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Walmart Is Planning a Store Without Cashiers (recode.net)

Posted by BeauHD on from the next-gen-shopping dept.

According to Recode, Walmart's startup incubator 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." The goal is reportedly the "creation of physical stores that would operate without checkout lines or cashiers -- in a similar fashion to Amazon's futuristic Amazon Go store." From the report: The Project Kepler project focused on the future of in-store shopping is being led by Mike Hanrahan, the co-founder and former chief technology officer for Jet.com, multiple sources tell Recode. It is located in Hoboken, N.J., where Jet is based. A Project Kepler job listing for a "computer vision engineer" says that the role will involve creating a "best-in-class consumer experience in the physical retail space." Amazon's Go concept uses a combination of sensors and cameras to track what each store shopper takes off of shelves so it can automatically bill them for their purchase without their having to stop to pay on the way out. The store's launch has been severely delayed, however, with reports that the technology did not work well when the store was crowded. Walmart is envisioning a similar system that would potentially eliminate the need for cashiers in stores outfitted with the technology. Walmart has more than two million employees worldwide, many of whom work at checkout.

26 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Please, OH PLEASE by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mount cameras everywhere and do an internet live feed. Peopleofwalmart will have a field day.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Direct Extraction of money from local economies by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Combined with robotic stockers, a walmart store will probably bring under two dozen jobs while destroying many more jobs.

    In theory, it's good because it lowers prices. But once no one has money left, lower prices don't matter.

    And walmart closes shop and moves on to extract money from another economy.

    I'm not against it. But we need to seriously slow down automation or our entire way of life/system of government is at risk of collapsing into an autocratic oligarchy.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    1. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Artificially inflated health care costs, corruption, run-away litigation, big-education and big college tuition bills without a skill, whining and the only thing available is a low wage position at Walmart and advocates throw a tantrum people should earn more?

      Try reforming all of the above and then the wages will be more livable.

      Until then, this is future.... and you can thank tech and Amazon. Of course I wouldn't want to go back.

    2. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm not against it. But we need to seriously slow down automation or our entire way of life/system of government is at risk of collapsing into an autocratic oligarchy.

      The USA has already been an autocratic oligarchy for its entire existence, it can't collapse into one.

      --
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    3. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      There's a limit to the demand for people to do interpretative dance about the benefits of architecture, though.

    4. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2

      I think there is some truth to that but it will take time to reallocate the economy in that direction.
      Current estimates are for 38% of the jobs going away over less than 20 years.

      Already, kids go deep into debt for degrees which were valuable when they started but worthless when they graduate.

      So we should lower the cost of training, retraining, and education- and perhaps restructure them to take fewer years.

      And when 3 million truckers lose their jobs almost over night (3-5 year period), it's going to be really hard to employ them quickly. Some will never work effectively again.

      Also, with entry level jobs destroyed- it gets harder to grab the first rung on the ladder.

      While the older population is okay, younger people around the world are experiencing increasing unemployment rates.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    5. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by danbert8 · · Score: 2

      Already kids go deep into debt for degrees which are worthless when they start. Very few people are affected by shifts in the economy in the 4 years (becoming increasingly 5 years) while they are in school. Most of them might start in a useful degree, then decide they are lazy, unintelligent, or just to drunk to complete that degree and drop to something easier like political science or underwater basket weaving to come home with a degree.

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    6. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by rmdingler · · Score: 2

      And when 3 million truckers lose their jobs almost over night (3-5 year period), it's going to be really hard to employ them quickly. Some will never work effectively again.

      If the implementation of autonomous trucking is too hasty, there will indeed be many millions of jobs lost, and not all of them will be truck drivers. Fuel sales are typically minimal profit for all except the government, and roadside truck stops and service stations make a good bit of their present business off the human needs of the drivers.

      Gradually inserting this (admittedly more efficient) form of transport would have the benefit of easing the transition. If it is implemented too quickly, many who do lose employment will have little to do but throw handfuls of roofing nails onto the highway.

