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Amazon Opens 'Surveillance-Powered, No-Checkout Convenience Store' (geekwire.com)
An anonymous reader quotes GeekWire:
The first Amazon Go grocery and convenience store will open to the public Monday in Seattle -- letting any person with an Amazon account, the Amazon Go app and a willingness to give up more of their personal privacy than usual simply grab anything they want and walk out, without going through a checkout line... After shoppers check in by scanning their unique QR code, overhead cameras work with weight sensors in the shelves to precisely track which items they pick up and take with them. When they leave, they just leave. Amazon Go's systems automatically debit their accounts for the items they take, sending the receipt to the app. In my first test of Amazon Go this past week, my elapsed time in the store was exactly 23 seconds -- from scanning the QR code at the entrance to exiting with my chosen item...
The company says the tracking is precise enough to distinguish between multiple people standing side-by-side at a shelf, detecting which one picked up a yogurt or cupcake, for example, and which one was merely browsing. The system also knows when people pick up items and put them back, ensuring that Amazon doesn't dock anyone's account for milk or chips when they simply wanted to read the label. The idea is to "push the boundaries of computer vision and machine learning" to create an "effortless experience for customers," said Dilip Kumar, Amazon Go vice president of technology, after taking GeekWire through the store this past week... Apart from the kitchen staff preparing fresh food at the back, we saw only two workers in the 1,800-square-foot Amazon Go store during our visit: one at the beer and wine section to check IDs, and another just inside the entrance to greet customers.
TechCrunch calls it "Amazon's surveillance-powered no-checkout convenience store," adding "the system is made up of dozens and dozens of camera units mounted to the ceiling, covering and recovering every square inch of the store from multiple angles."
The Seattle Times reports that the store "was also criticized by grocery-store workers' unions, which feared an effort to automate the work done by cashiers, the second-most-common job in the U.S."
The company says the tracking is precise enough to distinguish between multiple people standing side-by-side at a shelf, detecting which one picked up a yogurt or cupcake, for example, and which one was merely browsing. The system also knows when people pick up items and put them back, ensuring that Amazon doesn't dock anyone's account for milk or chips when they simply wanted to read the label. The idea is to "push the boundaries of computer vision and machine learning" to create an "effortless experience for customers," said Dilip Kumar, Amazon Go vice president of technology, after taking GeekWire through the store this past week... Apart from the kitchen staff preparing fresh food at the back, we saw only two workers in the 1,800-square-foot Amazon Go store during our visit: one at the beer and wine section to check IDs, and another just inside the entrance to greet customers.
TechCrunch calls it "Amazon's surveillance-powered no-checkout convenience store," adding "the system is made up of dozens and dozens of camera units mounted to the ceiling, covering and recovering every square inch of the store from multiple angles."
The Seattle Times reports that the store "was also criticized by grocery-store workers' unions, which feared an effort to automate the work done by cashiers, the second-most-common job in the U.S."
this is very clever here is how it works: At the end of each day each store's NN is mutated in relationship with the delta$ at the end of each week, the NN with the highest delta$ are culled out and replaced by a cross breed of the NNs with the lowers delta$
Those pushing so hard for $15 minimum wage don't seem to realize this, but they've been instrumental in introducing economic distortions that won't just make full automation more economically attractive, but that will make full automation economically mandatory for any business that wants to survive. Socialists are always their own worst enemy. Their lack of understanding about the true nature of economics means that their policies will always be pushed too far, and will eventually destroy the economy that is hosting these socialists.
You can be sure they've calculated this into their plans, and will be reviewing their camera footage and sending you a bill. Remember, you've identified yourself just to get into the store.
"Well kids, you tried your best, and you failed. The lesson is, never try." -Homer Simpson
like self check out just wait people will try to work out ways to get free stuff at this store.
https://www.fierceretail.com/o...
The political economy is broken: innovation that delivers broad productivity and standard-of-living increases is "bad" because it puts people out of work. This phenomenon is not new. For example, some metro transit systems rolled out in the 70's were designed for total automation, but were forced to employ operators by unions and/or public outcry.
There are two simple, direct fixes that should be on the table. One is a basic income, the other a jobs guarantee.
.:Semper Absurda:.
