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Amazon, replacing Grocery Stores

CleffyCleffy Member RarePosts: 6,412
in Off-Topic Discussion
First they killed Bookstores, then they killed books, then they killed other brick and mortar stores, then they eliminated the need to leave your home for food. Now they are coming out with a Grocery Chain.
Amazon is starting to test a new service that eliminates the checkout line in Grocery stores. You come in with a smart phone, tap the scanner to tell when you enter the store, you pick up your prepackaged groceries, it adds the items to your virtual cart, then when you leave the store it charges you for the items that you didn't put back. All without a cashier.

Comments

  • GruntyGrunty Member EpicPosts: 8,657
    edited December 2016
    Amazon isn't the only one providing this service.  Also this is an old service that used to be readily available from grocery and drug stores before the late '60s.  They would even deliver to your door.
    "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone."  Robin Williams
  • waynejr2waynejr2 Member EpicPosts: 7,769
    Grunty said:
    Amazon isn't the only one providing this service.  Also this is an old service that used to be readily available from grocery and drug stores before the late '60s.  They would even deliver to your door.

    But if they never heard of it then it is brand new!
    http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2010/QBlog190810A.html  

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  • CleffyCleffy Member RarePosts: 6,412
    I wonder if we are talking about the same service. I am talking about Amazon Go. They just announced their first trial store. It's like fresh and easy without the checkout line.
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    yeah there is some confusion Amazon Go is an approach that has not happened before.

    We are not talking about self checkouts, we are talking about zero checkouts.
    walk in, grab it, walk out.

    Now a lot of people have spend a great deal of mental effort into finding reasons why this will not work but almost all of it assumes Amazon is the only company that has access to camera technology. The reality is, any company can do what Amazon is doing. 

    So the ground breaking aspect is not so much Amazon specifically but rather the underlining technology and cost effectiveness of that technology that many other companies (like Walmart) can replicate.


    the largest take away for me on this news story as well as the first drone delivery that was made a few months ago, driverless cars and somethign that is called 'lights out manufacturing' is that society really needs to start thinking now how its going to run itself in a situation where there a huge amount of wealth but not a lot that needs to be physically done by humans. That day is coming fast and in the meantime what is happening instead is debates about where to put 'manufacturing jobs' as if such jobs will exist ANYWHERE in the future, let alone a specific country.

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • GruntyGrunty Member EpicPosts: 8,657
    edited December 2016
    This isn't technology. This is trying to turn a retail store into a warehouse with a will call desk. Amazon is a warehouse management company with an online catalog.

    This means they only need to meet warehouse code compliance requirements instead of retail code compliance and fewer code compliance fines.  That means a lower property tax rate, a smaller property footprint by the elimination of parking spaces per square feet, less strict fire code/fire exit requirements, significantly lower power usage due to little/no climate control, more efficient storage per square feet, less shoplifting and related security.

    It also means no on-site bakery or butchery, no fresh food self selection, no impulse or 'Oh, I forgot...' buying, no pharmacy or related consultation, changing retail zoning to warehouse zoning in neighborhoods, and probably cheaper contract labor that will never see the end client or receive any benefits.  

    Good bye customer service.
    Post edited by Grunty on
    "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone."  Robin Williams
  • CleffyCleffy Member RarePosts: 6,412
    Once again, I wonder if we are talking about the same Amazon service.
  • GruntyGrunty Member EpicPosts: 8,657
    Cleffy said:
    Once again, I wonder if we are talking about the same Amazon service.
    Then take as the rantings of an angry consumer attempting to foretell the future of local retail and the economic depression that ensues when automation replaces minimum wage all for the sake of maximizing the profits of a remote mega corporation.
    "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone."  Robin Williams
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    edited December 2016
    Grunty said:
    Cleffy said:
    Once again, I wonder if we are talking about the same Amazon service.
    Then take as the rantings of an angry consumer attempting to foretell the future of local retail and the economic depression that ensues when automation replaces minimum wage all for the sake of maximizing the profits of a remote mega corporation.
    its not exactly that simple.

    The utopian vision of a world in which we as humans dont have to work as much because robots can do most of the work for us is becoming a reality. Our economic models however are not prepared for it but the wealth is there 


    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

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