Amazon to open 2 cashier-less Whole Foods stores next year (AP)

[Passenger]

Amazon to open 2 cashier-less Whole Foods stores next year (AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — There will be something missing at two Whole Foods stores opening next year: the rows of cashiers.

Amazon, which owns the grocery chain, said Wednesday that it will bring its cashier-less technology to two Whole Foods stores for the first time, letting shoppers grab what they need and leave without having to open their wallets. Cameras and sensors track what’s taken off shelves. Items are charged to an Amazon account after customers leave the store with them.

But there will be an option for those who want to shop the old-fashioned way: Self-checkout lanes will be available that take cash, gift cards and other types of payment.

Amazon first unveiled the cashier-less technology in 2018 at an Amazon Go convenience store and has expanded it to larger Amazon supermarkets. But it will be the first time it has appeared at Whole Foods, a chain of more than 500 grocery stores Amazon bought four years ago.

One of the new stores will be in Washington, D.C.; the other in Sherman Oaks, California. They will be stocked with the typical Whole Foods fare, including seafood, fresh-squeezed orange juice and organic vegetables.

Even with the technology, Amazon said it will still hire about the same number of workers for the stores that it normally would, except they will have different roles, helping shoppers in the aisles or at counters instead of standing behind a register. The company declined to say how many people it will hire.

The company also declined to say if it plans to bring the technology to more Whole Foods locations.

Not laying anybody off just yet, and no talk of wages being too high (as Walmart did when they introduced self-checkout).

Amazon are simply betting people will prefer not having to deal with cashiers.

[Ohio Joe]

1. That is true...

There are even people right here that will celebrate people getting fired and more than happy to do the companies work for free. Pretty fucked up if you ask me.

[GregariousGroundhog]

10. They aren't talking about self-checkout. They are talking about no-checkout.

Cameras and shelf sensors with artificial intelligence watch you as you shop and tally up everything you take off or put back onto a shelf. When you walk out the door and your credit card is charged.

You aren't doing their work, work is being flat out eliminated. I'm really curious as to how smart Amazon's AI is and its error rate compared to a paid checker or self checkout.

[Ohio Joe]

39. I disagree...

If I go to a convenience store, most times I don't need a bag as I only get one or two items. When I go to a supermarket, I tend to get at least 8-10 bags of stuff. So... Yeah, the job is being eliminated but not the work.

[Harker]

12. They want me to check myself out, but if I throw my own bag

on the scale at the wrong moment, a person has to approve... it's a racket.

Modern life is a racket.

[marble falls]

2. Two places I won't be shopping at. Besides, HEB and HEB/Central Market are better.

[Tree Lady]

29. My daughter in San Antonio loves HEB

We don't have the stores in the west. They have a program to hire and train retired military officers for management, my son n law who just retired this summer is going through interviews for the program. He is Lt. colonel in AF.

[marble falls]

36. It's just a great place to shop and they treat their employees well, I see the same ones year ...

... after year. My daughter in FL misses HEB, and my dad lives in Tempe. He wants to hit HEB (pronounces is "heb&quot as soon as we can when he visits. When in Tempe, I want to hit: Chef Store.

[Tree Lady]

37. There is a HEB near my daughter in Alamo Heights

That is just like Whole Foods but half the price, I couldn't believe how cheap the name brand organics are.

[Demsrule86]

3. I won't shop at whole foods if they do that.

[BannonsLiver]

4. I wish they'd develop a customer-less system

ThT way I could shop without having to be around other customers, who are inherently annoying.

[Passenger]

9. +1 !!!!!!! n/t

[Champp]

5. "All your jobs are belong to us." - DigiBorg, Inc.

[Tommy Carcetti]

6. No interest. nt

[Jilly_in_VA]

7. I wouldn't shop at Whole Paycheck

even if they opened one here, which they won't...the market is apparently not "right" for them, despite having a state university with a large student and faculty population. We're not snobbish enough like Charlottesville. We couldn't even get a Trade Joe's, FFS. We finally got an Aldi, at least, where I shop on occasion, but I usually go to Kroger and to Food Maxx, which is an amazing international market. And I most certainly would not shop at a cashier-less Whole Paycheck. Screw that.

[Jim G.]

19. Your Lack Of Self Awareness Is Hilarious!

Because if anyone is over the top around here...

[BannonsLiver]

30. Whoa what did I miss?

[Jim G.]

35. Not Much Really...

Just an annoying RW troll that keeps signing up here looking for attention.

[FakeNoose]

8. I hope they plan good security in those stores

The shoplifting will be horrendous.

Not saying that Whole Foods stores have bad security, I'm just saying that NO retail establishment employs enough rent-a-cops to fight off the determined shoplifters.

[fescuerescue]

33. The tracking technology is really really good

Much better than one would imagine.

[radicalleft]

11. So it sounds like I will have to do nothing

other than what I do now, which is put the items in my cart and then have the convenience of skipping waiting in line altogether...yeah I could go for that.

[marybourg]

13. What about bagging?

[radicalleft]

14. Most of the time

I have to do that myself anyway...

[MineralMan]

16. I'll never see this. I don't shop at Whole Foods.

They don't have products I use on a regular basis, so it's not a complete source of the goods I need from such markets. Therefore, I don't go there at all. Instead, I shop at stores that carry everything I want to buy in the way of food, paper goods, household products, etc.

