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cthompson94

macrumors 6502a
Jan 10, 2022
808
1,161
SoCal
I personally think it is pretty cool, certainly would beat having to gather what I want to buy and either wait in an extremely long line to one of the only cashiers on a register or scan every item i already picked to then put it back in my cart again. I have heard things about the cart being "smart" and totaling everything as you put it in for a "easy" checkout process, but last I saw the tech, it struggled with produce with weight and barcodes and small items because of the even smaller barcodes.
 

JayAgostino

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2020
267
232
Massachusetts
I personally think it is pretty cool, certainly would beat having to gather what I want to buy and either wait in an extremely long line to one of the only cashiers on a register or scan every item i already picked to then put it back in my cart again. I have heard things about the cart being "smart" and totaling everything as you put it in for a "easy" checkout process, but last I saw the tech, it struggled with produce with weight and barcodes and small items because of the even smaller barcodes.
It seems like they’ve ditched the fancy carts in favor of solely using the “Just Walk Out” technology.
 

mw360

macrumors 68020
Aug 15, 2010
2,048
2,428
What’s in it for them? Eliminating millions of retail jobs, giving the customer less opportunity to contemplate the cost of what they’re buying. Tracking the products we look at, even if we don’t pick them up, so that tempting chocolate we resisted will follow us around all day spamming us with ads until we buy it later.

Whats in it for us? If a store is so busy it has a checkout line, this thing might also have the same problem. I bet that store has a shopper limit so the cameras can get a clear view of the customers picking at the shelves, so there’s still a potential for queuing, it’s just moved to the entrance instead of the checkout.
 

JayAgostino

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2020
267
232
Massachusetts
What’s in it for them? Eliminating millions of retail jobs, giving the customer less opportunity to contemplate the cost of what they’re buying. Tracking the products we look at, even if we don’t pick them up, so that tempting chocolate we resisted will follow us around all day spamming us with ads until we buy it later.

Whats in it for us? If a store is so busy it has a checkout line, this thing might also have the same problem. I bet that store has a shopper limit so the cameras can get a clear view of the customers picking at the shelves, so there’s still a potential for queuing, it’s just moved to the entrance instead of the checkout.
Maybe you should do some research first? Most of those questions could probably be answered by Google.
 

theluggage

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2011
7,589
7,689
certainly would beat having to gather what I want to buy and either wait in an extremely long line to one of the only cashiers on a register or scan every item i already picked to then put it back in my cart again.
If it's a big grocery shopping session, that's the opportunity to re-pack everything into my own bags according to weight and fragility - which isn't necessarily the order I picked them up. Scanning is usually faster than I can pack, and payment with contactless/PIN only takes seconds. I can imagine people blocking the shelves while they juggle the contents of their bag.

If it's the sort of airport concession shown in the video, where you're mostly only buying what you can carry in your hands, then the only real efficiency saving vs. barcode scan and contactless payment is that you don't have to put your shopping down to take out your card. Of course, in an airport they have the big advantage that people are bored rigid and have time to kill, so they're going to pounce on a novelty like this!

Whats in it for us? If a store is so busy it has a checkout line, this thing might also have the same problem. I bet that store has a shopper limit so the cameras can get a clear view of the customers picking at the shelves
Even without a deliberate limit, scanning the card on entry is going to be the bottleneck - as soon as one person gets their card rejected and starts working through the contents of their wallet, it's all going to grind to a halt. Of course, from the shop's point of view that's bad since people will see the queue before and walk to the next shop - wheres once they're in a normal shop with goods in their hands before they hit the queue they're less likely to drop them and leave.

Apart from that - well, it kinda depends how reliably it works: it's all fun and giggles until you walk in and pick up a bottle of water, and get charged for an Apple Watch.

