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7-Eleven Tests Cashier-Free Shopping In 14 Stores (techspot.com) 90

7-Eleven is testing cashier-less shopping systems, similar to Amazon's "Go" stores that use an array of cameras and machine-learning technology to determine what customers are buying. According to TechSpot, "customers can simply pick up select items, scan the barcode, pay through their phone, and leave; there is no need to wait in line or even speak to another human being." From the report: As previously stated, this is just a test right now. There's no guarantee that 7-Eleven will actually ditch its cashiers anytime soon; particularly not while it continues to serve age-restricted beverages and drugs. For now, this scan-and-go system is purely serving as an augmentation to its current way of handling customers. Furthermore, there's a catch: customers who want to use the new shopping method will need to have 7-Eleven's rewards app.
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7-Eleven Tests Cashier-Free Shopping In 14 Stores

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  • by UsuallyReasonable ( 2715457 ) on Monday November 05, 2018 @06:13PM (#57596984)
    That's not the same as Amazon at all.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Yeah you canâ(TM)t buy beer and cigarettes at Amazon

      • by arth1 ( 260657 )

        Yeah you canÃ(TM)t buy beer and cigarettes at Amazon

        Sure you can - beer, at least.
        (For cigarettes, only herbal varieties.)

    • That's not the same as Amazon at all.

      Indeed. What is described in TFA is no different from what every grocery store has already been doing for years.

      Amazon is doing something completely different:
      1. You pickup the goods.
      2. You just walk out.

      Of course you need to already be a Prime member.

    • by jtara ( 133429 )

      As stated above, it's not at all like Amazon.

      So, they are putting in a self-checkout station.

      Just like Ralph's (and probably every other supermarket chain) has, and CVS had and abandoned.

      • by jtara ( 133429 )

        Oh. You "scan" with your phone.

        Sorry, but: no.

        I do not want to screw around taking photos of barcodes with my phone.

        It's enough that now I go to Whole Foods and the isles are overrun with slow-ass "pickers" screwing around taking photos of barcodes with their phones.

  • But if I don't talk with a grody cashier while buying a poorly-mixed and watered down dier Pepsie Super Big Gulp, what kind of life will I have left?

    • by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Monday November 05, 2018 @06:25PM (#57597026)
      If I can't pay cash for the Slurp-n-Go, instead of having credit-card company scum and Microsoft scum knowing how many I buy a week and selling this data to my hellth insurance company, what kind of privacy will I have left?
      • by Anonymous Coward

        Move to a country without an exploitative privately run health system. You have a lot of options; basically every other developed country.

        • I have that option. You have this option. Sadly, not everyone has the option of immigration for various reasons.
          • by Anonymous Coward

            But I have been reliably informed that immigration restrictions of any kind are literal naziism and that to be a civilized, decent nation one must fling open the doors and grant citizenship to anyone who manages to make it over the border (and send boats to pick up the ones who can't).

  • Isn't this just a cash-free (aka privacy-free) version of the "self-checkout" machines in many stores today? Welcome to 2008.
  • So how would that stop your average criminal that robs the thing every other week?

    They are just going to steal all the booze and cigarettes and smash the glass to get out.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Well, it doesn't do anything to stop them.
      Those enriched stores shut down early and nobody speaks of them except in hushed tones.

    • You don't (Score:4, Interesting)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday November 05, 2018 @06:42PM (#57597088)
      it's called a "Beer Run". Walk in, grab beer, leave. In most jurisdictions you can't by alcohol after a certain time of day. So folks who want booze just take it. It's too common and too expensive to prosecute. The guys running the till are instructed to just let it happen and then fill out the paperwork. Every now and then one of 'em gets uppity about it and gets the crap kicked out of them, resulting in a workers comp claim (or worse if the Beer runner had a gun).

      Go ahead and steal. If you do it a lot their Id you and prosecute. If you do it occasionally you won't impact their bottom line. Especially when you consider the cost/benefit analysis of not having employees.
      • In most jurisdictions you can't by alcohol after a certain time of day.

        Strange, I've been in most US states and always thought the opposite was the case. But I haven't drank alcohol much for a good many years now. So I don't really pay attention that closely anymore. Perhaps it was different a couple decades ago. Other than the states with large Mormon populations, I didn't think this was the case in most states.

        • Connecticut is like this, 10 or 10:30 pm is the cutoff for alcohol sales. To avoid theft and confusion independent convenience stores have padlocks on the beer fridges.

    • still need human to take ID for buying those by law... so no different than now really.