      --
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      Ernest Hemingway

    7. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by EvilSS · · Score: 2

      Don't worry, they will all get jobs building and installing the automation systems. I know because /. told me about buggy whips.

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    8. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by mysidia · · Score: 2

      Combined with robotic stockers, a walmart store will probably bring under two dozen jobs while destroying many more jobs.

      I think the solution should be simple, taxation..... EG: Create local 30% Taxes on the gross sales of all Retail businesses that have a physical establishment, and 75% on the gross shipping revenues charged to customers for companies that deliver goods in state from an out-of-state location.

      For EACH individual employee a retail business/delivery companies pays for working at their store or driving trucks who works a minimum of 15 hours per week: grant a non-refundable non-reusable tax credit against only this specific tax that will be 10 times that employee's annual income from working AT THAT STORE for part-timers AND 15 times for full-time employees, plus any passive income related to dividends from profit sharing, stock grants, etc, awarded to that employee during the past X years... Up to a maximum possible annualized credit of $500,000 credit per employee.

      The tax revenue will then be allocated to a pool that will pay out Universal Basic Income bonuses to every person in the state who is not the income tax dependent of someone else and not employed in a position expected to receive a salary of $75K or more --- in an allocation order based on a graduated scale for people earning less than $30,000, AND an after-tax-filing bonus based on a lottery for people earning more than $30k but less than $60k that gives each person a number of tickets based on their income and remaining funds in the pool to provide a weighted chance of winning $1000 up to a maximum of 20 times per person = $20k more; The total amount distributed at the lottery pool should be capped, to limit the chances of 5 or more wins of the random lottery is no more than 95% for $35k+ earners, 50% for $50k+ earners, 25% for $60+k earners, and 10% for $65+k earners.

      Finally, if any money is left over in the pool after capped random lottery, Retain 5% to be held and managed separately as a reserve to be invested in a diversified portfolio..... Refund 95% of it back to all the retailers based on the fraction of the pool that they had originally paid in.
      Therefore, if the taxed amount was too high, then it will be automatically remedied.

      If the pool is exhausted before paying out, then the tax credit should have been successful.

    9. Re:Direct Extraction of money from local economies by DarkOx · · Score: 2

      This is only unpopular because the media with their 90% left leaning coverage is working overtime to make it so.

      Keep in mind the Individual Mandate does not go away until 2019. So nobody is really going to loose coverage this year. That is in there to force some action on fixing 0bamacare, which everyone knows is quite broken in that its not controlling costs; and has not actually met its coverage objectives.

      This is real money for most of the middle class, who actually votes. The members of the middle close that actually could lose as a result of this live in bright blue places with very high local taxes they will no longer be able to deduct all of; those were not going to sending Republicans to the senate, or turning up any electoral college votes anyway. Meanwhile struggling communities in fly over country keep more money in their pockets and don't subside 3% on the coasts.

      The reality is November is still almost a year off! You can't keep peoples' anti-trump everything he does is bad ferver going for another full year unless something bad actually happens. Right now middle America is watching their 401ks grow, seeing real progress being made against ISIS on the news, and getting a little extra walking around money. When Regan did it, the result was a GOP sweep! I don't think that will happen this time; but by Nov 2018, the "Blue wave" is going to be puddle. Sure the Democrats will pick up a few seats in the house for largely demographic reasons; that the GOP has failed and is still failing to deal with; but there inst going to be any land slide.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  3. Well... by Casandro · · Score: 3, Interesting

    People have much less ethical concerns to fool machines then they have with people. So people are going to try to trick the system much more often than they would with people there.

    1. Re:Well... by sheramil · · Score: 3, Funny

      And if you combine that with the tendency of Walmart to attract people who go shopping in their pyjamas, or underwear, and who have no problems with relieving themselves in the aisles.. as Opportunist pointed out above, this is going to make.. interesting television, if nothing else.

    2. Re:Well... by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Studies on this across the world have shown that retail theft works out to a little over double the baseline when self-checkout stores are used, and drops back down to close to the baseline when random inspection is included. No doubt that cashier free will be higher but that depends on what kind of oversight they use.

