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Amazon Go

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Re: Amazon Go

#431

Post by des429 »

delegate wrote: post #387

Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad. I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement).. I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables. I know all the people who work in these supermarket…

Capitalism says if the majority of people agree with you they will spend their money at the supermarkets w/ the friendly clerks.

Re: Amazon Go

#432

Post by coleca »

dpark wrote: post #121
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

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 cr…

It's actually an interesting problem to solve. You would think that a particular item weighs the same no matter which store you scan it in, but in reality item weight can vary. Sometimes it is due to the manufacturer changing the packaging or adding a free sample of some other product to the item, but more interesting it could be the region. One chain I worked in had issues w/self-checkout on paper items such as toilet paper, paper towels, etc. The items were all weighed in the home office in Massachusetts and input into the master item file. This worked fine in most of the stores. The stores in Florida however always had issues because, due to the humidity in the air, the paper would absorb some of that and be just heavier enough to trip the scales. Eventually it was fixed by adding a larger weight variance allowance to the southern stores' POS registers.

Re: Amazon Go

#433

Post by mikeash »

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…

The emphasis on machine learning and computer version makes me think that they're recognizing the products based on what they look like, not just where they are.

Re: Amazon Go

#434

Post by fleshyblob »

pat2man wrote: post #258
CorpOverreach wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming your Amazon Go account is tied to a credit card. In which case, it's not Amazon's problem. They got their money - you now owe your credit card company.

But that card could be maxed out.

In some cases it is still possible to go over a card limit through the way transaction processing works. For instance, when you go to a restaurant and pay in the US they will run the card for the amount of the bill (which may not decline because you have enough $), but you might add a tip on the receipt. The tip will be added to the final charge and taken from your account, potentially making you over the limit. This is usually never stopped but might cause you fees and banking headaches. They may implement a similar procedure like gas stations usually do, by pre-authorizing a fixed dollar amount such as $50 or $100 and sending through the real value to collect after.

Re: Amazon Go

#435

Post by Itsdijital »

delegate wrote: post #387

Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad. I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement).. I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables. I know all the people who work in these supermarket…

I get where you are coming from, and I stand with what you say, but this is a losing battle.

It's cheaper to only have 1 person watching to make sure everyone scans into the the store. Really there is no need to elaborate beyond that point alone. Also it cuts theft because you must scan to get in.

I don't think every store is going to change to this model overnight. It will be gradual over years and years. But it will happen.

Re: Amazon Go

#436

Post by bennettfeely »

What happens when my phone battery runs out while shopping in the store?

What happens if I don't replace an item in the exact same place I picked it up? I'm charged for it I assume.

How do you purchase produce or vegetables, all these thing need to be packaged individually I assume. So much for concern for the environment...

Is the occasional line in a store really worth having your every movement tracked by Amazon and your image taken throughout your time at this store? Sounds like a store straight out of 1984.

Are you poor or without "a supported smartphone"? Forget about it.

Amazon is a company that tries new things and that's good, but here we have yet another example of tech nerds "solving" a problem that doesn't exist.

Re: Amazon Go

#437

Post by kennystone »

The queues at stores have always been the worst part of the experience. You put stuff in a bag, which is effectively a queue, then you wait in a line - a human queue, then you de-queue your cart on a belt, which is another queue, it gets scanned item by item and then placed right back into a similar bag to where it started. Good job Amazon for finally working to eliminate the queues.

Re: Amazon Go

#438

Post by anonbanker »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #408
anonbanker wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upvoted for sensibility. in many rural areas of the United States, it is literally impossible to shop anywhere but Wal-Mart. Nebraska and Kansas had a rather large economic dive in the early 2000's due to the expansion of the Waltons. Their business plan is essentially: 1) Announce intention to move into area 2) woo politicians for financial kickbacks to subsidize expansion 3) launch with prices _far_ lower than all…

> 4) Wait as other businesses run out of money due to not being able to compete on price. > 5) raise prices once monopoly is established. Do you have any evidence of this? I'm originally from northern Arkansas and my town has store #0002. It opened in the 60s, but it was converted to one of the first Supercenters in the early 90s. As far as I know none of the local grocery stores there have closed - both of them are…

I included evidence here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13107167

Re: Amazon Go

#440

Post by maerF0x0 »

0xfeba wrote: post #252
makecheck wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One interesting benefit of the “detect removal from shelf” concept is that there might finally be a time stamp associated with the removal of the item. Right now, if you see a random perishable item sitting on a shelf, you HAVE to throw it away because it could have been there for a long time. On the other hand, if you can see that some Frozen Peas were only taken off the shelf 2 minutes ago, you can just put them ba…

> I'm sorry but if you cost the store $25 by leaving a damned ROAST in the cereal aisle, I would be perfectly happy to never let you in the store again. Wouldn't a better solution be to charge the customer for the roast and if they complain, you explain: "sorry, you didn't put it on the proper shelf, the technology considers that as a purchase", and possibly eat the cost in the form of some incentive to come back to…

> Wouldn't a better solution be to charge the customer for the roast and if they complain, you explain: "sorry, you didn't put it on the proper shelf, the technology considers that as a purchase", and possibly eat the cost in the form of some incentive to come back to try to keep them. The ones that don't complain either didn't notice, or they don't care enough to stop shopping, or they won't come back like you suggest.

One could simply retrain the customer by literally charging them the moment they take it off the shelf, refunding them if they put it back. It would look crazy on your bank/credit bill but i think a legion of micropayments maybe the future anyways. There might be an opportunity there to turn a stream of 100s of micropayments into meaningful data for the end user.

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