      • Outsource it to a biometric ID firm. Insert your papers, please, and stick your hand on the glass scanner or look into the iris scanner to buy booze or ciggies.
        • if they do that just wait till the neighborhood punks see a certain Demolition Man scene on youtube.

  • So the one guy running the entire store will be in charge of running the cash register and making sure those walking out the front door paid for their product? Yeah, this sounds like a great idea.

    • Yeah, this sounds like a great idea.

      Wow, you sound really smart. This must be why no grocery stores have self check-out. Thanks for explaining why it can't possibly work.

      • by skam240 ( 789197 )

        Wow, you sound really smart. Every grocery store self checkout I've been to has had a person whose singular job was to watch the customers self check. In fact, those same stores shut down their self checkout lines during odd store hours because it's not worth their money to have some one standing there watching the customers when they could be checking.

        Multitasking that at an establishment that tends to locate itself to questionable neighborhoods and you have a recipe for amazing.

        But I'm sure a classy perso

  • The Simpsons removes the cashier at Kwik-Mart now 7-11 is doing it in the real world.
  • by jon3k ( 691256 )
    This would make sense for the Japanese market where people won't steal at anything approaching the rate they would in the US. There are over 20,000 7-Eleven stores in Japan, more than anywhere else in the world. It is a huge market for them.
  • Called Scan and Go, you scan each barcode, checkout with credit card and it displays a barcode that's scanned at checkout. Only limit is you have to pay for alcohol in person.
  • by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Monday November 05, 2018 @06:58PM (#57597146) Homepage Journal

    there is no need to wait in line or even speak to another human being.

    Having worked at 7-Eleven for four months, I can attest that most customers don't think we're human beings. Or at least that awareness is not terribly high on their priorities.

    The job has its perks though, I can casually ignore customers after the 10 seconds it takes to complete the transaction. Third shift has its drama, but it also has a long peaceful period after the midnight drunks are gone and some generally nice people in the A.M. Money-wise it sucks, but you can get a lot of O.T. taking the third shift and covering for other shifts once in a while, nobody wants to cover for third shifters but first and second need to be covered all the time.

    • by arth1 ( 260657 )

      Having worked at 7-Eleven for four months, I can attest that most customers don't think we're human beings.

      There could be at least two reasons for that.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by OrangeTide ( 124937 )

        There could be at least two reasons for that.

        Certainly depends on your point of view, for example you could be a piece of shit and substituted "we" for "I". But I won't take your dysfunction personally.

  • no need to wait in line or even speak to another human being.

    There's nothing like technology for bringing people together. I guess I'm guess getting old, but I thought part of living in a society was to talk with other people. It's bad enough that we can now get all of our news from sources that reinforce our viewpoint and don't introduce us to different opinions. But something like this means the start of not even needing to worry about taking to anyone that we don't' want to. Perhaps this is also part of the reason that autism is on the rise. It certainly won't hel

    • Why do you need to talk to the cashier? You just need to pay them.

      As for waiting in line, my supermarket has self-scanning checkouts as well as cashier checkouts, and there are queues at both types. The self-scanners have a permanent overseer and a lot of talking to them goes on because the self-scanners don't always work properly. In fact there is not only a queue for the self-scanners, there is also a wait to talk to the overseer. I find the touch screen does not work for me half the time - seems I have

  • kids will make a mess of the soda fountain with no staff to stop them.

  • Now the homeless can just move indoors at the 7-11s! Great community support move by 7-11!

    Every 7-11 in my area is a magnet for homeless and petty criminals. Hot spots for drug sales, fencing stolen goods, and the ever-present Shakey's Bike Shop popups. (Locations all over town, on a street corner near you!)

    My local 7-11 is "cooperating" with the police and the clerks are supposed to report loitering and suspicious activities. But it seems that they don't, or it's just an impossible task. It's on the first

    • In particular, it is really shitty how we treat disabled veterans, so many of whom wind up on the streets.

      As a disabled vet, not homeless, I'd like to thank you for recognizing how badly some of us are treated. However, I do have one question to ask: what are you doing to help homeless vets to get the treatment they need?
  • Apu is no longer going to be seen at his store.

    Wait.... wasn't that a different chain?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05, 2018 @10:11PM (#57597824)

    Not only does it appear 711's in Japan started doing this about 1.5 years ago but they don't require you to scan anything. They have a camera and it just calculates everything it identifies in the basket.

    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/04/18/business/tech/japan-introduce-self-checkout-system-convenience-stores-reads-items/

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