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Amazon Go

(amazon.com)
1247 points mangoman | 5 comments | 05 Dec 16 14:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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CodeSheikh ◴[05 Dec 16 16:16 UTC] No.13106428[source]▶
Guys this is not good. As much as I love the convenience of pick-and-go, this eventually will prove out to be drastic for a variety of bad socioeconomic reasons, that most of us are already aware of. Small businesses were already suffering at the hands of Amazon Prime. Now Amazon Go wants to not only kick out those businesses out of the block but it also wants to take away jobs of small retail salesperson. Unacceptable. This can perhaps work at Amazon headquarters but I hope, I really hope it does not make its way to major metro cities like NYC and if it does then Amazon should promise to create certain number of jobs and revenue that it intends to displace. Just because an average reader of HN does not do such jobs or had held such jobs for only a brief period in his/her life, this does not mean that lot of people don't rely on such small time jobs for their livelihood.

Places I can see this working are with low footprints such as cafes at hospitals etc.

Amazon Go, please Go away.

Updated: Grammar correction.

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zaargy ◴[05 Dec 16 16:20 UTC] No.13106464[source]▶
Like it or not, this is the future. If Amazon don't do it then someone else will. People want cheap goods and this will give them cheaper goods.

The solution to your worries is a universal basic income.

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1. CodeSheikh ◴[05 Dec 16 17:24 UTC] No.13107131[source]▶
Try to become a part of the solution not part of the problem. As an engineer, this is a mesmerizing and a very appreciative tech. Kudos. As a (selfless) neighbor, I can never be happy to see unemployed neighbors. Sure we can create these autonomous technologies, but we also should be active in policy-making for our cities e.g. if 10 jobs are being displaced then collectively what are we doing to create 10 more jobs.

Profits earned from Amazon Go are not going to get reinvested in cities. A small portion of it would be divided as payrolls among engineers and people who would manage these Go stores but a large chunk would go in deep pockets of Bezos' and Amazon investors'.

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2. hx87 ◴[05 Dec 16 17:46 UTC] No.13107409[source]▶
Get more people (and a greater variety of people) to invest in Amazon, and other companies who displace jobs, perhaps?
3. steego ◴[05 Dec 16 20:42 UTC] No.13109308[source]▶
Have you bothered to ask yourself where the money goes after it's put in the pockets of Bezos' and other Amazon investors? Do you think that money is just sitting in the bank doing nothing?
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4. CodeSheikh ◴[05 Dec 16 21:39 UTC] No.13109922[source]▶
I am guessing other pet projects, R&D for Amazon. Clearly not in cancer research or funding of infrastructure or investments in other need base communities.

Last time I heard Amazon is struggling with net positive cash flow because it keeps on re-investing profits into various other side projects with eventual goal of dominating retail space e.g. Amazon Go.

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5. steego ◴[06 Dec 16 00:59 UTC] No.13111373{3}[source]▶
Why would Amazon invest its profits in cancer research? Wouldn't you expect a drug or biotechnology company to invest their profits in cancer research?

Amazon is in the business of creating a marketplace that efficiently matches buyers and sellers. It provides a distribution infrastructure for sellers and provides a high level of service for buyers.