From the TFA:
"The company says the tracking is precise enough to distinguish between multiple people standing side-by-side at a shelf, detecting which one picked up a yogurt or cupcake, for example, and which one was merely browsing. "
I would take that as a challenge! What can I get a away with, how can I obscure, or fool the "AI", what are the limitations and assumptions, can I beat the design engineers? Very interesting problem!
If I would be tempted to do that - who hasn't shoplifted once in 47 years - what would that indicate for the average shoplifting rate?
A couple decades ago when I was in middle school banks in our town installed a few ATMs and issued mag stripe cards to replace the paper wallet size account number slips. My dad and many others around me said it would be the end of banking as a profession and I should not go anywhere near the industry.
That end of employment fear was unfounded as is this one.
Choose IBM
"Would you mind helping me with my bags? Also, thanks for paying."
'nuf said.
No shit sherlock. People already try and work out how to steal stuff, most people who don't aren't going to start because it may have become ever so slightly easier. My normal supermarket shop now, in the UK, is collecting a self-scanner at the door, scanning and putting items in my own bags, and then scanning a terminal at the exit and paying. Perhaps once every 8-10 visits it decides I need to check and someone picks out 2-5 items at random and scans them and as long as they are part of the shop I'm done. Clearly they aren't concerned about excessive theft in this model, and I doubt Amazon's without the checking but with extensive surveillance is going to be any more exploitable.
I bought some things recently using a similar idea. At a Dallas hospital the vending machines have been replaced by what roughly like standard refrigerated display cases you'd see holding drinks at any convenience store. Chips and such were in a similar-looking case, just not refrigerated.
The customer taps their card or phone to open the case, then takes whatever they want. It detects if you take an item and then put it back. Especially if you wanted more than one item, it was more convenient than a standard vending machine that requires you to choose item A11 by pressing buttons, then wait for wire to turn, hoping the bag of pretzels will drop as intended.
Because there were no visible sensors or other mechanisms, and it was new to me, it was slightly disconcerting the first time, but interesting and convenient.
Some where down the road when 30% are unemployed because they are low skilled poorly educated and crime is ridiculous. We will finally acknowledge that low skill jobs are important and needed. No robots won't be taking over human's as we have seen in the movies. They will just cause chaos and mass unemployment which leads to the have and have not's fighting it out.
as so often happens, I pick something up, walk around for a while, then put it down somewhere else, picking something up from there? If their system can't handle that - with 100% reliability - it's not ready for the real world. Because that happens all the time in real retail stores.
Get a skill and earn some money.
OK: "Alexa, how many bags of dried beans weigh precisely the same as a 750ml bottle of Courvoisier?"
... the tracking is precise enough to distinguish between multiple people ... overhead cameras work with weight sensors in the shelves to precisely track which items they pick up ... The system also knows when people pick up items and put them back, ...
Do not shop for condoms at the Amazon Go store.
On the other hand... With Alexa snooping on you at home as well, perhaps she can help ensure you buy the right size - next time.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
who just runs in really quick to get something, to let everyone know how serious and busy they are - they're on the go and don't have time to linger!
I guess that begs the question, did Trump pay for the Real Girlfriend Experience or not? Or would that be Real Mistress Experience?
PS - Escorts can start getting RFID tags in their implants to auto-bill you.
In the Amazon store, one could do a "raiders of the lost ark", grab something off the shelf and quickly replace it with something worthless of equal weight, like Indy replacing the golden idol with a bag of sand. I'm hoping Amazon will add a rolling stone ball to crush such shoplifters as well.
Our supermarket now has self checkout as well, and we get checked just as frequently and in the same way. What surprises me is the perfunctory manner of the check: they never count items or check stuff at the bottom of the bag. So bury the stuff you want to steal or grab 10 beers and ring up only 8. Then again, I am sure that these supermarkets have very detailed figures on theft, and I am guessing that they feel that the increase (if any) in shoplifting introduced by self scanners is outweighed by the advantages these scanners offer.
I love self checkout by the way. Mostly because there's no taking out and (re)bagging of groceries anymore; everything gets scanned and goes straight into the bag, which goes straight into the boot. Checkout is a 5 second process.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
> criticized by grocery-store workers' unions, which feared an effort to automate the work done by cashiers, the second-most-common job in the U.S.
This is an excellent example of where the "robots are taking our jobs" mantra is misguided and targeted at the wrong change. If the concern is really about cashiers' work, then the most significant replacement has already been implemented many years ago: self-checkout kiosks. In fact, the ones in the US have already become old fashioned and bulky compared to the slimmer versions which are popping up all over Europe.
