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Amazon Go

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Re: Amazon Go

#621

Post by marvin »

vyrotek wrote: post #29

They will most certainly be tracking a lot more than just you picking up your item. The data they collect about shopping behavior will be interesting. Like, how long I hesitated before I picked up something, what I had already in my "cart" at the time, what deals I looked at but passed on, etc.

Combo it up with augmented reality glasses to highlight nearby items that combo well with what you just purchased. Pick a recipe and it can guide you to the ingredients you need. Lots of potential for upselling =) I don't even think it's all bad.

Re: Amazon Go

#622

Post by pbhjpbhj »

guntars wrote: post #595
CrLf wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Earth's population isn't getting any lower, those 10 jobs lost mean 10 people that will need support from the rest of society, just to survive. It's utopian to think job losses mean everybody gets their workload reduced, as this has never happened before. Automation has never reduced anybody's workloads. In fact, every reduction has happened to either eliminate de-facto slaves (industrial revolution) or because e…

They already need the support of the rest of society. No one survives on their own anymore. Automating a job like this gives more time and money back to people who buy groceries, which is almost everyone. Some of that can be used to support the lost jobs while they find something else to do.

>Some of that can be used to support the lost jobs //

It can, that's clear, the problem is convincing the people who didn't lose their jobs that they should take a take hike to support the others; that's not an easy sell in Western Capitalism at least.

Re: Amazon Go

#623

Post by user5994461 »

mikeash wrote: post #489
Ph0X wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't that we save 2 minutes, it's that there's now 10 less job we need. And that may seem as a negative at first, but the idea is that as more and more job get automated, prices should go down until the point where people will not have to work full weeks anymore, or rather, focus on learning and reaching higher education, rather than doing dummy work all day (aka just scanning items non stop for 8 hours).

It might be worthwhile to re-frame it. Rather than say "10 fewer jobs," say "10 people are no longer forced to spend eight hours a day sitting in front of a cash register." That assumes we can find something better for them to do, of course. But man, we have to try! Forcing people to do things a machine can do is inhumane.

Keep half of them to unstuck the automatic cash registry, watch buyers and restock the shop.

Re: Amazon Go

#624

Post by JustSomeNobody »

crazypyro wrote: post #544
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Social experience at feels contrived and not everyone may want it." This pretty much sums up _everything_. So, why do we even try to have societies? Edit: You use an example of going to a bar. You realize "... not everyone may want ..." to socialize at a bar? Some just go to drink.

I would hypothesize that wanting shopping to be focused on convenience over the social aspect is a much more common opinion (see: online shopping) than wanting to go to a loud, crowdy, noisy environment where you can pay a premium to drink alcohol and not be social. I don't think that is a fair comparison at all. Somethings are inherently social, like going to a bar, where as others are much more of a grey area. I wo…

My stepfather owned a bar for some decades. It's not quite as social as you would imagine. A great many people go there to drown "around" people, but not necessarily to drown "socially".

Re: Amazon Go

#625

Post by hourislate »

I like to take my time shopping. Look around read labels, check what are people are buying.

The part that kills me is checking out. I have always wondered why the cart can't scan your items and when you push it through a reader at checkout it just has everything totaled and charges you. The cashier can now bag your groceries. You could even have the cart recheck your purchase amount when the items are removed to be packed.

Someone out there hurry up and figure out the details :)

Re: Amazon Go

#626

Post by mikeash »

user5994461 wrote: post #623
mikeash wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be worthwhile to re-frame it. Rather than say "10 fewer jobs," say "10 people are no longer forced to spend eight hours a day sitting in front of a cash register." That assumes we can find something better for them to do, of course. But man, we have to try! Forcing people to do things a machine can do is inhumane.

Keep half of them to unstuck the automatic cash registry, watch buyers and restock the shop.

That certainly seems to be the solution so far.

Re: Amazon Go

#627

Post by pimlottc »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #513
Ph0X wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social experience at a grocery store feels contrived and not everyone may want it. Maybe you enjoy talking to your cashier but not everyone does, so why should everyone be forced to just because some do? It makes much more sense to keep groceries for grocery shopping, and social places such as bars for socializing.

"Social experience at feels contrived and not everyone may want it." This pretty much sums up _everything_. So, why do we even try to have societies? Edit: You use an example of going to a bar. You realize "... not everyone may want ..." to socialize at a bar? Some just go to drink.

This is an excellent point. For thousands of years, the default was every interaction was social. The idea that you should be able to walk into a standardized store and converse with a clerk like they were an automated sales droid is only a fairly recent phenomenon. These faceless, purely functional transactions - they are exception, not the norm.

Re: Amazon Go

#628

Post by dimino »

bennettfeely wrote: post #436

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 a…

What if they've solved every one of these problems? Would you like this technology then?

What does it take for you to be on board? Would you ever be on board, or would you keep coming up with problems you think you have with this?

Re: Amazon Go

#629

Post by mceoin »

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…

Third Spaces are important for building local communities, but why must they be supermarkets? Time being zero-sum game, the challenge/opportunity isn't how to preserve artifacts of accidental discourse, but to create new fora that enhance the tapestry of social life.

Phrased another way, inefficient services sector processes are imposed upon us, and the preferable alternative is "opt-in" (e.g. farmers markets, bars, or what have you).

You might also find interesting the pro-feminist discourse around automating "traditional" roles. Preserving long supermarket lines exacerbate social inequities you may not be so fond of.

Re: Amazon Go

#630

Post by ceedan »

chongli wrote: post #599
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…

Please, please don't ever forget this: the people who work at your grocery store are nice because they would be fired if they were rude to you. You may think they are your friends but they really aren't. They would not be there if they weren't getting paid for it.

"They would not be there if they weren't getting paid for it."

That's not true. There are nice people in the world.

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