Just looking at the boring old self-checkout in my local supermarket - after years of "please bring reusable bags" nagging it still can't deal with anything heavier than a flimsy single-use carrier bag in the bagging area (and heaven forfend you've already bought something in another shop) - so I can't pack stuff as I scan - and after 2 years of covid it still defaults to cash payments so you have to touch the screen to choose contactless... Then try to buy alcohol or medicines and everything grinds to a halt while an over-18 warm body is summoned to eyeball you. Maybe they should try fixing the obvious bugs in the "conservative" tech before moving on to something even more ambitious?

I mean, we're dealing with an industry that doesn't have the gumption to put up a sign saying "please use the regular checkout if you are buying alcohol, medicines or want to pay by cash".
 

mw360

macrumors 68020
Aug 15, 2010
2,048
2,428
Maybe you should do some research first? Most of those questions could probably be answered by Google.
Jeez, I guess next time don’t ask people for their thoughts if what you actually wanted was some results from Google. Those are rhetorical questions. You can tell that by the way I discuss the answers right after asking them.
 
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JayAgostino

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2020
267
232
Massachusetts
Jeez, I guess next time don’t ask people for their thoughts if what you actually wanted was some results from Google. Those are rhetorical questions. You can tell that by the way I discuss the answers right after asking them.
I welcome your thoughts, but I encourage people to inform themselves before discussing stuff like this.
 

AJK13K

macrumors regular
Feb 8, 2020
108
50
Dutchess County, NY
I wonder about security. Amazon and storex now all have my credit info. Anyone of many hackers who access the above also have the info. How about the first guy who figures out that setting up a dummy store with great items at cheap prices is an instant way to harvest credit card numbers to sell or use.
 

theluggage

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2011
7,589
7,689
I wonder about security. Amazon and storex now all have my credit info. Anyone of many hackers who access the above also have the info. How about the first guy who figures out that setting up a dummy store with great items at cheap prices is an instant way to harvest credit card numbers to sell or use.
How is this different from any other scenario in which you use a credit/debit card?
 

JayAgostino

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2020
267
232
Massachusetts
So you expect people to watch a half hour of YouTube videos before they give any meaningful answers/opinions to you in a post that has no meaningful content?
No, not really. All I expect is a surface level understanding of how it all works. There was a lot of misinformation being shared in this thread.
You asked for people's thoughts, not a research project.
I’m not asking for much (and I’m most certainly not asking for anything like a research project).
 

jz0309

Contributor
Sep 25, 2018
10,247
26,835
SoCal
No, not really. All I expect is a surface level understanding of how it all works. There was a lot of misinformation being shared in this thread.

I’m not asking for much (and I’m most certainly not asking for anything like a research project).
You have provided 0 (zero) substance in your post, just links to videos. So you are asking people to spend their time to watch videos and then you complain when they have opinions ...
 

JayAgostino

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2020
267
232
Massachusetts
You have provided 0 (zero) substance in your post, just links to videos. So you are asking people to spend their time to watch videos and then you complain when they have opinions ...
Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just making sure that the opinions and information shared in this thread are factual. The subject matter of this thread should be taken seriously.
 

MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,098
2,414
Arizona
Opinions & thoughts are, by their very definition, NOT FACTUAL. They're opinions and/or thoughts and can have nothing to do with reality, facts, or anything beyond what one had for breakfast in the morning.
 

eltoslightfoot

macrumors 68020
Feb 25, 2011
2,300
2,767
OP: "What are everyone's thoughts on this?"
Posters: "Here are our thoughts."
OP: "Not those thoughts, I want you to do all my research for me and then post it so I don't have to."

*thread dies* 🦗🦗🦗
 

JayAgostino

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 13, 2020
267
232
Massachusetts
OP: "What are everyone's thoughts on this?"
Posters: "Here are our thoughts."
OP: "Not those thoughts, I want you to do all my research for me and then post it so I don't have to."

*thread dies* 🦗🦗🦗
I’ve already done my research. I’m just waiting for somebody to share something that’s factually informative. Am I asking for too much?
 
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