What's interesting about the self-checkout boot, is that is does not require any new technology which was not already in use by a human cashier: The barcode-scanner, coin slot, card terminal, touch screen are all technologies from the 80s / 90s or earlier. The change was mainly in process and labor; now the customer has to do the job the cashier used to do.
Amazon's implementation uses much more advanced technology, but the effect on required labor is the same. So should vision-based technology be banned and resisted, while self-checkout boots are fine? Or should we go back to anno 1920, when a shop-keeper would hand you every item from behind the counter? Or maybe Amazon need to pay a "robot-tax" for the workers they displaced? In which case, should we go by the 1990s level when there were maybe hundred in a large Wal-mart store, or the 1920 style, where there were only one or two employees but a long line of customers.
You really are a coward!
hoping the bag of pretzels will drop as intended
It's the 21st century, we're sending robots to Mars and probes to asteroids, cancer has gone from "death sentence" to "usually well treatable", and paper jams in printers have become exceedingly rare, but the solution to this problem still eludes us.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Can you patent a scaled up version of the hotel mini bar?
The worst part of going to the store is waiting in line with a bunch of thugs while some zero work ethic hindu guy begrudgingly rings up my order. Or in more upscale areas the forced banter of trader joe's cashiers is cringe worthy. Amazon can't bring this shit on soon enough!
Wrong. Amazon has called me and asked if I would work minimum wage to patrol the store with my shotgun and shoot shoplifters. OF COURSE I SAID YES, FUCK YEAH.
will dwarf anything you could possibly steal before getting caught. As for privacy concerns, it's like the number of the beast. You won't have a choice. You'll at least have to buy food.
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you could pay them in just enough rice porridge to make it through one more miserable day and the machines would still win out; if only because shopping at places where the staff can barely survive is just plain unpleasant. After all, out of sight, out of mind.
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It is going to be exceptionally easy when they find the bag of sand to just press a button and view the video of "last time the weight of this item fluctuated" and see who you were. You have to authenticate to gain access to the store.
Idiots wave their hands and imagine video-game quality theft schemes, these tweakers will get arrested after the first time they manage to steal somebody's identity and make it into the store.
You have to be basically illiterate to think that a current "self checkout line" is using the same technology as this Amazon store. The amazon store uses surveillance technology to watch you. A "self checkout line" uses an employee to stand around and "watch" a large number of customers, and experienced thieves can simply pay attention to what that employee is doing. The cameras are for live viewing and evidence, they're not using a system of auditing what you bought afterwards. With the Amazon store they know who everyone is, so if there is missing stock they can go back and actually figure out who removed it from the shelf, and then just cross-reference if you were charged. You bring home 10 beers, think you only got charged for 8 because you only wrote down an 8, but then it gets corrected later and if you're literally trying to hide it under other stuff you might even get arrested; or worse, banned from the store.
- Just put the alcohol into a mini refrigerated walk-in room that's behind a locked door. The door only opens for those who are over the drinking age... there, one employee position resolved. - create a greeting robot (screen with a human face) with preprogrammed messages and potentially preprogrammed responses to questions... there, the other employee position resolved.
The only thing that bothers me about this is the personal identification in order to enter the store. Then again, stores like Costco have for years required you to submit your identity and made you pay for a uniquely-identifying card in order to use their store. It doesn't look like Amazon will charge you. And even I am willing to let a clerk scan my uniquely-identifying Safeway card at checkout so I can get 80 cents off seedless grapes or whatever. What's different about Amazon's store is that there isn't a staff of sad underpaid cashiers. I also won't miss the infernally slow checkout aisles that try to get me interested in buying magazines about Jennifer's latest battle with Angelina over Brad. Doesn't anyone else think the grocery store has always been a fairly shitty place? I see no need to protect it from extinction, just like I don't long for the pre-ATM days when people had to wait in line and talk to a bank teller in order to withdraw cash from their accounts.
So many little grime "convenience" stores gouge the crap out of people offering expired products all the while speaking to some friends on the phone while doing their best to ignore us. Will Amazon usurp this experience or actually provide a better experience?
