Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#461

Post by expedition32 » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:28 AM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #367

Cornbilly wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their initial advertising claimed near full automation by their "AI" system when, in reality, they had people manually handling around 70% of the transactions. I get that this is a message board for YC, so lying about your company's tech is considered almost a virtue but that is an unreasonably big lie to tell without getting your hand-slapped by some regulatory body or investor backlash.

Who cares how they monitor and validate transactions? That's Amazon's problem, not mine. Indians, AI, whatever, meh.

In my country they have 16 year old kids working in the supermarket. They are pretty cheap to employ and these jobs train the boys and girls into becoming adults.

It would be a shame if this shared experience was taken over by third worlders.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#462

Post by dbspin » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC

The only time I tried one of these it locked my credit card, while visiting the US. Not a fun time.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#463

Post by kilroy123 » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:36 AM UTC

justincormack wrote: post #117

Every time I check I am still amazed that the Amazon Hair Salon in London is still open. https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?node=26247109031

I live close to that place. When I walk by I'm dumbfounded too and often think who would go there?

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#464

Post by kilroy123 » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:38 AM UTC

s08148692 wrote: post #21

Shame, shopping there felt like magic. I hope the technology is developed in future without having to rely on remote workers validating transactions. Definitely felt like the future of shopping

I quite liked the ones in London. I loved the experience of just walking in and out really quick.

I knew someone who worked at Amazon UK and they told me years ago they were doing very baldy and there was talk of them closing.

So I'm not surprised to hear this at all.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#465

Post by reaperducer » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:48 AM UTC

nayroclade wrote: post #20

I always found the "Amazon 4-Star" name funny. Presumably when it was first pitched internally it was called "Amazon 5-Star", then they realised that meant they basically couldn't sell anything, since nothing popular gets a full 5 stars. So they changed it to "4-Star", which just sounds awkward, and lacks the suggestion of top-quality that "5-Star" would. Instead, it's like the "Amazon Not-too-bad" store. I was amaze…

Presumably when it was first pitched internally it was called "Amazon 5-Star", then they realised that meant they basically couldn't sell anything, since nothing popular gets a full 5 stars. So they changed it to "4-Star"

This would not be the first off-by-one error at Amazon.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#466

Post by reaperducer » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:50 AM UTC

schoen wrote: post #440

FireBeyond wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fiancee used to work at a place called "Decent Pizza". Their motto "Not the best but not the worst."

Apparently PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) was originally named after a fictional grocery store called Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery.

Sounds like something straight out of A Prairie Home Companion.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#467

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:50 AM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #99

eithed wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did naming things have to reflect reality? ie it's "Burger King" and not "Bearable Burger"

It was a pretty good burger until 2013 when they changed the machine they used to cook the burgers. Now it's worse than McD's and that's saying something.

Which is ironic because when BK came to the Netherlands a lot of people went to it because its burgers were better than McD's.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#468

Post by Cthulhu_ » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 10:51 AM UTC

FireBeyond wrote: post #400

eithed wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did naming things have to reflect reality? ie it's "Burger King" and not "Bearable Burger"

My fiancee used to work at a place called "Decent Pizza". Their motto "Not the best but not the worst."

Honestly I respect it. I wouldn't object to a "regular food" takeout / delivery service.

Actually, these do exist - they deliver daily hot meals to the elderly, for example.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#469

Post by scoot » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 11:11 AM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #467

PaulHoule wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a pretty good burger until 2013 when they changed the machine they used to cook the burgers. Now it's worse than McD's and that's saying something.

Which is ironic because when BK came to the Netherlands a lot of people went to it because its burgers were better than McD's.

That's a pretty low bar

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#470

Post by BoredPositron » Wed, Jan 28, 2026, 11:13 AM UTC

davidst wrote: post #460

BoredPositron wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get being proud of the work done but if they scrapped the project after 10 years because of feasibility I don't think the tech rolled out at the start was "working" as intended.

The first iteration of the tech reached the accuracy needed to support just-walk-out for a small-format store. It did achieve that goal. I left the project before it went further. I imagined, at the time, future goals would be to scale store size and product variety while reducing the cost of the technology, but I have no insight into how that progressed. I am sorry to learn it's been shut down.

But they started to have more clerks at the stores 2-3 weeks after launch and they were still present when I last visited one.