4 ms·

I'm really bummed about this! I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. I don't live in NYC or San Fran o

by novia 4y ago

I'm really bummed about this! I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. I don't live in NYC or San Fran or Seattle, but I'd hoped these stores would spread.

danielvaughn 4y ago
I never went into one of those stores, but I'm down in Florida, and my apartment building has what they call a "sundry shop". It's connected to the main office but it's 24 hours - you get in with an electronic key. It's like a little convenience store, like a corner store in NYC. But the checkout is self-service, and there's a camera. It's amazing, I love it.
- danpalmer 4y ago
  My grandparents used to live in a small village (rural U.K.). The village shop was tiny, just a few shelves and a fridge with basics. No checkout, no cameras, often no volunteer (definitely no paid staff). They just wrote down what they took in a little book and paid at the end of the month. In small enough groups where there is a good sense of community it’s amazing what can work.
  - seneca 4y ago
    It doesn't really even have to be all that small, just high trust. There are road-side produce stands that run on the honor system all over the rural American southeast. They have no idea who will show up. Many are on country highways, even.
ChuckNorris89 4y ago
>I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. So, basically something a vending machine could provide? We've had those since like the '50s, except without computer vision, user tracking and machine learning. I don't know why Amazon was trying to reinvent the wheel here in the most expensive way possible.
- nprateem 4y ago
  To stock more than 20 products?
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
    So, more of them and bigger and having employees stock them up from the back like these British ones from the '60s? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3rGPXXk8VE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3rGPXXk8VE
  - htag 4y ago
    Vending machines offer some overhead of horizontal space for the payment system over store refrigerators, but if you want to stock many products you can just put several vending machines next to each other. Maybe the largest extra expense of vending machines is that store refrigerators are _deeper_ which means they need to be restocked less, or that the most popular products can take up less 'slots' because the total number of drinks per slots is larger.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- novia 4y ago
  A vending machine for an apple is a bad idea. Apples rot, especially in enclosed spaces. Customers want to be able to pick the best looking apple from a pile of apples. They don't want to fiddle around with a payment system that might reject their five dollar bill for being too wrinkled, or fail to accurately read their card, just to be served a bruised apple at the end of it. Think about other even more perishable items, like seafood. Do you want a fish vending machine? Or do you want to be able to examine your food before you decide to purchase it? Vending machines work well for nonperishables. Grocery stores work well for perishable items. Grocery stores have a massive time cost for picking up your items, so it makes sense to get a lot of things at once, which only compounds the waiting problem for other customers. Amazon's solution gets rid of that time cost. The only part you have to worry about is the trouble of getting in the door, and that takes the same amount of time no matter how many items people are buying. The barrier to entry would be being technologically sophisticated enough to download an app on your phone. Some people don't want to do that, and they're free to shop at other stores. The Amazon Go stores aren't expensive over-engineered vending machines. There's still a time cost to using a vending machine. The innovative part is saving people time.
sebzim4500 4y ago
They seem to be doing pretty well, looks like they are closing their least popular stores. E.g. they are only closing 2 out of their 9 NY stores. We have them in London and they are pretty convenient.
alden5 4y ago
after going to one quite regularly its quite funny when people don't know whats happening. they scan their amazon app, grab something, then walk out and look super confused where they're supposed to pay for what they've grabbed

by novia 4y ago

danielvaughn 4y ago

I never went into one of those stores, but I'm down in Florida, and my apartment building has what they call a "sundry shop". It's connected to the main office but it's 24 hours - you get in with an electronic key. It's like a little convenience store, like a corner store in NYC. But the checkout is self-service, and there's a camera. It's amazing, I love it.

danpalmer 4y ago
My grandparents used to live in a small village (rural U.K.). The village shop was tiny, just a few shelves and a fridge with basics. No checkout, no cameras, often no volunteer (definitely no paid staff). They just wrote down what they took in a little book and paid at the end of the month. In small enough groups where there is a good sense of community it’s amazing what can work.
- seneca 4y ago
  It doesn't really even have to be all that small, just high trust. There are road-side produce stands that run on the honor system all over the rural American southeast. They have no idea who will show up. Many are on country highways, even.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago

>I wanted to be able to just go in a store and grab a juice or an apple and then leave the store. So, basically something a vending machine could provide? We've had those since like the '50s, except without computer vision, user tracking and machine learning. I don't know why Amazon was trying to reinvent the wheel here in the most expensive way possible.

nprateem 4y ago
To stock more than 20 products?
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  So, more of them and bigger and having employees stock them up from the back like these British ones from the '60s? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3rGPXXk8VE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3rGPXXk8VE
- htag 4y ago
  Vending machines offer some overhead of horizontal space for the payment system over store refrigerators, but if you want to stock many products you can just put several vending machines next to each other. Maybe the largest extra expense of vending machines is that store refrigerators are _deeper_ which means they need to be restocked less, or that the most popular products can take up less 'slots' because the total number of drinks per slots is larger.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
novia 4y ago
A vending machine for an apple is a bad idea. Apples rot, especially in enclosed spaces. Customers want to be able to pick the best looking apple from a pile of apples. They don't want to fiddle around with a payment system that might reject their five dollar bill for being too wrinkled, or fail to accurately read their card, just to be served a bruised apple at the end of it. Think about other even more perishable items, like seafood. Do you want a fish vending machine? Or do you want to be able to examine your food before you decide to purchase it? Vending machines work well for nonperishables. Grocery stores work well for perishable items. Grocery stores have a massive time cost for picking up your items, so it makes sense to get a lot of things at once, which only compounds the waiting problem for other customers. Amazon's solution gets rid of that time cost. The only part you have to worry about is the trouble of getting in the door, and that takes the same amount of time no matter how many items people are buying. The barrier to entry would be being technologically sophisticated enough to download an app on your phone. Some people don't want to do that, and they're free to shop at other stores. The Amazon Go stores aren't expensive over-engineered vending machines. There's still a time cost to using a vending machine. The innovative part is saving people time.

sebzim4500 4y ago

They seem to be doing pretty well, looks like they are closing their least popular stores. E.g. they are only closing 2 out of their 9 NY stores. We have them in London and they are pretty convenient.

alden5 4y ago

after going to one quite regularly its quite funny when people don't know whats happening. they scan their amazon app, grab something, then walk out and look super confused where they're supposed to pay for what they've grabbed