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influx | 4 months ago

Lumen Field in Seattle just installed some Amazon Just Walk Out vendors this year. I'm happy to report you don't need to be logged into Amazon or have an app. I double clicked my phone to swipe my Apple Pay before I walked in, grabbed a beer and walked out.

It was fantastic.

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bgirard|4 months ago

The big issue I have with this experience is that you don't get a clear charge price before you leave. So you have to check a page either some minutes or hours later and hope that the total is correct. Like the article said, I don't love the idea of being charged for 3 overpriced bottles of water when I only took two. I'd rather just settle my transactions in the moment than try to remember what my total was and dispute things later from memory on the occasional times it's wrong.

teeray|4 months ago

> you don't get a clear charge price before you leave. So you have to check a page either some minutes or hours later and hope that the total is correct

Oh, I’m very much sure this is a feature. Because, you see, only some percentage of people will actually look at the receipt. Some fraction of them will notice the error. Some fraction of those people will actually be motivated to spend their time on the phone clawing back an extra $8 water. The complement of that small percentage is a lucrative chance to sell the same overpriced water more than once.

sleazebreeze|4 months ago

Aren't all these transactions checked by a human after the fact? IIRC I interviewed someone who worked on this and thats what they said.

canucker2016|4 months ago

from https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/03/business/amazons-self-checkou...

   Amazon had used roughly 1,000 humans in India, according to some news reports, to help monitor accurate checkouts. The company told CNN it’s “reducing the number of human reviews” while developing the “Just Walk Out” technology. Amazon said besides data associates’ main role in working on the underlying technology, they also “validate a small minority” of shopping visits.

tumnus|4 months ago

Yes, it was the mechanical turk solution.

robotnikman|4 months ago

At the very least the is how it should be done. Having to download and install an app, then login, then connect payment info, etc... Sounds like such a pain I wouldn't even bother.

kridsdale3|4 months ago

Climate Pledge Arena has these too. I love them! No lines, no human interaction. Grab your M&M's and beer and GTFO.

bombcar|4 months ago

Any store is a Just Walk Out if you’re ballsy enough.