      The Amazon method seems to use sensors to identify what the person has taken reducing the amount of control a person has on the payment process.
      My local self-checkout service will flag up a random purchase I make for someone to come over and scan a few "random" items in my bag to see if I scanned them correctly. I say "random" because they go for the common targets for thiefs, i.e. running Royal Gala Apples up as Jazz Apples.

    3. Re:Well... by uncqual · · Score: 2

      I'm amazed at how many people don't get this.

      Back when I actually bought stuff at a local technology store instead of online, there was often a long (10+) line of sheeple waiting to get their receipts checked. I would routinely just walk right by the line carrying my bag full of things I had just bought and leave the store and was never challenged. I assumed others in the line would see what I did and exit the line and leave the store just as I did. However, I started glancing back after I had walked through the door to see if others took the hint but it was very rare for someone to do so. Often even when there is no line, I just say "No thanks" or "Have a nice day" as I walk by the person checking the receipts -- sometimes they follow or call after me, but I just ignore them and they never have followed me much past the front door.

      If I were a retailer and wanted to check receipts, I'd be tempted to implement a system where your receipt is scanned at the "receipt checker" station and the paper copy is marked to indicate it was checked (probably with a some sort of code that was derived from the transaction id using a public/private key system so it couldn't be forged easily) against the products you were leaving with. My return policy would be "No returns without a VALIDATED receipt" (both validated on the paper copy and recorded in the database). If I didn't want to staff the "checker of receipts" position full time, self-serve validators would be enabled at the exit when there was no "checker of receipts" on duty. This policy would motivate people to allow the check to be done and anyone not choosing to be validated would be rather suspicious. I would even know the exact set of receipts that never got "validated" and could check video to detect any pattern of suspicious behavior as that customer moved through the store in an effort to refine security.

      The only time the receipt check at the door has caught anything with me was at Costco. I had two of something and the checker had only scanned one of them (I think the product was about $10 each). The receipt checker noticed the count mismatch, went through the receipt to figure out which item was "extra" and filled out some sort of form and sent me on my way with the additional product gratis. I assume the checker (perhaps after a review the video of the transaction) gets dinged somehow if they miss items or double charge an item too often.

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  4. self checkout not promising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I tried Walmart's self-checkout lane once. After scanning about 50 items and putting them on the scale, it suddenly decides that a can of cashews is not heavy enough and no progress is possible. I had to call in a human cashier just to abort the process and go to a proper checkout lane.

    If the self-checkout is anything to go by, avoid this new cashierless store in much that same manner that a plague would.

    1. Re:self checkout not promising. by aussie_a · · Score: 2

      If a single item that couldn't detect the weight of it caused you to have to go to an entirely new line there is only one possible answer out of three options:
      (1) you're over 60;
      (2) you're a retard; or
      (3) warlmart's self checkout software is so bad that a single incorrectly weighted item causes it to delete all progress up to that point with no chance of recovery.

      Given you post on slashdot I think that rules out you being over 60. So I'll let readers who are more familiar than me with walmart's self checkouts to determine whether or not you're a retard.

    2. Re:self checkout not promising. by fuzznutz · · Score: 2

      If a single item that couldn't detect the weight of it caused you to have to go to an entirely new line there is only one possible answer out of three options: (1) you're over 60; (2) you're a retard; or (3) warlmart's self checkout software is so bad that a single incorrectly weighted item causes it to delete all progress up to that point with no chance of recovery.

      Given you post on slashdot I think that rules out you being over 60. So I'll let readers who are more familiar than me with walmart's self checkouts to determine whether or not you're a retard.

      I'm glad Australia has such wonderful effective self checkout lines. But over here, I've had the same problem. And I'm not over 60, not a retard, and yes - the self checkout software is so bad that no more progress is possible without human intervention.

