for grocery stores. I really like using them, as they allow me to put stuff directly into my bags as I go. I think a further improvement on a system like that would be to use the cheap RFID tech (UHF EPC) so that when you walk through the anti-theft barriers, the system knows exactly what you got, and then there's no need to scan a…

Albert Heijn does this in the Netherlands, tied to your loyalty card. You can even import your shopping list and show it on the little hand scanners. At the end, you scan your loyalty card and it shows up on the self checkout. I think it’s great, I get to go around the shop with a little laser gun.

An even nicer thing about the Albert Heijn self checkout is that I can use my own phone from start to finish. Connect to store wifi, scan items using their app (using the phone camera), pay with my phone (contactless payments) on the self checkout and use my phone to scan an exit barcode at the turnstile. My visits to the store usually last only a few minutes and I don't mind popping in multiple times a week.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#170

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

noodlesUK wrote: post #6

I think that the scan-as-you-shop style systems are definitely the next realistic step for grocery stores. I really like using them, as they allow me to put stuff directly into my bags as I go. I think a further improvement on a system like that would be to use the cheap RFID tech (UHF EPC) so that when you walk through the anti-theft barriers, the system knows exactly what you got, and then there's no need to scan a…

I refuse to use those (although I will probably need to use it, eventually), because they do this annoying "BING!" when I pass whatever item they are trying to push.
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