Posted on 02/27/2020 8:26:10 AM PST by RightGeek
Amazon has opened its first-ever full-size, "cashierless" grocery store, providing shoppers an experience that does not require any human interaction.
The project, called Amazon Go Grocery, has been in development for five years. Starting Tuesday, customers can scan a QR code from Amazon's mobile app, walk into the Seattle store, take any item they want to purchase and walk out without paying at a cashier station.
Amazon said it is employing technology that senses when a product is taken from or returned to a shelf and keeps track of items in a virtual cart. When a customer leaves, they are sent a receipt and their Amazon account is charged.
The first and so far only Amazon Go Grocery store sits at 10,400 square feet, while a typical grocery store averages 40,000 square feet, CNBC reported.
The new store contains nearly 5,000 items, including produce, dairy, packaged seafood, meats, baked goods, meal kits, household items and a full liquor selection.
It includes some items sourced from Whole Foods providers, though an executive told CNBC that the Amazon Go Grocery story aims to complement brands that can be found at Whole Foods.
The same cashierless scanning technology has previously been used at several Amazon Go locations, designed to service business centers with breakfast and lunch foods.
The new Amazon Go Grocery is created for consumers to fill their pantries with items to cook meals at home, not just premade food.
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The store will have several employees on staff to start, helping with stocking shelves and aiding any shoppers who may need assistance.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Veggies are most likely weighed on a scale tied in with over all charging mechanism. IOW, you put a bunch of bananas on the scale and the screen asks you to select the itmes name from a list or a picture and then applies the proper per pound price for that item and adds it to your total. This is now done in stores which have self check out.
I wouldn’t do it, but it’s a problem:
https://crosscut.com/2019/10/whats-seattle-doing-solve-its-shoplifting-problem-nothing-really
https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-area-shoplifters-doing-the-dirty-work-of-crime-bosses
No need for a QR code from Amazon’s mobile app.
As long as you shoplift under $900 of goods, you won’t be arrested. If you are charged, no bail will be demanded. Black lives matter and Antifa go to the head of the line.
You're lucky. It screws up more than you think and causes a lot of aggravation for its victims.
I won't use it. I take the 2nd street bridge.
There will be shoplifting problems at stores such as this. I hope they have thought through how to deal with it. Otherwise this experiment, which should work well as long as all are honest, will fail badly.
The devil is in the details. I would like to know them.
I have to wonder if sufficient safeguards are built in to keep theft losses from exceeding the savings of fewer employees.
I think it could be a good place to get mugged, or worse.
To be honest, I’m tired of rude checkers and dealing with idiots in line.
I self-check every chance I get.
It was a great idea. Wish they’d have done it decades ago.
***
Agreed.
...nope...
...this system uses cameras, shelf sensors and AI...
...to track what the shopper gets...
...them puters have gotten perty smart...
...with all that ML and VA...
“”It cuts overhead costs and lowers prices throughout the store.””
There’s a heck of a lot more going on in a grocery store than at the checkout counter....so I don’t see where the savings is.
I believe it is done with facial recognition cameras. There were dozens of cameras on the high ceilings. And most likely camera lenses in front of items on the shelves. You don’t scan any items with your phone at all. You go through a turnstile that only turns if you scanned your Amazon ID. I believe your photo is taken at a dozen angles at that moment.
You are correct, as long as all people in the store have set up accounts to be billed.
If someone without an account sneaks in, blends in with the crowd, blends in with the people exiting the store with their full shopping carts, There could be a big shoplifting problem. They are still going to need actual human being employees on the premises to provide at least some minimal level or appearance of security.
I think that if your face is not in the current system taken at the turnstile and cameras cannot link to an account or facial software after seeing you remove an item from the shelf then there is an alarm immediately.
Just like current self-checkouts, which are nice but usually screws up with veggies.
Woman at Carl’s Jr.: Your kids are starving. Carl’s Jr. believes no child should go hungry. You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl’s Jr.
When I see that stuff in public places I chalk it up to the woman just not having any manners, being rude, violating my personal space, being too familiar, or just being ditzy. I don’t pick up on it as an attraction thing. But you’re probably right, that’s what it is.
What could possibly go wrong?
Try our Extra *BIG ASS TACO* now with more *MOLECULES*
“I avoid self-checkout like the COVID-19.”
As do I.
One thing is I like the human interaction. I also like that it gives young people starter jobs that require little training instead relying on personality and attentiveness to others.
I don’t mind waiting in line most days. I’m retired, I have plenty of time.
I try and get the car behind to draft me like a Nascar at Daytona but the cameras always grab me anyway. I only do the bridge 2-3 times a year.
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