Week Three, Response Three: "Amazon Go, a high-tech version of a 7-Eleven, will finally open on Monday — with no checkout lines and no cashiers"

INSTRUCTIONS: Before you begin, please read this short article from Recode: "Amazon Go, a high-tech version of a 7-Eleven, will finally open on Monday — with no checkout lines and no cashiers" by Jason Del Ray. Once you've finished, read the following commentary and follow the Blogger instructions found on Cobra to post a comment answering the questions in the final paragraph. You should also comment on at least one of your classmate's replies. Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or difficulties posting.

According to the article, the future of Amazon Go has been five years in the making: Amazon's first brick-and-motar store that allows customers to enter and leave with goods without using a checkout line or consulting a cashier. Sounds neat, right? But how does it work? Del Ray explains that the store is "outfitted with cameras and shelf sensors to help Amazon's computer vision system work some magic." 

Amazon has stated that this is the first of many stores to go completely automated. Supporters of the Amazon Go store prototype have also voiced how the future is here, and employees must learn to adapt or be left behind. Those who oppose the store and its technology argue that the "magic" Amazon mentions is invasive. Cameras would match whatever items were purchased with the consumer who purchased them, thus allowing the store to access private consumer data without as much as a disclaimer. Critics also argue that like most aspects of technology, the store removes yet another way we interact with other humans throughout our days, thus threatening our ability to physically communicate as a species.

IMAGE: An upset man TEXT: "The look you make when waiting in line at Walmart"

When I first read this article, I was a bit defensive. Despite being an Amazon Prime subscriber, I'm well-aware of the effects Amazon's services have had on small businesses, and Amazon Go seems like another push to move *something* out of the way; however, I also thought about me and my husband's grocery shopping trips or gas station visits. If we need something at Wal-Mart, we always use the self-checkout. There's always long lines in the two registers that are open, so we opt to do the work ourselves and get back into our vehicle in a fraction of the time. Although most gas stations don't opt for self-checkouts inside, we almost always pay with our debit card at the pump. If we do need something inside, we often find ourselves complaining about the guy holding up the line trying to buy lotto tickets, or the new cashier who doesn't understand that if I bring my own cup (which I do every time) that it should be charged as a mug refill rather than a 32 oz. soft drink purchase. Maybe we are, in fact, already adapted to a store where we don't have to deal with slow cashiers, or angry customers, and instead where we can simply waltz in and out and wait for a charge to appear from our Amazon account. 

So, what do you think? Is Amazon Go the way of the future for convenience shopping, or are we losing our touch with reality and physical communication if we eliminate the need for cashiers and checkout lines? How might your shopping habits be affected? Where would you rather shop? In what ways does this news relate to the technologies we've discussed the past two weeks?