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> It’s a bit overkill, I think, to replace a checker or self-checkout stand with a hundred cameras that unblinkingly record every tiny movement. What’s to gain?
by bambax 9y ago
> It’s a bit overkill, I think, to replace a checker or self-checkout stand with a hundred cameras that unblinkingly record every tiny movement. What’s to gain? 20 or 30 seconds of your time back?
My thoughts exactly. What's the point of all this? What is the problem that they're trying to solve?
Also, the monitoring done in that kind of store is very different from security monitoring systems we have today, because it knows who it's watching. The fact that it doesn't use facial recognition is pointless since it has your identity and account # the minute you enter the store.
It can study you: not just what you buy, but how you think.
I'm also curious if it would work with how I shop. Usually in small supermarkets I put my bag or trolley in one corner of the shop and bring products back to it. It's maybe a little inefficient but it lets me walk unencumbered. Would it know my bag is mine?
- tinokid 9y agoAgreed. we'll see if it catches on. Existing stores could catch up a lot by improving the self checkout experience. Perhaps add a super-express method for single items with e-receipt only.
- jakobegger 9y agoI would love this! I usually go shopping with a backpack, and in a store like this I could put stuff into my backpack directly from the shelf, rather than trying to put all my items into my bag as quickly as possible at the checkout counter with half a dozen impatient people behind me.
- justonepost 9y agoAlso, shoplifting. 1.7% of gross sales, which given 2% profit margins, you can see how profit can almost double with this. It's a 32B dollar opportunity. Economy of scale will also help reduce worker costs.
- rtpg 9y agoAn optimists view: being a cashier is not a great job, so we can make sure that nobody ever has to do it again. (Supposedly this view is combined with basic income or something)
- quadcore 9y agoI've replaced my job as software engineer for cashier and I like it much. No bullshit, no politics, no bully, no discrimination. Way happier.
- sleepychu 9y agoI'm an SE because I like problem solving for my job. Did you find you missed that when you stopped doing it? Do you still do software for fun?
- quadcore 9y agoI've found that most of the time, problem solving was not problem solving but working around problem. Good point though. Yes I still code for fun.
- madeofpalk 9y ago> No bullshit, no politics, no bully, no discrimination Heh. If you think that bullshit, politics, bullying or discrimination can't exist in a cashier job, then you're very very mistaken. These things happen in workplaces, not industries.
- quadcore 9y agoThe way I see it, some people' blows are easier to take than some others'. A dumbass doesn't hurt much, most of the time, if you'd pardon my french.
- thinkloop 9y agoCan you write a blog post about that, it seems very strange and unique. Isn't being a cashier a terribly tedious, mindless and repetitive job extremely ill-suited for a human?
- Shivetya 9y agoWe must be very careful in deciding what others find fulfilling. We are not all cut out for the same levels of social interaction and we don't all have the same aspirations. I have met many a cashier/grocery/retail worker who were very happy people and I have met some who weren't. it all comes down to filling your financial needs as well as your personal needs and more power to those who can Anecdotal bit: Years ago I did programming/etc for a rent-a-cop agency. We had thousands of uniformed security people working across the country both armed and unarmed. Since I had responsibility for ensuring payroll runs were completed to include termination pay; some states required 48hr pay; I was initially appalled at the hourly rates some had. Well after talking with more than a few; our local office was in the same building and we had one guard on hand for escorting women to and from the parking deck; I came to find out more than a few enjoyed the work. One even commented "I get to sit behind a desk all day and get paid" and students who did work got to study.
- thinkloop 9y agoI don't understand this "20 or 30 seconds" comment, it takes more like 20 minutes to wait in line and scan all items, then pay. I use Uber mainly because I can walk out the cab without paying, and that's a real twenty seconds.
- seszett 9y ago20 minutes? In France we have these manual scanners that you can carry around the supermarket and scan items as you put them in your bag. Then when you exit the store, semi-randomly an employee will rescan part of your items, or all of them (it happens more often if you often forget to scan things - which can happen, but it can also be wilful shoplifting of course). Then you pay and the gate opens. Most of the time it does take about 30 seconds, also you don't have to get your stuff out of your bag and you know all along how much you're going to pay. I think I haven't used the regular lines for years.
- danmaz74 9y agoSame here in Italy. I use them all the time.
- jaclaz 9y ago>Most of the time it does take about 30 seconds, also you don't have to get your stuff out of your bag and you know all along how much you're going to pay. And this latter has an interesting side effect. At the time these readers were introduced the "message" to the public was "your convenience, faster checkout" (while actually the reason was "let us reduce the number of cashiers"). What was soon found out was that the "poor man's average shopping" was raised by some 10-15%. Imagine you go to the supermarket and you only have in your pocket a single 50 Euro (or 50 dollars) note. You put things in your basket making a mental calculation of the total amount in order to avoid, when you checkout, if the total is more than 50, to have to leave some item (and also to avoid the "social shame"). With the new method, where you can see your progressive total, that kind of shopping has raised from 42-45 to 48-50, i.e. people use "all they have" without risking to "look bad".
- 9y ago
- pentae 9y agoI think the Author of the article misses the point. It's slightly more useful for consumers, but once this becomes commoditized and scaled out there will be massive cost savings compared to hiring a handful of checkout staff, and this system could run 24 hours without having to close down the store.
- sAbakumoff 9y agoThey don't solve any problems, they are trying to record your offline life so that they have the full picture of your existence and manipulate it in order to maximise the profit of shareholders.
- e40 9y agoWhat’s to gain? 20 or 30 seconds of your time back? Lines at my local Safeway are always really long. Yesterday I went in for a single item and there was no express checkout lane open. It took seconds to find the item, but 15 minutes to check out.
- dx034 9y agoThat's because they don't want to hire more staff. The kind of store that would invest in hundreds of cameras (plus other sensors) would already have enough checkouts to avoid queues.
- reacweb 9y agoI think the gain is the possibility to keep the store open during all night with almost no staff present or no staff at all (with a teleworker).