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Two Ex-Googlers Want To Make Bodegas And Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete (fastcompany.com)
Elizabeth Segran, writing for FastCompany: While it sometimes feels like we do all of our shopping on the internet, government data shows that actually less than 10% of all retail transactions happen online. In a world where we get our groceries delivered in just two hours through Instacart or Amazon Fresh, the humble corner store -- or bodega, as they are known in New York and Los Angeles -- still performs a valuable function. No matter how organized you are, you're bound to run out of milk or diapers in the middle of the night and need to make a quick visit to your neighborhood retailer. Paul McDonald, who spent 13 years as a product manager at Google, wants to make this corner store a thing of the past. Today, he is launching a new concept called Bodega with his cofounder Ashwath Rajan, another Google veteran. Bodega sets up five-foot-wide pantry boxes filled with non-perishable items you might pick up at a convenience store. An app will allow you to unlock the box and cameras powered with computer vision will register what you've picked up, automatically charging your credit card. The entire process happens without a person actually manning the "store." Bodega's logo is a cat, a nod to the popular bodega cat meme on social media -- although if the duo gets their way, real felines won't have brick-and-mortar shops to saunter around and take naps in much longer. "The vision here is much bigger than the box itself," McDonald says. "Eventually, centralized shopping locations won't be necessary, because there will be 100,000 Bodegas spread out, with one always 100 feet away from you."
They've invented the Vending Machine! Stop the presses! This will change the world!
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
That's what Millennials are for.
dinner: it's what's for beer
See, Google execs get to prance around all high and mighty about how much they 'care' about workers by pushing for a $15/hour (or make that $30/hour after they get their way with $15) minimum wage.
It's a great way to point guns at the heads of their competitors to make it easier to drive them out of business with their new "startup" ideas.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
what about stuff by law can't be self checkout like beer and smokes? also WIC and food stamps?
From http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/1...
A new startup called Bodega launched Wednesday and has already apologized in the face of mounting outrage.
Folks weren't happy that Bodega appeared to be taking aim at mom-and-pop shops run by hardworking immigrants, while simultaneously misappropriating immigrant culture and celebrating gentrification.
"Despite our best intentions and our admiration for traditional bodegas, we clearly hit a nerve this morning," Bodega wrote in a Medium post. "And we apologize to anyone we've offended. Rather than disrespect to traditional corner stores -- or worse yet, a threat -- we intended only admiration."
And https://blog.bodega.ai/so-abou...
Yes, clearly. The name Bodega sparked a wave of criticism on social media far beyond what we ever imagined. When we first came up with the idea to call the company Bodega we recognized that there was a risk of it being interpreted as misappropriation. We did some homework—speaking to New Yorkers, branding people, and even running some survey work asking about the name and any potential offense it might cause. But it’s clear that we may not have been asking the right questions of the right people.
Way to go there!
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Mom and Pop Corner Stores want to make Google obsolete.
It won't be that hard. A little recession could do the job easily.
Aside from the apt "vending machine" comparison being made, I've also seen similar things at hotels I've stayed at, usually adjacent to the lobby where it can be monitored by hotel staff -- but the charging mechanism is via room key. Snacks, toiletries, drinks, etc. Prices are less than minibar and more similar to "convenient store". We also have a similar system for buying snacks at work -- you pick up the snack you want, take it to a kiosk and scan it. This gives a wider selection of stuff, which could be changed up as needed/desired, and the buying area is monitored with cameras. Probably wouldn't work in an "open to the public" setting without a lot better security, but for an office setting we get much better snack selection vs. vending machine. We also have vending machines around that work with Android/Apple Pay -- no app required. Of course, there are the fabled Japanese vending machines, which legend says sell just about anything you can imagine. Then there are the similar machines at airports ... so yeah, a more crowded space for something that's already been invented many times, and one whose implementation details have already been worked out elsewhere by other firms who are doing essentially the same thing one way or another.