That Whole Foods is owned by Jeff Bezos and Amazon does not play into it at all. That they're offering cashier-free shopping doesn't either. I don't care. I don't have the time or energy to go to multiple stores to buy what's on my shopping list. I just don't.

My wife went to Whole Foods once, because she had an Amazon order to return. It was very convenient for that. However, she also needed some rice to make some dog food for one of our dogs that was having digestive issues. Chicken and rice fixes those conditions. However, Whole Foods only had long-cooking rice. It was organic, but the dog doesn't care about that, and it doesn't even matter. It was expensive, which we care about, and it takes a lot longer to prepare, which I care about when I'm making food for a dog.

I cooked the rice for the dog. Then, the next day, I was at the supermarket. Rice was on my list, since my wife just bought a small bag of the slow-cooking organic rice. There on the section of an aisle which featured rice, I found organic rice, ordinary rice, Minute rice (which still isn't ready for many minutes), and shelf-stable pre-cooked rice that gets reheated for 90 seconds in the microwave, in its own packaging. I bought the 90-second rice for my dog. He doesn't care. He likes it just as well as the organic rice my wife bought, and it's just as good for what ails him, along with some canned chicken.

My point is that I can buy any sort of rice at my supermarket, from pricy organic varieties to rice that is ready in 90 seconds. At Whole Foods, I can't do that. So, I don't shop there. If I want organic rice, I can get that at my supermarket, but I can't get shelf-stable, pre-cooked, 90-second rice at Whole Foods.

[MineralMan]

23. I could cook up a bunch of rice, sure, but

I don't. That isn't what he usually eats. He only gets rice if he has a digestive upset. Works great, but isn't a good regular diet.

So, when I need it, I only need enough for one or two meals. In reality, white rice takes quite a bit longer than 15 minutes to prepare. More like 30 minutes, since the water and rice have to come to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes, covered. Then, it has to cool down before it's OK for the dog to eat. If I make a larger batch, most of it gets wasted, and I'd have to warm it up before feeding it to the dog, anyhow.

I do know how to cook rice. I just don't choose to take that time for an occasional rice meal for my dog with the runs.

I must confess that I don't understand what you're scolding me about, really. The question isn't the rice, it's the options. I have more options at the supermarket than I do at Whole Foods. I like having options when I shop. So, I shop where I find the most options. Today's supermarkets offer everything that's available at Whole Foods, and hundreds upon hundreds of choices of things not offered at Whole Foods. I can find no good reason to shop at Whole Foods, to be quite frank. There's one just five minutes away from my house, but there are also several supermarkets the same distance away.

[mn9driver]

25. It's ok. nobody knows what makes this one tick.

Cleanup in aisle 7 has been called.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. ...

[Liberal In Texas]

18. Wally World tried one of those around here.

Some kind of Walmart Food Store. All charged to some app on the phone somehow, I never went so I'm not sure how it worked.

Anyway it was a miserable failure and is closed and at last drive-by the building is still empty.

[bigtree]

21. UFCW response

...my union for 36 years, Locals 400 and 27.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union announced its opposition to Amazon expanding its cashierless technology to other retailers, the latest move by the company to force this platform on more consumers and companies. UFCW International President Marc Perrone issued the following statement:

“Let there be no doubt that Amazon represents a direct threat to 16 million American retail jobs and is part of a ruthless strategy to eliminate as many good jobs as possible.

“This so-called cashierless technology is nothing but a trojan horse that will let Amazon control and monopolize competing retailers and give Jeff Bezos direct access to their customer data. It is time for regulators and our elected leaders to act before Amazon does lasting damage to our already-fragile economy.

“Every politician running in 2020 needs to tell voters whose side they are on. Will you roll over for billionaire CEOs like Jeff Bezos or will you stand up and fight for good American jobs?”




Amazon expanding its cashierless technology to its Amazon Fresh grocery stores, as well as licensing the technology other retailers, would likely:

Discriminate against over 24 million U.S. households which are underbanked
Threaten the jobs of America’s 16 million retail workers
Grow the cashierless retail tech market to $50 billion and force widespread adoption by other stores
Give Amazon unfair access to its competitors’ customer data, raising privacy concerns

https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/amazontech/
https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/ufcw-amazon-grocery-expansion-with-cashierless-technology-threatens-good-paying-jobs-of-essential-workers/

article:

UFCW calls out Amazon’s greed-driven pursuit of cashierless grocery stores
https://labortribune.com/ufcw-calls-out-amazons-greed-driven-pursuit-of-cashierless-grocery-stores/

[BlueIdaho]

34. I stand with the UFCW.

Automation may be the biggest threat to people earning a living wage.

[Passenger]

38. Bravo! Union man myself. n/t

[Demsrule86]

31. That will not work...whole foods is not a cheap store and I promise you the customers won't

go for it. Hell, I wouldn't go. I have left an entire basket of groceries at Walmart because they had no open lanes with cashiers. I simply won't do it.

[fescuerescue]

32. That actually sounds really nice

I worry about Covid the most waiting in line to check out. That's where we group up to close.

Avoid a Covid gather point is a good idea.

Getting rid of cash register choke points would probably save lives.