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Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#551

Post by kungfulkoder »

ericmcer wrote: post #520
jzymbaluk wrote: post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why that hasn't caught on in the states. My first thought is vandalism/people destroying or stealing the automated equipment, but surely that's not a unique problem to the US

My experience is mostly in the Bay Area, but people are extremely excited here to destroy anything that can be tied to a big corporation. Smashing the dumb E-scooters, beating up Waymos or just bricking a banks windows were just like regular events here. The culture definitely idealized and encouraged it.

Not just big tech. Destroying anything public has been common for a long, long time. Stealing from vending machines, destroying public bathrooms, throwing out random trash on the sidewalk/road, etc.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#552

Post by iLoveOncall »

freejazz wrote: post #527
iLoveOncall wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One transaction per minute is nothing at all when the transaction can be as simple as "did the person put that back on the shelf" with a 5 seconds clip.

If it was clear from just a 5 second clip it probably wouldn't have needed to be reviewed

Hum, yes it does? It's not because it's not a complex action that it's necessarily supported by the models.

It's not hard to imagine edge scenarios for which the models aren't trained, like a customer dropping an item, or putting an item back in a random shelf instead of the one it's intended for, or someone picking up that previously randomly placed item, etc.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#553

Post by wan23 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #96
Bluecobra wrote: post #76

Doesn’t surprise me. I frequently shop at Amazon Fresh in store and it’s a mediocre experience. It’s a poorly run store with no visible manager making sure things are in order. You constantly have to work around employees fulfilling online orders and they aren’t helpful. I always find expired groceries/produce on the shelf so I have to spend a lot of extra time inspecting each item. The only reason I put up with thei…

Wegmans opened a store at the Brooklyn Navy Yard just to show people in NYC what a real supermarket looks like. I mean, you might be impressed with Whole Foods if all you know are those bodegas that have around NYC but if you've been to a real supermarket Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and such are not impressive at all.

I like that store but it's not exactly convenient. I'm a New Yorker - my apartment is small and I've never had a driver's license in my life. I need to buy small amounts of food frequently rather than load up, so going to a place that has kind of middling versions of everything isn't super useful compared to places that have smaller selections of good things. I spend a lot of time at Trader Joe's for example, though I buy bread from a bakery, tea from a tea shop, meat and cheese from a specialty shop, etc.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#554

Post by belter »

belter wrote: post #178
cmiles8 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such tactics sound… illegal

The password is Melania... https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/07/when-billionaire-go... https://pagesix.com/2026/01/27/hollywood/inside-melania-trum...

https://youtu.be/B1zKWNB2rho?t=230

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#555

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jeffrallen wrote: post #548
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America had 24/7 grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, and even some Walmarts before COVID. Now, at least in my area, thats a thing of the past. Still not as bad as Switzerland where everything closes early on Saturday and is closed on sundays. China has had 24/7 McDonald’s since forever, well, and lord of other things as well. But not grocery stores at least.

I don't know if anyone from Switzerland explained why this is to you, or if you are interested. Swiss business hours limits are for worker protection. You are lucky to hang out on HN and work whenever you want. You neighbor who keeps your groceries on the shelf for you is happy to be home with his or her children in the evening instead of in the store. Having a high trust society also includes treating all people wit…

I lived in Switzerland a couple of years so I know how it goes. I thoroughly enjoyed by Sundays, even if I couldn't do my laundry, and had a nice routine setup where I would go do some coding work in Lausanne's museum cafe that was open from 11 to 4, with some croissants and drinks bought from the local Coop Pronto. Then after a run along the lake, maybe buy an economist at the train station and have a meal at McDonalds next to the train station (train stations of course had an exemption and the businesses around it could be open).

The lack of options creates new options, I guess.

That being said, after leaving Switzerland I was in China for 9 years where I could barely tell it was Sunday at all.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#556

Post by freejazz »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #552
freejazz wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was clear from just a 5 second clip it probably wouldn't have needed to be reviewed

Hum, yes it does? It's not because it's not a complex action that it's necessarily supported by the models. It's not hard to imagine edge scenarios for which the models aren't trained, like a customer dropping an item, or putting an item back in a random shelf instead of the one it's intended for, or someone picking up that previously randomly placed item, etc.

Just a big assumption on your part when the more reasonable conclusion was just that it was not working and it was not a 5 second thing (hence why receipts were taking so long, etc).

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#557

Post by liveoneggs »

Bluecobra wrote: post #511
kevstev wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is actually. I used to work in grocery e-commerce. The model is pickers in a store --> a "dark store" that looks more like a home Depot with only pickers, not open to public --> warehouse like environment with various levels of automation. This was a bit before the model of having Uber driver type delivery though. I am guessing that having the deliverers be close to the deliverees make it more economical to kee…

Peapod? I really miss their drivers, I had the nicest guy on my route and they always handled cold deliveries properly in those big green crates.

FreshDirect in NYC is the gold standard.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#558

Post by liveoneggs »

kevstev wrote: post #398
liveoneggs wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The delivery shoppers are especially bad at whole foods. There really must be a critical mass where having a grocery warehouse makes more sense than these people meandering around.

There is actually. I used to work in grocery e-commerce. The model is pickers in a store --> a "dark store" that looks more like a home Depot with only pickers, not open to public --> warehouse like environment with various levels of automation. This was a bit before the model of having Uber driver type delivery though. I am guessing that having the deliverers be close to the deliverees make it more economical to kee…

I can see how minimizing drive times is cheaper in aggregate but there is just so much commercial space here in Atlanta..

I suppose you pay for the retail stores either way so the threshold to justify a "dark store" is pretty high unless it can double up as the regional grocery warehouse or something.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#559

Post by frutiger »

NickC25 wrote: post #514
frutiger wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know. I would still be impressed if Bezos’s w-2 income was below $400k. Edit: also you need to pay the loan back, and the income to pay it back is taxable. You can die with an outstanding loan, but i’m sure bezos lenders will structure the loan to make sure they get most of their money back.

Or you just get another loan from another party to pay the initial loan back. Bezos probably has an army of banks, private lenders, and private capital connections to effectively have a lifetime of loans against his Amazon shares. It's a pyramid scheme, except the guy at the top actually has the money and collateral.

These lenders will want some interest. The collateral is only useful if he defaults. If the collateral generates realized gains then those are taxed.

Re: Amazon closing its Fresh and Go stores

#560

Post by lmm »

NickC25 wrote: post #486
lmm wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's a good tax credit, incentivising something society wants to incentivise, then everyone it applies to should get it; that helps social cohesion. If you make billionaires ineligible for tax credits they'll oppose them (and why shouldn't they?)

>then everyone it applies to should get it; that helps social cohesion You know what else helps social cohesion? One person NOT being able to effectively rig the economic and political landscape because they were outsized beneficiaries of it. You know what also helps social cohesion? Someone who realizes that they've got more than enough money, and realizes that they don't have a life-or-death need for more, and is h…

> You know what also helps social cohesion?

> Someone who realizes that they've got more than enough money, and realizes that they don't have a life-or-death need for more, and is happy to pay their taxes.

Sure. And the best way to make that happen is to make a tax system that feels fair to everyone.

> Because they've literally got billions of dollars, and the tax credit system was not designed with extreme outliers in mind. "Oh jeeze, I'm just a billionaire, woe is me, I'm not eligible for a $2k tax refund, the world will end".

Why shouldn't they be eligible? If we think giving $2k to those who have children is in the public interest (and I do!), it's still in the public interest when it's a billionaire.

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