Wonder if 'just walk out' not scaling up had anything to do with it:
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Or they got the behavioral data they needed and shutdown the project.
They already bought Whole Foods.
Their systems for the just-walk-out technology never worked right, and they just ended up opening grocery stores in sketchy locations in an already-crowded market.
Here’s hoping they selling Whole Foods next. They’ve certainly ruined it.
How did they ruin it? I don't really shop there because I don't want to spend eight dollars on asparagus water.
A lot of quality merch is no longer carried. Their deli and premade fridges are poorer quality now. I used to stop by there to pick up a healthy lunch from time to time. Not anymore.
Employees have complained online about working conditions being more like an Amazon warehouse now than a grocery store.
yea the instore shoppers, they tried to use the same metrics that amazon shoppers used before '22 transition. and also they have skeleton crew the prepared foods headcount, so everyones all stressed. Also for how bad amazon is, getting pto is harder in wf, because of changes they made in '23. also they try to stretch out the people that dint leave immediately after getting hired, to do more work that would been done by having more hires.
I used to like Whole Foods :(
I don't shop at Sprout's anymore either since I found out they donate to the GOP...
Corporations shouldn’t be allowed to donate to politicians. They can’t vote. If the ceo wants to support a candidate, make them take the money out of their own pocket.
You'll have to take that up with John Roberts regarding Citizen's United...
Corporations have the same human rights as people. Im surprised they cant vote to be honest. But the reality is they dont need to vote since they have the political class captured.
they are also completed with a well liked brand, whole foods.
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Did they ever get it to be actual AI?
Last time I heard about it they were just paying very low wages to people in India to watch everyone on webcams or something stupid
It was more accurately described as computer vision at the time, but your memory is right. They wanted to get to 5% of sales being human reviewed, but it was more like 70%.
What's funny about Amazon's efforts for Just Walk Out is that checkout free shopping already existed. Simply by letting customers carry a handheld scanner and payment terminal around the store with them.
I miss those hand scanners. I used to shoplift ~$50 worth of veg every trip. I wish I could get away with just burning Kroger to the ground, but that was all I could manage at the time.
7-11 theoretically already has it for their app; you scan with your phone and pay with Apple or Google Pay. The only thing is that you're supposed to sort of wave the completed transaction at the cashier as you go, but the only reason you'd really need to use portable self-checkout is if the cashier is busy, and when they're busy they don't want you breaking in line or to stop what they're doing to see that you're showing them a plausibly legitimate checkout screen.
In a completely, utterly, definitely unrelated story, I got accused of shoplifting by a 7-11 cashier the other day.
7-11 doesn't actually have this program, OC just shoplifts there all the time
Both things could be true.
It seems like it would work better to build the scanning tech into baskets/carts.
That could work also, but not all shops have carts, and people don't always need a basket. It's common enough to scan things and pop them directly into a bag you brought, skipping the need for a basket altogether.
Right, but if they want to use this sort of tech, they should probably require baskets.
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AI stands for "actually, Indians"
Amazon Go fuck yourself lmaooo
I went into the Amazon Fresh store to make a return once and decided to check it out. The store looked like a regular grocery store, except there was almost nobody in it. Everyone there was for returns and pickup orders.
Also, as you might expect, it had only the most popular versions of the most commonly consumed products. It was like a caricature of an American grocery store.
Wow, I remember when they had a single Go store at Amazon HQ in Seattle, and it was employee only. It sure was neat as a novelty, but it doesn't surprise me that they could never figure out the tech.
Good riddance. These days, I more and more cherish the brief but real interactions I have with real grocery store cashiers.
For me, it isn't the interactions, it's the inconvenience of having to wait in line and either wait for a checker to scan my items or scan them myself at self checkout. I don't mind small talk with the checker, but faster grocery trips would be awesome.
You need to ask yourself, why the rush? For me it was/is social anxiety. Hated the store. Hated shopping. Rush rush in out go go go.
Once I worked on that, I found ways to make it much more tolerable. Now the five minutes in line are just five minutes I can play on my phone.
Because I'd rather be doing anything else at home that I can't do while in line at the grocery store.
That's sort of a weird projection. It's a chore. Obviously people would prefer to minimize time spent doing chores and maximize time spent doing fun things. It's really not that complicated for most people. Not saying you can't enjoy going to the store, but ultimately what you're doing is still finding a way to make it less of a chore. Spoonful of sugar, and all that, ya know?
Stores I go to have lines for both. For me, it's about how I didn't want to go to the shop in the first place and I want to do as little as possible there while I listen to music on my earbuds. I also prefer to pack my stuff without someone right there.. the pressure!
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I relied on Amazon Fresh deliveries during the pandemic. While convenient, after using them a few times I realized they have poor produce quality and a very limited selection of premium brands.
oh yea its bad, because the expiration date is something they never fixed, and they increased the delivery cost 100 for free delivery.
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it never got off the ground, cant complete with WF instore shopping when its already established chain. they were hoping it would take off when they tried to forced all the amazon shoppers into wf instore shoppers, they are hoping to diminish wf impact and eventually WF a HUSK DOWN THE line, that dint work.
good, fuck amazon. close whole foods next
LoL, if you think this is them scaling back something. Think again. This is the next evolution of their business. They're trying to phase out people using grocery stores and in person stores in general.
of course this is them cutting the fat, and yet a reduced presence in the streets is an improvement
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