Some people will scream that this eliminates jobs for hard-working immigrants and mom and pop stores, but quite simply I am sick of all the corner stores I have been in for at least the last decade. Never personal service, never someone who treats me with any respect at all, and never a fair price; so I won't mourn the loss of this entire industry to automation.
As for the employees, some minimum wage jobs gone so rancid that in Canada they had to bring slaves in on temporary work permits just to fill the positions. Bye bye.
Meanwhile my local convenience store (bodega to you, thanks) actually makes food which is good. Try that, Norby the Mixed Up Amazonbot.
I will not enter
Comment removed based on user account deletion
My local convenience store made good food. Except nobody bought the food since the customers only wanted to buy lottery tickets. The store is gone now.
What happens if you put something back in the wrong spot? You know, like your OCD uncle, who upon opening something up, must immediately alphabetize everything.
Sorry, skills such as running a cash register are no longer needed. Please proceed to the starvation line to your left.
the law makes it so like how in NJ you can't pump your own gas.
The idea is to "push the boundaries of computer vision and machine learning" to create an "effortless experience for customers"...
Customers? Oh, you mean all the workers you put in the unemployment line with this "vision" of the future? Those customers?
They say automation is unavoidable. We'll see if the concept of Eat the Rich is too.
OK: "Alexa, how many bags of dried beans weigh precisely the same as a 750ml bottle of Courvoisier?"
Buy one first, go home, weigh it, prepare bean bag, return for another. BOGOF.
FTFA :-
In my first test of Amazon Go this past week, my elapsed time in the store was exactly 23 seconds
WTF did he buy? Sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to find just one particular item in my supermarket. Even though I use the same place every week, they are always moving stuff around according to season, or it seems at the whim of the manager.
I have a skill but am not allowed to earn any money. Thanks, government, for requiring then fucking up the paperwork.
On another note, what if you walk in and out again, with stuff, but without Amazon account attached to your face, then what? They shut the door on your face next time?
Or how about you wear someone else's face? Put a Nixon mask on a homeless guy and ask him to try for you? Worst he gets is a couple days free board from the cops.
Me, I don't shop at stores that don't have price tags (unless they're run by Arabs and I feel like dickering, it can be fun if you know how it's done). I don't shop using "plastic" because that already disconnects me from the money I'm spending. This concept is designed to take that one step further. "It's feels like it's free!" Well, it isn't, it just creates bills that'll stack up... later. But they'll stack up remorselessly. Soon Amazon will start to lobby to get their debts elevated to tuitition loan persistence levels. Because they're special that way. And they know your face. So no, I don't think this is good for me. But it'll certainly be good for Amazon, if they get enough suckers to walk in and make their faces and wallets known to Amazon.
We are about to test it too at the chain were I work.
It will be a regular store that will be open 24/7 only at night there will be no on site personnel. It will only be open to people who have membership/owner cards. Since it is a cooperation, you pay a small amount to become a member/owner, so it is not like one of those "membership" cards you get at the register.
L'Idiot
I know where I'm shopping during the next electrical outage.
You have never dealt with shoplifters before, have you ...
The lengths serial shoplifters will go to are astounding, and they don't give any fucks about being caught.
Not much. No system is 100% infallible and this will make mistakes. What do they do when they make one? Give the shopper the benefit of doubt after stressing them out and making them feel like a thief: Ok, we'll let you get away with this one, but we knew you did it.
or worse prosecute them?
Is this a publicity stunt? A dumb idea by a corporation with more dollars than sense? Is there really that strong a demand for shops without shop assistants? WTF is going on here?
If I had to bet, this store that's harder to get into without an ID won't be the one criminals focus on.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Due to massive thefts.
There's an Alexa AI opportunity: " You seem to be interested in the extra-small condoms; do you want to hear more?"
I prefer to pump my own gas. The world did not collapse.
Pumping gas did not represent the second most common job in the nation. Stop fucking ignorantly pointing to buggy whip shit from our past as an indication of how the future will go.
I picture a thief sitting standing in front of a store shelf with a bag of sand in one hand, and a bag of cookies in the other.
Until then, they should respond "above and beyond the call of duty" when customers report failures
Methinks there will be LOTS of failures
If they take the typical corporate attitude, and ignore or argue with the customers, instead of taking a detailed bug report..they will fuck themselves
Not really. I've identified myself as Bill, because he keeps forgetting his phone on his desk.