Since bodegas are for peemergencies AND convenience items, I assume they'll add toilets too (or else their little "ventures" will become a convenient receptacle for that anyway).
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"In a world where we get our groceries delivered in just two hours through Instacart or Amazon Fresh, ..."
What world is he speaking about? It doesn't sound like this one...
#DeleteChrome
So they can track your spending habits and sell it to Big Data. Mostly-cash businesses like bodegas are one of the last untracked businesses.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Yes, there's exactly zero chance that I'll use a vending machine that requires me to use an app or that won't take cash.
But I'm sure there are plenty of people who would.
Have these people ever been in a convenience store, or do they have such horribly crippling social anxiety disorder that they never go outside where there might be (shocking!!!) PEOPLE they would have to interact with?
I'll fill in the gaps for them: There is an order of magnitude, at least more items available in the typical convenience store than their vending machine (and that's what it is, a vending machine!) can hold -- and all that includes refrigerated and frozen items. All they're doing is re-inventing the vending machine. This is not revolutionary, this is not ground-breaking, this is not innovative in any way, and this is one of the most clueless things I've heard of. There will always be a need for 'mom and pop' convenience stores, and 7-11, and what-have-you. Do they really think that they're going to put all of these out of business? Do they really think they're going to convince every gas station in the country (on the planet?) to dump their convenience store side of the business for an overblown vending machine? Clueless, clueless, clueless. And what's even worse: anything you bought from it would be tracked because you're essentially using plastic to buy it. More marketing data for them to sell on the back end! The hell with that, and the hell with these clueless idiots.
A vending machine is considerably more complex with a higher level of automation. This is just a hotel minibar.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
I haven't gone out to go shopping for months, and before that time, it was also probably 4-6 months. When I did go out the shopping was sort of incidental; a stop for something after a movie or dinner out typically.
Clearly you do not have kids
...there will be 100,000 Bodegas spread out, with one always 100 feet away from you.
They're called Starbucks.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
...the better. And may they wind up working in a convenience corner store for a living....
These two ex-Googlers ought to get out of their ivory tower and see what life is like in a poor, inner-city environment where it is either the bodega or a food desert. I am from Philadelphia and neighborhoods thrive on bodegas where food is cheap and available. We don't have Whole Foods, Giant, Super Fresh, and shit that caters to millennials. We're poor folk living on scraps. I live in this neighborhood because it is all I can afford. I don't have a credit or debit card because no bank will touch me because life happened, I got sick, and became disabled. I don't have the luxury of even living in a safe neighborhood. Leave the bodega alone, assholes!
or bodega, as they are known in New York and Los Angeles
New York is the only place that calls it a bodega. You may have a few New York wannabes in LA calling them that, but no one with a brain does.
Yes, in Japan overall crime rate is low. I was shocked seeing almost no bicycles being locked outdoor.
Others have already pointed out: "they've invented the vending machine", and "how could they get funding for such trivial shit".
On a slightly more serious, but no less critical note, three criticisms:
- This is a business model with a huge logistics tail. Plus a lot of personnel: someone has to re-stock their little shops, someone has to clean them, etc.. This requires a lot of low-paid personnel, who will require supervision, and on up the chain. A Mom'n'pop business actually has the advantage here, because they mostly employee relatives and people they know.
- These microshops won't carry most of what people actually need and/or want at odd hours: perishables like bread and milk, or else high-margin items like alcohol and tobacco that actually keep lots of little shops in business.
- Nice neighborhoods aren't going to shop in little boxes. Put unattended boxes in not-nice neighborhoods, and they will get trashed, robbed, and vandalized
So it's hard to see who the customers are going to be, and harder to see how they're going to make any money. OTOH, this is all a social good: some VCs clearly have too much money. By throwing it at doomed-to-fail enterprises like Juicero and Bodega, they're putting their money back into circulation. That's really nice of them, don't you think?
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.