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>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'

>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.
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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.

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

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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.