#DeleteFacebook
It'll be perfect once they kill off millions of the 99%
Sorry, skills such as running a cash register are no longer needed. Please proceed to the starvation line to your left.
Exactly. It is well known that automation causes poverty. Economists call this "the productivity catastrophe". That is why America, Europe, and Japan are mired in misery, while countries that have wisely avoided the "efficiency trap" such as Somalia, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan, are doing so well.
If I had an uncle like that, I'd give him a box of Alpha-Bits at Christmas and a can of Alpha-getti for his birthday.
#DeleteFacebook
OTOH systemd was totally uncalled for, as you already had people trained to do the configurations using scripts they maintained by hand.
Robotics and AI will replace MOST jobs and the wages have nothing do to with that people! You can never pay low enough for a human to live on and compete with automation. It only delays the inevitable-- go back to slavery and eventually they will still be replaced.
Better off paying decent wages and helping fund the machine take over quicker--- before we end up with robot armies to suppress the mass movements which will come when most the world is unemployable and has to FORCE the status quo to change to something new.... the wealthy and powerful ALWAYS defend the system which created their wealth and gave them power. Even the "left" leaning will abandon their ideals when it encroaches upon their security and "way of life."
Slavery was all about "way of life" and economics... tons of rationalizations to justify and promote a culture of rationalizations for maintaining the status quo. Humans always do this. Losing hurts more; it's evolution and fear of insecurity is evolutionary add in tribalism...
Most people are generally terrible at dealing with / anticipating non-linear change. Those who can are often able to remain far ahead of the curve. But they're relatively rare.
And this change... this change is unlike any other that preceded it. That's why you see so many deniers claiming this wave of automation is essentially just like previous "no more buggywhips" events.
They simply can't open their minds far enough to see that the light in the tunnel is an oncoming, accelerating, train. It's going to hit them with very little warning, despite you standing by the tracks and screaming "Get off, GET OFF! It's a frigging TRAIN!"
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Automation is fine, I like that. However, I want to be able to walk into a store, buy something with cash, and walk out, anonymously. Nobody has the right to analyze my life history of hygiene and drinking habits.
No, This will make much easier to prosecute shoplifters.
They will not be serial shoplifters in these stores.
First time they are caught, they will be banned from all stores, forever. Which will be pretty easy for Amazon to enforce
since you have to authenticate your identity in order to even enter the store.
Amazon flips a flag for your account/social security number and you can never enter a store again.
And they will be caught, make no mistake. There are cameras everywhere, from every angle. Lots of cameras.
As soon as "one item is missing from shelf position xyz" they will will just have to go through their footage
for every single (authenticated) customer that were anywhere near that shelf and crossreference the (authenticated) customer in the photage with his/her checkout item list.
I bet that they have that already fully automated and have tested that in their dark launch.
I guess that the only part where a human will be involved will be when the AI will escalate to a human as : ... . Here is high resolution footoage from 25 different angles. Please review and confirm if this was the shoplifter or not."
"one item of X has been lost from item shelf Y. Computer thinks it happened at
If the human confirms it, they know the identity, and they have high res footage to prove it can can perma ban the user immediately from all stores, and possibly also prosecute if they feel like setting some examples.
If the human clears it, the computer will then show them the next most probable suspect.
I'm not sure that is a good idea. I haven't examined the political motivations of the CIA yet, but as we've seen from the FBI lately, feeding a large organization more information when their primary objective is to maintain a certain political stance in politics is a major mistake.
"But I happened to bring in a block that weighs the same as this item I'm too broke to get. Decisions decisions."
You know it doesn't work, Dr. Jones.
Beware the giant boulder.
I'm willing to go buy in that store if they sell this one item.
bring back your empty packages, replace with new, filled ones on the shelf.
will the AI decide - oh, they put it back, no charge?
prepare to find stores full of empty packages!
and what about those 2 people still working there? checking an id and saying hello to people? those are the 2 things they couldn't figure out how to replace?
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Ok, say someone picks up a can of beer, then a can of Coke, then puts the can of Coke back on the beer shelf (assume same weight of full cans). Now:
1. Does the customer pay Coke prices for beer?
2. Are there robots which will then retrieve the Coke and put it back on the correct shelf?
And why is the $15 (and higher) minimum wage necessary?
Because the cost of basic essentials went up more than the minimum wage. None of the people arguing for a low minimum wage ever mention that.
