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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

#231

Post by dangerwill »

nemothekid wrote: post #212

There was a startup, Standard Cognition, that offered the same experience, but I checked their website ( https://standard.ai/ ) and it seems they have given up on it too. Edit: Looking over their marketing videos now and taking a more optimistic approach, is "just walk out" technology all that useful? It seems they pivoted to a product where is much clearer what the value add is (Predictive analytics, loss prevention…

Well from the article it's clear that this camera+ai based detection of purchases never worked for Amazon. They had to rely on Indian contractors watching people remotely. It never technically worked, and even if it did, then yeah I agree that it wouldn't make economic sense. Cameras with that level of fidelity and with 100% coverage, tracking N customers at once, are probably a huge capital expense. And all for slightly faster shopping.

I tried the store in Seattle in 2021 and it was a shitty experience. Overpriced, bad stock, and since few are going to actually trust Amazon to get it right, you still find yourself with the Amazon app open the whole time

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

#232

Post by colinng »

rgmerk wrote: post #225
smugma wrote: post #194

Uniqlo (in Japan and at least in SF) has a cool checkout method. You drop your clothes into a big bin (I’ve always done it one piece at a time, didn’t think to do all at once) and it adds up all your items. I’ve used this maybe 8 times, 100% accurate so far. Not sure how it works but I guessed RFID and quick Google appears to confirm: https://www.wsj.com/articles/uniqlos-parent-company-bets-big...

It’s been discussed before on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38715111 Unlikely to work for groceries given the costs of RFID tags, I imagine.

If we had a better Blue Bin system it might work. Remove tags at home and place in compartment of Blue Bin, and at the recycling centre they get sorted out and sent back to the retailers.

But if we really could scale RFID tag production down to 1 cent each, then we’d likely just throw them out. Not that I’m a fan of throwing away silicon…

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

#233

Post by saalweachter »

hn_user82179 wrote: post #226
bilalq wrote: post #190

This is pretty sad to read. Before Covid, the Amazon Go store experience was phenomenal. All the convenience of a 7-Eleven but with the pricing of a normal grocery store. The food options were really good and the BlueApron style meal-kits were amazing. The Alexa integration was also nice for being able to just verbally ask what's the next step on a recipe while you're busy stirring or chopping things. When it rolled…

Regular grocery stores have really gone downhill as well. Whenever I shop, there’s at most 1 cashier doing checkout and usually 0 (only self-checkout being open). I consider myself pretty proficient about knowing what sets off the machine but still set it off 60% of the time (about some weight imbalance etc) that requires an attendant to come fix manually. I’ve gotten to dread the grocery store trips as they require…

Yeah, the "if anything goes wrong you now stand around with your thumb up your ass while one employee makes their way from broken kiosk to broken kiosk to manually resolve the problems" model has soured me on self-checkout. I find I have a very low "dealing with this bullshit" limit, to the point that if I have trouble I'm likely to just say fuck it and walk out of the store without completing my purchase.

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

#234

Post by SmellTheGlove »

spike021 wrote: post #178
whyenot wrote: post #44

"Ginger Market" on the SJSU campus has attempted to use a similar "Just Walk Out" approach. It has not worked well. I've been double charged, charged for items I did not take, not charged for items I've taken, etc. The refund process was also a pain. It was so bad that they had to stop using it last spring, although they claim they are going to give it another go. Why even bother? Self checkout or a cashier work so m…

Doesn't that take away jobs students used to get? Which storefront is that? The one at the bottom of MLK Library or McQuarrie Hall?

No, students just have to wait until after graduation to get retail jobs now.

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

#235

Post by hot_gril »

mrbonner wrote: post #213

[flagged]

Seattle Target was the worst shopping experience I've ever had. No cashiers because the employees are tasked with opening locked cabinets instead, even for sunscreen. Security guards with bulletproof vests add to the ambience. Gave up on buying oranges cause the checkout machine wouldn't scan them.

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

#236

Post by Iulioh »

smugma wrote: post #194

Uniqlo (in Japan and at least in SF) has a cool checkout method. You drop your clothes into a big bin (I’ve always done it one piece at a time, didn’t think to do all at once) and it adds up all your items. I’ve used this maybe 8 times, 100% accurate so far. Not sure how it works but I guessed RFID and quick Google appears to confirm: https://www.wsj.com/articles/uniqlos-parent-company-bets-big...

Decathlon does it but it's a little harder to implement in a grocery store.

You need to basically have custom packaging so the tags are not easily swappable and the RFID tag is not free too, it could really add up for small price items.

The maybe e-waste problem? I'm not really familiar with how much of a problem this really is but on a grocery store size it could add up

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

#237

Post by raegis »

bilalq wrote: post #190

This is pretty sad to read. Before Covid, the Amazon Go store experience was phenomenal. All the convenience of a 7-Eleven but with the pricing of a normal grocery store. The food options were really good and the BlueApron style meal-kits were amazing. The Alexa integration was also nice for being able to just verbally ask what's the next step on a recipe while you're busy stirring or chopping things. When it rolled…

Perhaps operating costs were more expensive than just hiring humans to run it like a traditional grocery store?

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

#238

Post by panick21_ »

diggan wrote: post #54
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 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…

Yes. In Switzerland Migros you have this as well, at least in the bigger ones. But they also added scanning with the phone. So you don't need a special scanner, just your phone.

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

#239

Post by Johnny555 »

bilalq wrote: post #190

This is pretty sad to read. Before Covid, the Amazon Go store experience was phenomenal. All the convenience of a 7-Eleven but with the pricing of a normal grocery store. The food options were really good and the BlueApron style meal-kits were amazing. The Alexa integration was also nice for being able to just verbally ask what's the next step on a recipe while you're busy stirring or chopping things. When it rolled…

Lots of services would be phenomenal when you can offload much of the cost to run them to cheap offshore labor.

Remember how great Uber and Doordash were when much of the cost of operating was offset by underpaid workers and VC funds? Now that they don't have unlimited piles of money and cities/states are making them pay more fair wages, the cost-benefit of those services has diminished. I was ok paying $5 for $20 of food to be delivered, but now it's more like $10 - $15 in fees/tip, plus fees hidden in menu prices making that $20 food cost $27.50.

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

#240

Post by bilalq »

alden5 wrote: post #217
bilalq wrote: post #190

This is pretty sad to read. Before Covid, the Amazon Go store experience was phenomenal. All the convenience of a 7-Eleven but with the pricing of a normal grocery store. The food options were really good and the BlueApron style meal-kits were amazing. The Alexa integration was also nice for being able to just verbally ask what's the next step on a recipe while you're busy stirring or chopping things. When it rolled…

What never made sense to me with their go stores was why a store that only needed 1-2 people max to operate had such bad hours. Hearing now that getting the bill is a mainly manual process i guess their hours had to line up with their data entry team in india so people could get their recipes quickly. insane to think about

It's not manual. This is a case of mistaken journalism. The labeling is for training data of the models.

Before covid, the hours were much better too.

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