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Problem is that vending machines don’t scale. Consider that much of the “tracking” on a site like Amazon.com are to overcome the inherent problems of finding pr

Problem is that vending machines don’t scale. Consider that much of the “tracking” on a site like Amazon.com are to overcome the inherent problems of finding products in such a massive catalog.

dhimes 9y ago
To add to this, what if the vending machine was able to dispense 1000 things? And let's say that you are diabetic? Wouldn't it be nice if the sugar-free treats were easy for you to find? And the organic stuff easier for those seeking them to find? Etc. etc. Somewhere there must be an intelligent balance.
- bjpbakker 9y ago
  > Somewhere there must be an intelligent balance In practice though this is mostly biased towards the revenue of the company selling the goods, not towards your health requirements.
  - AndrewKemendo 9y ago
    It's in the interests of the company to align those however - so these don't conflict. If your customer is healthier and lives longer because of your service, that is beneficial to both of you.
    - mrob 9y ago
      Good health of the customers benefits competitors too, so it's a type of commons. By the Tragedy of the Commons, it's in the company's interests to damage the health of their customers for short term profit. If they don't then a competitor will.
- robotresearcher 9y ago
  Amazon could be that machine, if we could rely on them to (at the customer's option) properly delete the customer's credit card number and delivery address when the package is delivered.
- freeone3000 9y ago
  That's an argument for good search and discoverability - a sugar-free aisle.
- admax88q 9y ago
  How did diabetics even manage to buy sugar-free snacks before Amazon's recommendation engine? Thank god for Amazon profiling them, they must have been starving before.
mannykannot 9y ago
Maybe it is just my experience, but individual tracking (which is the sort of tracking under consideration here) does not seem to help, let alone be necessary. I do not think I have ever found something of interest in things that have been pushed at me, and the only thing that helps navigating a massive catalog is more extensive-in-scope and discriminating search capabilities.

Problem is that vending machines don’t scale. Consider that much of the “tracking” on a site like Amazon.com are to overcome the inherent problems of finding products in such a massive catalog.

dhimes 9y ago

To add to this, what if the vending machine was able to dispense 1000 things? And let's say that you are diabetic? Wouldn't it be nice if the sugar-free treats were easy for you to find? And the organic stuff easier for those seeking them to find? Etc. etc. Somewhere there must be an intelligent balance.

bjpbakker 9y ago
> Somewhere there must be an intelligent balance In practice though this is mostly biased towards the revenue of the company selling the goods, not towards your health requirements.
- AndrewKemendo 9y ago
  It's in the interests of the company to align those however - so these don't conflict. If your customer is healthier and lives longer because of your service, that is beneficial to both of you.
  - mrob 9y ago
    Good health of the customers benefits competitors too, so it's a type of commons. By the Tragedy of the Commons, it's in the company's interests to damage the health of their customers for short term profit. If they don't then a competitor will.
robotresearcher 9y ago
Amazon could be that machine, if we could rely on them to (at the customer's option) properly delete the customer's credit card number and delivery address when the package is delivered.
freeone3000 9y ago
That's an argument for good search and discoverability - a sugar-free aisle.
admax88q 9y ago
How did diabetics even manage to buy sugar-free snacks before Amazon's recommendation engine? Thank god for Amazon profiling them, they must have been starving before.

mannykannot 9y ago

Maybe it is just my experience, but individual tracking (which is the sort of tracking under consideration here) does not seem to help, let alone be necessary. I do not think I have ever found something of interest in things that have been pushed at me, and the only thing that helps navigating a massive catalog is more extensive-in-scope and discriminating search capabilities.