The problem that Amazon and all of those looking to maximize profits by lowering employee costs is that every time someone becomes long term unemployed, the ability of another consumer to contribute to the GDP vanishes - likely forever.
To get a grasp of how little these people make, take a look here:
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes412031.htm
Take it to the extreme: all ship assistants are made redundant by spy cameras, that's 4.5 million people that no longer have a job. And nobody to help you correct a mistake on the bill.
But I happened to bring in a block that weighs the same as this item I'm too broke to get. Decisions decisions.
A true hacker would know how much each product weighs and leave cheap items where the expensive items were.
No sig today...
...and this will be the downfall of this system.
As soon as people walk in and see a bag of rice where the new Xbox is supposed to be then it's game over for Amazon Go.
The only way it can work is if they restrict it to cheap stuff that nobody would invest much effort to steal, eg. bags of rice.
No sig today...
This really pisses me off> At work, the vending machine gets jammed regularly. And 99% of the time the item is wedged between the dispense mechanism and the front glass. If the front glass was approximately half an inch further forward, it would almost never happen! It's not exactly rocket scienceÂ
I'd want a display by the door where I could check what I'd supposedly bought before leaving. Just to scan through quickly so I can see I haven't been charged for a bogus £80 bottle of champagne or something.
Once you've left it would be very hard for *you* to prove that you didn't buy an item.
Unlike systems to detect the onset of nuclear war, Amazon systems never make a mistake. That is why I am wondering what is going to happen when I dispute what Amazon thinks I walked out of the with.
Not only that but it's a QR code. I like using QR codes around my house but even a bad quality photo of a QR code is enough to re-create it and use someone else's QR code then.
Does the QR code stay the same each time or is a new one generated each visit?
Psh, just hack the app that identifies you.
No doubt, retailers make a calculated risk: do the savings in cashier wages exceed the losses from shoplifting? It's likely that they find it cost effective even with moderate increase in shoplifting.
I love self checkout by the way. Mostly because there's no taking out and (re)bagging of groceries anymore; everything gets scanned and goes straight into the bag, which goes straight into the boot. Checkout is a 5 second process.
I'm curious where you shop. Stores near me with self checkout require me to scan each item, and then place them into the bagging area. There is a scale in the bagging area, so the machine yells at you if you place something unexpectedly heavy or light there. And if you want to bring your own bags, there's a problem: If you place them on the bagging area, you must call an attendant to OK the extra weight. Or, you must keep your bags on the floor, and after you scan each item, you must tell the computer that you wish to skip bagging, so you can place the item into your bag.
I wonder how often the machinery will think you took something when you didn't. Perhaps the crowd was too big, and it wasn't obvious which customer took the item. I assume most people won't check the receipt while walking out to verify every item listed is actually in their cart. And if they do catch a mistake, what then? How do you prove you don't have something? What if you catch it the mistake the next day?
someone bring in a bag of sand and indiana jones that sh@t
If you try this, a large stone boulder will immediately roll out of the wall and crush you.
This in in Albert Heijn stores in the Netherlands. It's scan-as-you-go, using a portable scanner you pick up at the entrance, or a reasonably convenient app on your smart phone. Scan each item as you put it in your cart or bag.
At checkout, the app produces a bar code which you scan at the terminal, then you pay and walk out using a bar code on your receipt to open a turnstyle. About 1 time in 10 the terminal will lock and a clerk will walk over to check your groceries. If you buy any alcohol, the terminal locks as well, and the clerk unlocks it after a few seconds (they'll card younger patrons). It's a pretty well streamlined process, even having your purchases checked takes only a few seconds.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I was thinking along the same lines. I pick up 10 pounds of potatoes, then go and get 8 pounds of booze. I put the potatoes on the booze shelf, then walk out. Do I get 8 pounds of booze for the price of 2 pounds of potatoes?
Even the *best* surveillance systems have blind spots and replacing/spoofing/jamming RFID is trivial.
Or it never figured in to the decision for self checkout, since they were going to maximize surveillance and automate it anyway.
I'd be interested in seeing the actual numbers. But judging from my local police blotter, they have been awfully busy there since the new self serve checkouts were installed at the big box store.
An advertisement for contactless RFID shopping. The future has arrived.
https://www.youtube.com/eob532iEpqk