Amazon recently opened its first cashier-less grocery store in the lovely city of Seattle, and a prankster can dupe it. As much as modern times go, this isn't very good indeed if it can be fooled so easily.
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The Down Low Regarding the "Heist"
The person in question is named Sam Machkovech, wanted to see how much he could get away within the newly implemented system that Amazon brags about.
Machkovench eventually decided to test things out by ducking into the restroom. While the hallways leading into the bathroom do have cameras, it did not matter for Machkovech. He did, however, leave an avocado on a shelf where Amazon encourages shoppers to leave their merchandise. Once he got inside, he hid a banana that had come loose with his fruit juggling escapade in his bag.
He also put a jacket that had been in the bag and removed a pair of sunglasses in place of his disappearing act. He then grabbed a few non-produce items to test his theory.
The Aftermath
When Machkovech finally got his receipt, he was surprised to know that he had been charged for both the loose banana and avocado left outside the restroom and not the items he took after he changed.
His receipt also took several hours to process, Amazon estimating he had spent more than two hours of shopping. So it seems that the wardrobe change had worked after all. Machkovech said about the incident to Amazon was "solving a problem that doesn't exist," He argues that staff is capable of checking customers out of the store.
Amazon's Obvious Response
Amazon disagrees wholeheartedly, also is looking to open over 3,000 Go stores by 2021. It's a part of a recent influx into physical locations. This is also in line with Amazon acquiring the high-end grocery chain, Whole Foods, back in 2017 for almost $14 billion. Even their expansions of book stores and "4-star" stores that sell small selections of highly-rated items from Amazon's very own inventory.
As for potentially avoiding shoplifters in their cashier-less Go stores, Amazon has told Business Insider, "overall, our technology is highly accurate." So trust that Amazon is going to do something about what Machkovech has done to avoid it from happening again.
More on the Opening
Amazon Go Grocery, as Amazon has aptly named it. It is a larger version of the Amazon Go stores they first launched back in 2018. It sells everything that you ever want in terms of food, produces, meat, and beer, of course. The only twist is that no more employees ring up customers after they finish shopping, but the store uses a network of sensors, cameras, and artificial intelligence. This is to figure out what shoppers are selecting in real-time and charges it to their Amazon account right after.
An Amazon spokesperson stated that "At Amazon Go and Amazon Go Grocery, we spend the vast majority of our time thinking about improving the experience for the 99.9% of well-intentioned shoppers vs. designing a system that is focused on deterring the few bad actors,"
