Friday the 13th, part 1
I found poor iPad Mini flat on the floor, footmarks on its face. Footmarks of … Thee Robot! Robovac had pulled Mini off the table and eaten up the Lightning Cable & BUT not before Mini was charged to 100 percent. Game not over!
last week of April 2021
As more people get vaccinated, I’m trying to reclaim my normal life, while continuing the best things from lockdown, like walks with Margot in the neighborhood. I used to walk all the way to TJ’s and walk back with food, but at 3 miles per round trip, I probably couldn’t do both sets of walks every day. In the meantime, though, Amazon Fresh has opened a supermarket a little over a mile away. Crossing a busy freeway is not that great even with noise cancelling headphones, but it’s short enough to walk a couple of times a week, in addition to what I’m already doing.
So … what’s it like, this Amazon Fresh in-person shopping? Is it really a supermarket? So far, I’m not sure.
For one thing, unlike the 6 a.m. senior hour at Bristol Farms, where there may be one other shopper and 4 or 5 workers in the store, at Amazon Fresh there may be one other shopper and 30 or 40 workers in the store. What are they all doing? It seems like a fairly large number of them, equipped with very modern-looking shopping carts, are shopping. They blast along the aisles at a great rate! They appear near me, either pulling something from the shelf or asking if they can help me find something … but this not actually what I want, even though I have had the two Pfizer shots. I would prefer to be left alone!
The selection is broad yet shallow. What is the reason for this? I’m gratified to find Siggi’s icelandic skyr, a type of high protein thick yogurt I like, and the high-end Santa Cruz dark roasted peanut butter in glass jars. Both at a better price than elsewher, but only 1 or two containers of each. In the spices area, they are out of thyme (except for powdered — powdered thyme??) and they did not restock during the week since my last visit. I buy their non-sugar vanilla oat milk (Chobani) and it is not restocked by the next time I am in the store.
Organic chicken, si. But only in hard plastic containers — Non! A fairly narrow selection of organic vegetables. Yes, there is a deli, where they will slice you cheese. Amazon Fresh has a lot to like, but too many people in the store. What is this anyway, an Amazon warehouse in disguise?
On one visit, the checker seems rushed, and makes a mistake — and not in my favor. It has been a different checker each time
The machine part
Just after you walk in the doors at Amazon Fresh, you see a long line of futuristic carts. They have illuminated panels on their interiors. I have asked how to use them, and here is what you do: you scan the auto-generated code from the amazon app on your phone (this store does NOT take Apple pay, but you can pay from your Amazon account) and then when you put anything into the cart it is auto-scanned.
For vegetables, you must enter the number code for the vegetable and the cart will weigh what you put in. There are two paper bags in each of about 50 carts lined up at the front of the store, and there are non-tech carts, as well as non tech carry baskets. Since I walk to the store, I have picked a carry basket because carrying my groceries through the store gives me an idea how much they will weigh on my back on the hike back home.
It seem that the carts are there mostly for the employees to use when shopping, but there is a person standing by the auto-checkout just in case. I have only ever seen 2 or three customers there at a time. But wait? What happens if the cart doesn’t check right? The panel will flash orange and that person will come to your aid. If you have put in alcoholic beverages it will flash blue and you will get to show your ID.
All in all, it looks like a supermarket, but is also serving as a warehouse for the last mile fulfillment workers?
I returned again to check out the check-out experience. I reached the onions before the cart had finished its “work at my pace, not yours” tutorials and I had carried a couple of onions across the store in my left hand before I was finally able to push the “begin shopping” button and put in the vegetable code for organic onions. