Amazon's retail grocery business struggles, despite advanced tech - Marketplace
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The e-commerce and cloud company has slowed grocery expansion plans and closed half of its convenience stores in recent years.

Amazon is consolidating its grocery business after a rough couple of years for its physical retail stores. The company told Marketplace in a statement it’s eliminating “a very small number” of jobs across teams working on Amazon Go convenience stores and Amazon Fresh grocery stores.

  • CubitOom@infosec.pubEnglish
    301·
    16 hours ago

    Takes a look behind the curtain because I like cool things like “advanced tech”, noticed it’s just poorly payed contractors being taken advantage of and discouraged from unionizing.

  • T156@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    14 hours ago

    It was bound to happen. The model wasn’t that reliable, and Amazon was basically paying so many people to double-check the model, they may as well have staffed the store the traditional way, with a self-checkout.

    Plus, in the eyes of much of the public, those people they hired to double-check the model were instead hired to act as traditional cashiers working remotely behind an impersonal, semi-friendly dystopian interface.

  • dinckel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    252·
    19 hours ago

    Are these the same “completely unattended” Amazon locations, which turned out to have thousands of what essentially were middle-eastern slaves operating the shops remotely?

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
    203·
    18 hours ago

    If they’re talking about Whole Foods, it’s because you walk in there, and you’re like “ok, let me get some chicken, let me get some porkchops, and let me get some cereal.”

    The prices on all that shit is INSANE. I saw a 5 pack of pork chops for $19. Then I walked over to the chicken. $22. Then I walked over to the cereal. $8.

    Total money I spent that day: $0.

    Total times I’ve been back since: 0.

    These companies have lost sight long ago on the fact that you can do all the bullshit in the world to improve behind the scenes processes, but if people walk in and see THOSE prices, when aldis sells the same chicken for $8, porkchops for $6, and cereal for $3? Fuck it. I don’t give a shit if your chickens are cruelty free grassfed. I’ll kick a chicken and fart in their mouth right now if it means food is cheaper! People out here having to choose between food or rent. Yeah, the high price businesses will suffer. The cheap businesses will flourish.

    • justsomeguy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      72·
      15 hours ago

      I’ll kick a chicken and fart in their mouth right now if it means food is cheaper!

      my man are you aware of plants? try some goddamn beans instead of farting into chickens. do not eat the beans if you’re set on the farting thing though. don’t want to make this worse.

  • doingthestuff@lemy.lolEnglish
    1·
    14 hours ago

    I like to pick out my own produce, shop markdown items and sales, and I like getting out of the house. My regular store has a bar too. I never drink there, but there is usually some eye candy around. And for those who want to shop from their PC or phone, Kroger delivery is quicker where I’m at.

  • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    18 hours ago

    Advanced tech in such a small footprint? Can’t wait for all the ai bros to invest in $100k robots to do the work of $10 foreign workers.