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Amazon Unveils 'Self-driving' Brick-and-Mortar Convenience Store (seattletimes.com)
Amazon announced Monday it has built a convenience store in downtown Seattle that deploys a gaggle of technologies similar to those used in self-driving cars to allow shoppers to come in, grab items and walk out without going through a register (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source). From a report on Seattle Times: The 1,800 square-foot store, officially dubbed "Amazon Go," is the latest beach in brick-and-mortar retail stormed by the e-commerce giant, which already has bookstores and is working on secretive drive-through grocery locations. It's clearly a sign that Amazon sees a big opportunity in revolutionizing the staid traditions of Main Street commerce. Located on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Blanchard Street, the store is open to Amazon employees participating in a testing program. It is expected to be open to the public in early 2017.
The most common jobs for Females in the US is Retail Cashier. The most common jobs for Males in the US is driver. Amazon is coming out with a store which doesnt need cashiers and Google is coming out with a truck which doesnt need drivers.
Just what are people with only high school supposed to do? This is not Europe where govt pays for you to go to college. Many poor families cannot afford college and need jobs which can be done with a high school education.
If this goes on the govt. will have to fund college including a living stipend while people made redundant go back to college to learn skills for the new economy.
**Life is too short to be serious**
Over here in the UK all that is plausible but the customer would still risk the public embarrassment. At Tesco supermarkets, about 1 in every 4 times I use the "Scan as you shop" portable device I get a random check at the till.
It's still practical shopping: I take one bag into the shop, scan the barcodes as I pick the products and use a specific group of tills (usually less busy) without having to take the stuff out of the bag. If I get delayed by the "random check" it's their staff that has to unpack and pack my items again. Not a huge problem for anyone involved.
The scan as a you shop is for registered shoppers only, so it would be silly to try fraud after scanning the loyalty card that links the products to your address and identity. Non-registered shoppers using the self-checkout tills possibly get more attention and more sensitive scales to be sure that the 100 grammes of cheap pastry is not really 102 grammes of expensive pastry or cheese.