Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Fresh Opens in London

fruitnet.com

31–40 of 56 posts

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#31

But how does it work? The article only mentions that you scan your phone at the entrance. The tags don't seem to be RFID or anything special neither.

Amazon claims cameras automatically track what you take and put back. But if that's the case, then I'm left confused as to why receipts take so long (15-20 mins+ sometimes) to be generated after leaving the stores? Is it possible it's actually a manual process of people watching the videos, or more likely identifying what happened at each "take off shelf/put on shelf" point? They're still just building up the custome…

They need to wait till not only you leave the ship, but also all people who were near you when you picked or returned any item. Then they can use that to resolve ambiguities ("one of these 3 people took this item which is now missing from the shelf, who was it")

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#33

Interesting, I wonder what European country could follow next?

So many European countries are hell-bent on paying with cash, even for transactions like supermarkets. I wonder if the idea will translate to somewhere like Germany, since the whole point is not having to stop and interact with a checkout point, but Germans want to pay with cash (for some reason).

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#34

But how does it work? The article only mentions that you scan your phone at the entrance. The tags don't seem to be RFID or anything special neither.

Amazon claims cameras automatically track what you take and put back. But if that's the case, then I'm left confused as to why receipts take so long (15-20 mins+ sometimes) to be generated after leaving the stores? Is it possible it's actually a manual process of people watching the videos, or more likely identifying what happened at each "take off shelf/put on shelf" point? They're still just building up the custome…

Is your observation based on multiple samples? Or just a couple of casual visits? Would be interesting to know their real median receipt generation time.

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American who lives in the UK, here are some of the daily things that you might think are someone being cute but are 100% proper and accepted speech, even in a formal BBC news story: - Vegetables are just called 'veg'. - You don't get a shot, you get a 'jab'. - You say 'whilst' instead of 'while' - You don't get a turn, you 'have a go'. - Band-aids are called 'plasters'. - Many vegetables have different names. E…

> Pickles are 'gherkins' Only pickled cucumbers are gherkins. You wouldn't call a pickled egg or onion or whatever else a 'gherkin'.

While this is correct, in American vernacular 'pickle' without qualifications is precisely a gherkin.

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#36

Interesting, I wonder what European country could follow next?

So many European countries are hell-bent on paying with cash, even for transactions like supermarkets. I wonder if the idea will translate to somewhere like Germany, since the whole point is not having to stop and interact with a checkout point, but Germans want to pay with cash (for some reason).

Netto in Denmark recently introduced something called Scan-N-Go, which is a "low-tech" alternative to the walk-out shopping from Amazon.

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#38
post #3

I wonder why they could write "Fruit" as a complete word, but "Vegetables" was too long? It appears a few times in a few images. If it was shortened to be 'hip' you'd expect "Fru" and "Veg". It's odd to see certain words being dumbed down in other countries, be it 'trimming' or using a version you'd use when communicating with children (as per usage presented in popular media, i.e. saying "eat your veggies" to a chil…

As an American who lives in the UK, here are some of the daily things that you might think are someone being cute but are 100% proper and accepted speech, even in a formal BBC news story: - Vegetables are just called 'veg'. - You don't get a shot, you get a 'jab'. - You say 'whilst' instead of 'while' - You don't get a turn, you 'have a go'. - Band-aids are called 'plasters'. - Many vegetables have different names. E…

If pickles are called gherkins, what are gherkins called? Or is there no separate word for them?

(In the US, a gherkin is a small pickled cucumber. A cornichon is a type of gherkin, but there are other types.)

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#39

Everything is wrapped in plastic, most of it non-recyclable. This is not progress.

When fruit is sold loose, people will pick individual fruits up and select them; at the end of the days, there will be much more ruined fruit and general leftover. I've seen middle grounds where the box itself was made with waxed cardboard (with wrapping). Not sure if this is necessarily better. Only few items I've seen are sold in unwaxed cardboard (and I suppose it depends on the food contained). I don't know how t…

I feel like delivery has the promise of better packaging alternatives than in-person shopping ever will. It'd be easier to have more bulk/unpackaged items, less packaging, less attention-grabbing packaging/displays, and less wasted "impulse buy purchase" space, if no non-professionals were allowed in the store. Professional shoppers aren't going to mishandle bulk items (or lick them and put them back, which I have seen happen with kids in grocery store bulk-goods sections).

Re: Amazon Fresh Opens in London

#40

Everything is wrapped in plastic, most of it non-recyclable. This is not progress.

When fruit is sold loose, people will pick individual fruits up and select them; at the end of the days, there will be much more ruined fruit and general leftover. I've seen middle grounds where the box itself was made with waxed cardboard (with wrapping). Not sure if this is necessarily better. Only few items I've seen are sold in unwaxed cardboard (and I suppose it depends on the food contained). I don't know how t…

It's better to have leftover fruit than to use plastic. Solve the leftover fruit problem with marked down bags if they can't be put to some other purpose.
Post reply on HN