Amazon Go opens in Brookfield mall

Thanks to J. for the tip that Amazon Go has arrived in the Brookfield mall. (His note got to me before the one from their PR firm.) The way it works is you download the app, zap your phone on a sensor as you walk in, then just fill your bag and walk out. Sensors are somehow reading codes on all the stuff you take off the shelf and put in your bag. This makes me want to wear one of those lead cover-ups from the dentist, but maybe I am just old fashioned. The items are then added to your cart in the app and charged. The store is on level 2 of the Winter Garden.

The video says it works by using “computer vision, deep learning [no hyphen] algorithms and sensor fusion.” Yipes.

They say there are “local favorites” like Ess-a-Bagel (kinda local) and Dominique Ansel Bakery (was local). Hours are Monday to Friday, 6a to 8p; weekends 7a to 8p. We are the fourth city to go online: Chicago, Seattle and SF already are part of the program. Watch the video and be soothed into thinking this is no big deal.

 

 

11 Comments

  1. Pretty sure this is how SkyNet becomes self aware…

  2. No, this is how we liberate humans from the torment of useless checkout people at whole foods eventually and the precious hours of life we lose standing on line as they take their sweet time to check us out.

    • With huge rises in minimum wage and horrible service, this is going to be the wave of the future. Frankly, I like it. Also, this eliminates people at the register turning it around and asking for a tip when all they have done is run your credit card. Hope that this system continues to grow. Will save us all time and hassle.

      • What about the people who depend on these positions to help pay for school, feed their baby, pay for a grandmother’s mediciation?

        If this “ideal world” as many readers stated occurs, how many people would this put out of work?

        Curious…

      • Horrible service? What is it with you awful, cranky people! Most of the retail staff at Whole Foods and other places I shop are downright lovely. A smile, a quick conversation.
        Most of the retail staff in the Soho shops are very nice as well.
        What is the problem? I’m going out on a limb here but you complainers are the problem. Stay home and talk to your robots. They may be the only “individuals” that will put up with you.

  3. The one person left in the world who still writes a check will no longer be able to follow me around and be directly in front of me in any line everywhere I go.

  4. All these important people in such a rush.

  5. “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
    (Gandhi)

  6. (Gandhi) was known to love waiting in long lines while Ethel fiddled through her change purse for 4 pennies and only 2 of 15 checkout lanes were open.

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