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Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

gizmodo.com

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Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#71

Post by giantg2 »

mikehollinger wrote: post #45
speff wrote: post #3

> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. That line was unintentionally hilarious to me. Like looking inside a TV and finding a bunch of fast-working little people drawing images.

> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. Yup. I got the chance to go shopping at one in 2018 (so it's been a while). You could tell there was some "reconciliation" happening, because your receipt didn't show up until 20-30 minutes after you left. My guess is that this was some person via mechanical turk…

"Of course, my colleague and I (who were working on computer vision at the time) did stuff like take our bags off, put them in the middle of the floor, and roll a can of soda into the bag, just to see what would happen."

I'm many jurisdictions this could be enough to get you prosecuted for shoplifting if it evaded payment.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#72

Post by JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B »

_xivi wrote: post #43
phh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had that in France for years, and noone uses that as far as I can tell. The main usage I see is mainly self checkout. Please note that I'm biased towards dense areas. We have on-the-go scanning in super stores as well, I feel it's not being used but I could be wrong

> We've had that in France for years, and noone uses that as far as I can tell. Why not? what makes it unpopular?

I don’t know if it’s really unpopular, but it’s only used at self checkout in Decathlon which is a chain of supermarkets selling sports equipment and clothes.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#73

Post by kbos87 »

> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts.

I know this is ripe to use as a way to dunk on Amazon, but I sincerely doubt that it was as inane as it sounds. They likely had this workforce to train a system that they hoped would eventually operate autonomously. That being said, it sounds like it never panned out.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#74

Post by Workaccount2 »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #52
jeffwask wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop and Shop (in New England) had hand scanners you could do this with 15 years ago. I have been shocked that the technology didn't spread. It was so easy to scan and bag then just plug the scanner in at checkout and pay.

Stop and Shop now has self-checkout where you have to scan and move your items one at a time into your bag, because it's doing continuous weight-based reconciliation. So if you have six of the same yoghurt, you have to scan them and then place them in your bag one at a time. And if you have a 24 pack of sodas, you need to haul it out of your cart onto the scales as you're checking out. And if anything goes wrong (ite…

There should be a hand scanner and a "skip bagging" option that allows you to keep heavy things on your cart. I'm pretty sure I have seen it at stop and shop before too.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#75

Post by Animats »

weinzierl wrote: post #48
phh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had that in France for years, and noone uses that as far as I can tell. The main usage I see is mainly self checkout. Please note that I'm biased towards dense areas. We have on-the-go scanning in super stores as well, I feel it's not being used but I could be wrong

We have it in Germany for years too (in densely populated areas) and my subjective impression is that next to none was using it for a long time but that it's picking up slowly. For one thing I think these things take years for broad acceptance and for another the current scanners with their bright and large displays are just what was needed to make it attractive for the young and elderly.

> scanners with their bright and large displays

Give a retailer a large display, and they will fill it with ads, with the important info in tiny type. Or even a small display. I've seen user-facing credit card terminals where the small screen is 3/4 ads, 1/4 transaction.

If they'd just put up "Place card against screen here" marker that was 1) where the antenna is, and 2) fully synchronized with when the system is ready for a card read...

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#76

Post by walterbell »

giantg2 wrote: post #71
mikehollinger wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. Yup. I got the chance to go shopping at one in 2018 (so it's been a while). You could tell there was some "reconciliation" happening, because your receipt didn't show up until 20-30 minutes after you left. My guess is that this was some person via mechanical turk…

"Of course, my colleague and I (who were working on computer vision at the time) did stuff like take our bags off, put them in the middle of the floor, and roll a can of soda into the bag, just to see what would happen." I'm many jurisdictions this could be enough to get you prosecuted for shoplifting if it evaded payment.

After advertising "Just Walk Out"?

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#77

Post by [deleted] »

speff wrote: post #3

> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. That line was unintentionally hilarious to me. Like looking inside a TV and finding a bunch of fast-working little people drawing images.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#78

Post by Bluecobra »

brightball wrote: post #17
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I can scan as I shop, that could save me time. I am repeatedly stuck behind individuals with ludicrously full carts, ill suited to self checkout.

Sam's Club does this now. You scan on the mobile app while you shop, then pay right there on the app. It's great.

You can also do this at Walmart (with Walmart+), though you still need to stop at the self checkout on the way out to get a receipt. It's pretty handy. I wish Costco would adopt this too.

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#79

Post by avhon1 »

saddist0 wrote: post #10
speff wrote: post #3

> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. That line was unintentionally hilarious to me. Like looking inside a TV and finding a bunch of fast-working little people drawing images.

It isn't that bad an idea. Imagine that next time you are drunk, you can hire a driver who will drive you back home remotely (along with some AI to stop the car in case connection goes away).

Like a taxi or bus?

Re: Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

#80

Post by Ajay-p »

I recently finished a book called "The Secret Life of Groceries" by Benjamin Lorr. Amazing book. I learned that grocery and supermarket stores of the past, seemed to have worked very hard to give the best customer experience possible. Today it feels that customer experience has been replaced by cost cutting.

Self checkout has been rife with problems, internally and socially, but supermarkets keep pushing them. I can only conclude it is cost cutting.

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