5 ms·
Easy! Let's just make sure the people who stole the two patio sets update the blockchain. I mean, people who steal / ransom / hack bitcoin still update the bloc
by nikanj 5y ago
Easy! Let's just make sure the people who stole the two patio sets update the blockchain. I mean, people who steal / ransom / hack bitcoin still update the blockchain, so criminals clearly can follow the rules
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> make sure the people who stole the two patio sets It probably isn’t stolen. It’s more likely delivered to another store, still on the truck, still at the factory, or was sold and not recorded.
- zarq 5y agoOr someone has it on their cart on the way to the checkout.
- nucleardog 5y agoOr someone had it on their cart on the way to the checkout, changed their mind, and somehow managed to cram it in a freezer behind some milk or something.
- barkingcat 5y agothis happens at Ikea a lot - people take the thing and then decide they don't want it... there's a lot of places for things to go in the warehouse pickup section of an ikea store
- jcranmer 5y agoOr someone picked it up to buy it, thought against it, and dropped it off in the wrong place.
- daniellarusso 5y agoOr the box got stabbed with a forklift, bent a bunch of the pieces, and they are piled in the back somewhere, and the assistant manager handling it no longer works there. Or the customer returned it because it was damaged, so now it is in inventory again. Or, inventory is batched processes, so it will take at least a few hours before inventory is current.
- ska 5y agoOr some customer moved the boxes behind other product boxes, to "save it". Etc. etc. Inventory management is a whole industry of it's own for a reason.
- drewzero1 5y agoOr the customer emptied a large (inexpensive) package and hid a smaller (more valuable) item inside, leaving the unwitting cashier to scan the larger package at checkout and now counts for both items are off. Or the vendor discontinued the item and replaced it with a slightly different one, but they both got put in under the same stock number and are hanging on the same hook. No matter how much we try to perfect the digital world, the real world will always be messy, and interfaces between the two will always be difficult.
- loceng 5y agoWell, if they had tracking tags on them that can't get removed then you'd see when the inventory is now gone.
- daniellarusso 5y agoUnless the tag could not be damaged, or interference from an electrical issue would not cause reading issues, or there are no other materials or objects that would prevent reading the tag, or the wrong tag was affixed prior to being delivered to the store (swapped).
- hamiltonkibbe 5y agoEasy, affix the tag to the item with a blockchain so you know it cant be removed or tampered with.
- munk-a 5y agoQuite correct - everyone knows that blockchains are basically just an immutable database. I read it on hacker news! Just to confirm - nobody has ever or will ever make a data entry mistake right? Good, I hoped they wouldn't.
- jameshart 5y agoBig package gets delivered. Two people working down the delivery, scanning and tagging every item. Both of them scan and tag opposite ends of the same box with inventory markers. An immutable record is created that says there are two of these things in stock. Someone buys it. It gets checked out. One of the markers gets scanned, an immutable record is created saying there's still one in stock. Physical reality has a way of screwing with all the best laid plans of computer systems. As Pat Helland says: there's no transaction rollback when a forklift drives over a box of eggs.