Posted on 12/21/2017 6:00:08 AM PST by mykroar
Walmart's NYC-based innovation center is experimenting with a cashier-less store concept called Project Kepler, which "aims to reimagine the in-store shopping experience with the help of technologies like computer vision," Recode reports.
Project Kepler is in part aimed at creating a store that would feature no checkout lines or cashiers, but use computer vision to detect which products customers leave the store with and then charge their accounts accordingly. Why it matters: Amazon is also experimenting without cashiers, while roughly 3.5 million Americans operate cash registers for a living.
Recode also reports that Walmart's new start-up subsidiary, called Code 8, is experimenting with "high personalised, one-to-one shopping experiences," that will be marketed to "busy NYC moms."
How's that any different than today?
lol...
We always use self checkout anyway.
Lootie be happy! Free air jordans!!!
Let’s see. A completely automated system using computer vision. How many people are going to be billed for merchandise they didn’t take out of the store, from a store that they didn’t visit?
Your recourse: talk to a customer “service” rep in China about your problem.
What happens when blacks riot?
15 minimum wage in action.
This will work...if their customer’s are honest.
/s
Will the checkout machine ignore me if I say hello too?
I used to hate the idea of self checkout. Then I started to enjoy not having to deal with grunting, rude cashiers.
They’re trying to emulate the Sesrs/K-Mart business model...
Back in the early 90s I used to do my grocery shopping at a super Walmart, because I saved quite a lot of money. But as time went by I stopped because it took 20 minutes just to checkout. It was absurd to see 20 checkout lines, but only two or three ever in operation.
What could possibly go wrong?
“15 minimum wage in action.”
While the declining desire by companies to hire, especially low skilled workers, is affected by their wage, that is only one of a dozen or more negatives created by federal, state, county and city employment legislation and regulations. For example, Florida has something called “The Potty Parity rule.” For every urinal in the men’s room the company must build a full sit-down stall in the woman’s room. In the company where I last worked there were about three women and three hundred men. The waiting line in the men’s rooms were ridiculous. When I enquired as to why, I found out about the potty rule. It originated when the, at the time, governor’s wife attended a stadium event and there was a long line in front of the ladies’ room. She just went into the men’s room. It caused a huge uproar and she pushed for and got the rule. The impact on the facility where I worked would have been a few million. It also limited the growth of the facility and its business. It’s unintended consequences like that which impact things long after some idiot pens a new rule.
There will still be an “assistant” who steps in if a customer is having a problem or is attempting to make a purchase without proper ID (e.g., wine/beer in Virginia).
My wife manages the 4 self-checkout kiosks at our local Target.
On the other hand, if someone chooses to go for a five-finger discount, Target’s policy is to not intervene. Go figure.
Hahaha. My first thought as well.
RFID technology can scan an entire basket of goods in less than 2 seconds. Pair that with automatic payment from your smart phone and that eliminates the cashier altogether. This is what’s coming.
Of course you will have to bag your own groceries, unless you bag them while shopping.
I had to wait behind some yuppie yesterday who used his iphone to pay his bill at Whole Foods. The phone failed about 8 times as the line grew longer behind him.
Sometimes the future is so yesterday.
And the ones that are open are the ones with the big pillar in the way.
Maybe the friendly greeter checks your account on the way into the store. No billable account, no entry. Computer vision could get your picture as well. Book of Revelation, 1984,...?
How’s that any different than today?
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In a since it is just an expansion of online ordering that is used today.
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