Amazon Go is going big – grocery store big. Today it was revealed that Amazon has opened up a new Amazon Go that is four times (4x) bigger than previous Amazon Go stores. What’s new?
Well, this new Amazon Go store has produce, packaged meats, an expanded frozen food section, sundries like paper towels, and more!
This is a big step forward for Amazon and will be stretching its technology to the breaking point as Amazon looks not only to explore what’s possible, but to prove its technology to the point where its collection of technology could become another revenue pillar that it can build by licensing its technology to other convenience store and grocery store chains.
The Amazon Go approach, should it expand, also puts even more of the 3 million grocery store jobs in the United States at risk. This 3 million jobs number is already declining because of self checkout and Walmart’s robotic inventory systems, among other pressures.
Is the Amazon Go approach a good thing?
Do we really all want to live in a world where packages show up at the door or food can be obtained in a grocery store without talking to anyone?
Americans are becoming increasingly lonely and isolated. I could include dozens of supporting links to back this up, but here is a good one:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/lonely-you-re-not-alone-america-s-young-people-are-ncna945446
The grocery store has become one of the last remaining places where someone will actually speak to you, but self checkout and technologies like Amazon Go look to stamp out this human interaction too!
But even though there are still humans in the grocery store, the level of human interaction seems to be fading there too as younger, non-unionized workers replace older unionized workers in grocery stores. Has this been your experience?
What’s next the barbershop and the hairdresser?
And can our society survive any more isolation?
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