Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AWS Just Walk Out Technology

aws.amazon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 84 posts

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#31

Post by allenu »

kn0where wrote: post #21
KerrAvon wrote: post #2

SNL satire of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS9U3Gc832Y

I'm 90% sure Amazon paid SNL to make this ad (SNL does paid brand integration in various skits, see Tom Scott's video on product placement for other examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-x8DYTOv7w ). It's a spoof commercial where the product advertised isn't what's being made fun of. The set is unusually authentic to actual Amazon Go stores, down to the "just walk out" logo signage, and the loud and clear messag…

I was thinking it looked way too much like the real thing. As soon as I caught on that it wasn't making fun of the actual service, yeah, I started thinking it was a paid spot as well.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#32

Post by t0mas88 »

throwaway290 wrote: post #25
ALittleLight wrote: post #8

I've been impressed by the Amazon Go stores. They seem to work pretty well. I'm glad to see Amazon at least trying to spread this technology. I enjoy using it. I do think the palm reading thing will be a potential vulnerability in two regards. First, maybe as a "hack". Is there a way to fake the palm scan? Something you could put on your palm to assume someone else's palm print? If I use this service will I have to b…

AWS appears to be an umbrella for all the B2B stuff that is not B2C/Amazon itself, and in many cases is not directly "web" (see private 5G networks, Snow, Ground Station, etc.)

Hmm, I thought infrastructure components were AWS branded and business services Amazon branded. Like AWS EC2 vs Amazon Quicksight. But then this probably should have been under the Amazon brand so maybe they have another split.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#33

Post by wenc »

eightysixfour wrote: post #16
asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

> With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. At non-Amazon branded JWO locations you insert a credit card in the machine when you walk in, no account needed. I recently encountered one like this at an airport.

I was at Kastrup (Copenhagen) and saw a 7-11 Go self-serve. I didn't get to try because it hadn't opened (I was on an early flight), but I can see this working.

https://twitter.com/CPHAirports/status/1520015132050481153

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#34

Post by newaccount74 »

eightysixfour wrote: post #16
asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

> With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. At non-Amazon branded JWO locations you insert a credit card in the machine when you walk in, no account needed. I recently encountered one like this at an airport.

I just returned from a trip in Asia where 50% of machines did not accept any of my cards. In one case (parking garage) I asked a passerby to pay for me with their card, and gave them cash.

While I enjoy that I can pay everything by card at home, and mostly stopped going to the handful of places that don't accept cards, I do appreciate the fact that cash is usually available as a backup.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#35

Post by thaumasiotes »

asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

> Late night in Stockholm train station, I bought one bottle of fizzy water and checkout added 30 seconds or so.

This seems like a situation that would be improved for all concerned parties if there was a vending machine in the station.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#36

Post by wenc »

asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

> I'm not even sure how much floor space JWO saves vs self-checkout.

Not sure JWO is about saving floor space. It's more about saving the customer time. A grocery line on a Saturday afternoon is frustrating. Imagine Costco having this.

JWO works with products sold by weight (like produce -- it uses sensor fusion with weight sensors), large items and identical-looking items too. I tried it last week at Amazon Fresh. It works.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#37

Post by newaccount74 »

asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

I've stopped using self-checkout because I always run into troubles. In one store when I accidentally double-scan an item, I have to press the button to call someone, and it takes 5 minutes for someone to show up.

In another store you need to place your groceries onto a weighing shelf, and somehow I couldn't figure out what to do to make the machine happy.

For produce and pastries that don't have a bar code you have to navigate through a stupid hierarchical menu and I just couldn't find some of the items...

At some point these machines hopefully will improve (just like automatic ticket machines have improved), but for now I still prefer waiting in a normal checkout line.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#38

Post by wenc »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #35
asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

> Late night in Stockholm train station, I bought one bottle of fizzy water and checkout added 30 seconds or so. This seems like a situation that would be improved for all concerned parties if there was a vending machine in the station.

Well, a vending machine would have limited inventory. Whereas you can buy a lot more stuff at a store. I was at Stockholm Centralstation and used the self-checkout there too -- it works fine if you have less than 5 items (which you typically would).

The Co-op grocery store in Stockholm Centralstation also has self-checkouts but it's self-checkout is a lot slower when you have 20-30 items in your cart, and you have to catch a train.

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#39

Post by paganel »

asah wrote: post #15

Meh - I was excited by JWO but it now looks like self-checkout will win because it works pretty well these days, and it handles all the corner cases including product sold by weight, large items, identical-looking items (common in grocery), etc. With self-checkout, you don't need an account which is crucial for travelers. Self-checkout also supports cash for the unbanked. I've tried SC in multiple countries, just hit…

What's wrong with the usual check-out process? It also creates extra jobs for people that, most probably, would have difficulties finding new ones (some of the lady cashiers at the super-market close to me are well into their 50s). Plus, it forces you to have a little human interaction, that hasn't killed anyone, quite the contrary. More human interactions, even with strangers, less "what pills should I take to make my life less miserable".

Re: AWS Just Walk Out Technology

#40

Post by wenc »

tbrownaw wrote: post #6

> 60 percent of respondents state that long wait times to check out are a major concern while shopping in a store. The report also revealed that 80 percent of retail executive respondents believe that smart checkout is one of the most important solutions to invest in over the next five years. The local Kroger instances here have these handheld things you can use to scan items as you put them in your cart rather than…

> I don't exactly see a large number of people using them. Like, I think I might have seen one, once?

It's the wrong UX. I'm not sure I would scan my cart items -- that's making me do extra work.

Post reply on HN