      But you see, the problem is that there are no humans available most of the time to intervene. They are busy doing other important things like checking their Instagram or fixing the other five checkouts stalled for "are you over 21" purchases of wine, spray paint, or WD40. It turns out, it is faster (the whole reason to use self checkout) to move to a human operated line than to wait for some dumbass to shuffle over and override your checkout every few items.

      So, it frequently isn't faster. It is more work. You receive no discount for doing the work yourself. And it puts a room temperature IQ out of work and on the street. My son bitches every time I pick a human express line instead of the self checkout fiasco. I make sure I tell him that if I wanted to scan and bag groceries, I'd apply for a fucking job and get paid for it.

  5. They almost have them already by reboot246 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I rarely go in Walmart, but the last time I did I saw four self-checkouts and only two human cashiers. The rest of the checkouts were unused and the lines were really backed up. I didn't buy anything, just turned around and walked out.

    The idea of customers checking out their own items is great in theory, but it just doesn't work that well most of the time.

    I'll gladly stand in line to get money, but I'll be damned if I stand in line to give money. Want my business? Then make it convenient for me to shop in your store. That means hiring more (good) people and moving your ass a little faster.

    1. Re:They almost have them already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have the exact opposite of your experience. A walmart near me before self-checkout always had 3-4 cashiers in middle of day and was perpetually backed up into the nearest merchandise island.

      In the last two years, it downed it to 2 regular cashiers and a person manning 8 self checkouts. The human cashiers are always backed up with at least 3-4 customers in line but the self-checkout usually has 1-2 free and if not, I waited max 2 minutes.

      I love self-checkout.

    2. Re:They almost have them already by Scarred+Intellect · · Score: 2

      I refuse to use self-checkout unless they provide me a 15% discount for doing their job for them.

      Want shorter lines? Do like you did, and don't shop there. Unfortunately, WalMart surely doesn't see that. Get two shopping carts full of perishables. Stand in the long line. Give up and walk out of the store. Now they have a direct loss that they can attribute to their long lines.

      Of course, in the event of long but fast lines, make sure you're willing to buy those groceries. Don't just randomly abandon carts near the lines.

      Until then, their long lines don't cost them money. I guarantee you they know exactly how many (few) cashiers they can get away with at every hour of the day on every day of the year before they start seeing meaningful reduction in business. This is exactly the type of process simulation/optimizing I do (not for WalMart, though)

    3. Re:They almost have them already by edtice1559 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or maybe it's because customers scale horizontally to meet demand. Having a dozen cashiers standing around just in case there is an unexpected rush is inefficient. But having a dozen self checkout stands available doesn't really cost anything extra. And if you suddenly get a rush of people, each customer is a cashier. It has nothing to do with individual performance and more about having demand and supply always be balanced. If there was a +1 Snark mod, though, I'd give it to you.

  6. "Project Kepler"? by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Funny

    I read that headline as "Project Klepto", honest to glub I did.

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  7. That's one store I won't be shopping at. by X!0mbarg · · Score: 2

    Already, there are a disturbing number of "self check-out lanes" popping up at various stores.
    I (and many others) avoid those lanes, no matter what the wait, for a lane with an actual cashier. To me, I am supporting a job. A legitimate, one-on-one job. I have seen that there is an attendant at the self-checkout lanes, but they are responsible for 6 or more kiosks. That's one person doing the work of 6 (at least).
    If such a store in my area were to open (or convert to) such a setup, I'd be hard pressed to patronize that place.

    What next? We unload the trailer for them too? Maybe stock the shelves? "If you put two on the shelf for every one you take, we'll give you a discount"?

    Not for me, thank you.

    1. Re:That's one store I won't be shopping at. by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why don't you save yourself 15 minutes use the self checkout lane and give some homeless guy in the street $5 instead?

      You're not supporting anything really. The shop will make it gradually less convenient for you to line up and the stuff will be reduced anyway. They see the cost benefit there already, and shoppers see the low shelf prices. All you're doing is punishing yourself for no gain.

  8. Re: I realize no one cares but by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

    Are you four feet tall or something?