It's hard to imagine Amazon actually starting a bunch of retail locations. They'd probably buy Whole Foods or something…
If they released this at Whole Foods, I'd guess they'd fire all the cashiers there. That would make this rollout a lot less exciting for a lot of people.
I hope Amazon comes up with an awesome way to help the cashiers this technology replaces. Then if self-driving cars end up working out, that industry can learn from what Amazon did.
[0] https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/rudy-takala/top-2-us-jo...
They can be retrained to work in fulfillment centers. Amazon will provide the piss bottles.
I'm not saying it's a great thing, just that the jobs Just Walk Out will be replacing are already being replaced by self checkout.
Recently came back to the East Bay (SF) and the Whole Foods I'm staying near, more than the others, seems like a staging store for Buy Online & 1) Get Delivered, 2) Pick Up In Store.
There are often more WF employees shopping for pick-up orders than customers walking around the store. Navigating aisles that are full of these WF shoppers gives the store a pretty signficantly different feel than the other stores that I'm a regular at. Plus, the staging/storage area at the front for ready-orders is much bigger than at other stores.
Not as true at SF city WFs, or the ones in Reno, LA, Park City and Phoenix/Scottsdale that I'm familiar with.
I'm guessing this dynamic, plus "Just walk out" is where they're headed, at least in certain densities. And that's where some of the cashiers may be transitioned.
The benefit is a much better customer experience, not labor savings.
Retailers that compete on "experience" like Target etc will reinvest into a better customer experience.
Retailers that compete on price like Aldis will focus solely on driving cost down.
The primary benefit is access to a lot better data about shoppers, not a better customer experience.
It's a massive competitive advantage far beyond whatever data they get by watching me roam the store.
> Will people still be working in stores with Just Walk Out technology?
> Yes. Retailers will still employ store associates to greet and answer shoppers' questions, stock the shelves, check IDs for the purchasing of certain goods, and more - their roles have simply shifted to focus on more valuable activities.
Since Whole Foods sells alcohol, I doubt that. There are things that lots of governments won't let you have customers “just walk out” with.
They check ID entering the liquor section (and it is a human that checks), but otherwise it is bag it and just walk out.
As I wrote that I realized they could even employ cashiers to do that instead.
I'm not sure why this should be on Amazon. It's on all of us to better train people to have the jobs of the future. Our education system hasn't really changed in 100+ years. It needs to.
And if these companies profit, they do so as a reward for spending the capital (dollars and manhours) in creating new technologies that improve productivity. Specifically total factor productivity in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb%E2%80%93Douglas_product...
It's on all of us because it really isn't on anyone in particular, surely not on Amazon.
I can take your statement and flip it around just as easily: why should Amazon bear the costs of paying for many R&D ideas that may or may not pay off? We should all share that cost if we're all going to benefit from those innovations
Are you seriously trying to suggest everyone benefits from Amazon’s innovations?
I would think the majority would be employed at little restaurants, small shops, etc.