Posted on 09/24/2017 5:39:35 AM PDT by kevcol
If Walmart would take the employees they would need to deliver food, and simply put them on the checkout registers, it would significantly reduce one of the reasons I rarely visit their store - long checkout lines despite an abundance of empty, unmanned checkout stations.
I suppose your smart refrigerator can keep track of what you use, and since it would be connected to the internet as is your front door lock, the refrigerator can place the order and let the Wal-mart delivery person in any time it wants. And since the Internet of Things doesn’t have much in the way of security, anybody with minimal hacking skills can get in, as well.
Surely gonna lead to more of those WMart Pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not to mention that if the fridge can be loaded from outside the house, it can also be UNLOADED from the outside....and all those straight arrow, stand-up types from Wally World would know it. What could POSSIBLY go wrong.
I don't have that problem. I just head for the self-checkout section. They work a lot better than the ones at Kroger or Albertsons, and they've even added the scanner guns so you don't have to put large items on the tracking table. You do have to get approval to buy alcohol, and you can check your appearance in the small color monitor that's linked to one of the cameras.
Or order online, and have them bring it to your car.
I think time of day and day of the week have a large
influence on length of check out lines.
Aside from the obvious robberies and rapes, homeowners are opening themselves up to costly lawsuits when their dogs attack strangers coming in uninvited. What happens when they leave the door open and the cat gets out and run over? What happens when grandpa hears someone rummaging around downstairs in the kitchen and blows their brains out?
I don’t have that problem. I just head for the self-checkout section.
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They have added another self-checkout area in the Walmart I visit.
Usually can just walk up and begin scanning the products. Time of
day and paydays also contribute to the length of lines.
Good examples of this is online shopping (most people on Free Republic hadn't heard of Amazon when it started), paying for purchases with a mobile device (i.e. ApplePay), and having strangers pick you up in their personal cars (Uber, Lyft).
In this case, I don't think Wal-Mart employees entering your home is ever going to be a thing. However, what I do see is more refrigerators kept in garages or some type of refrigerated device kept outside the home and accessible by a one-time keycode - probably bar-coded on your order form.
Already, millions of people (including myself) are having meal kits delivered to their doorstep each week by way of upstarts like Blue Apron, Home Chef, Hello Fresh, Sun Basket and Martha & Marley Spoon. This is a rapidly growing space and a very competitive market. This is one of the main reason Amazon acquired Whole Foods, Inc.
The next step obviously is moving beyond meal kits packed in ice (if you don't get the box inside by evening, the ice is melted and the food is getting warm) and having a food delivery system where your food will remain fresh for several days after delivery with no human intervention. You can be away for the weekend and bring your purchases inside the house (or have your servants do it).
Some here scoffed at meal delivery services as well but they are both economical and very nutritious. Speaking for myself, I get three meals delivered each week for my wife and I for under $10 per meal. The ingredients are shipped to us (including any necessary spices) and they are restaurant quality with excellent instructions (yes, you do have to know how to do some basic cooking). Takes about a half hour to prepare as you have all the ingredients pre-measured and ready to mix and cook.
So home delivery of food items is a huge market and within 10 years, most Americans, especially younger affluent consumers, will have the majority of their groceries delivered to their homes.
One vision I have is that Amazon.com trucks (and other competitors) will have refrigerated trucks circling neighborhoods laden with common food items. If you are making dinner at home and forget to get mushrooms, you can have them delivered to your doorstep in a matter of a few minutes. This is the future of food shopping as grocery stores are low-margin, inefficient and soon to be as archaic as sending telegrams, writing personal checks to pay bills, stamping envelopes and rotary telephones.
Police: Did you think they are honest? A Walmart employee?!?!
Same here. I went yesterday and will be suffering from it for the next four days. Still, it’s better than having strangers in the house.
No more hiding that diamond necklace in the frozen peas.
I hear you. I cringe every time the little crazy woman wants to go shopping. Or wants to go with me on my quick errand, which ends up not being very quick.
If I forget the mushrooms, I’ll made do without them rather than paying $25 for rush delivery for 5 mushrooms. If you have the money for $10 pasta dishes (which most of those Blue Apron etc. are) you still must make yourself, then that’s your choice. Not mine nor my budget’s.
Those ice packs don’t work when the mailman leaves it out on your porch all day in 100 degree weather. Or it’s left in his truck and melts. I’ve yet to get one sent by a well meaning friend during the holidays that wasn’t already melted and leaking through the package yet the mailman drops it at the doorstep with me watching as he scurries off before having to deal with the problem. Thanks but no thanks, just send a cheap card.
Outside refrigerators should greatly upset the enviro freaks. That’s a second high energy use appliance that’s placed outside in the summer heat so it must run more. First time those low IQ delivery people leave it open and everything is ruined and Walmart will have a huge payout. Multiply that by thousands and that’ll be the end of the service. Can’t wait for the kid next door to hack into the code and steals ice cream.
One of my pet peeves is when I’m dining with or visiting someone and they just look at their phone. My son is about to break up with his longtime girlfriend over her phone. She can’t even tear herself away from her phone to ask how his day was, and she doesn’t care.
As for being able to afford it, I'm not ashamed to admit I'm affluent and that it is a trifling expense for me to have the service. I work long hours so it's very convenient for the wife and I to have a quality meal during the workweek at home without having to do much grocery shopping. The other two nights, we go to local restaurants and on weekend, I take over the cooking, usually on the grill or in winter, I make awesome roasts and homemade soups.
Where did you come up with $25 for mushrooms? That sounds crazy.
Something to be planned and carefully executed; like a raid on an enemy stronghold.
‘Get in and get out’ with as few casualties as possible.
For women, it is more like the harvesting of tomatoes; carefully walking down the rows carefully inspecting each one for the perfect ripeness.
And the harvesting takes as long as it takes because you want just the right tomatoes for your sauce.
I love it too! We go to Kroger & they have a clearance section & we have gotten some killer marked down items. I just enjoy picking out my food & planning meals in my head. I don’t want someone else choosing my lemons ; )
Its because we want the best & we want to please!
Interesting...I think you will be correct about home food delivery. I’m curious, what is the delivery cost of the meals you order? (I spose I could go look, too...:*)
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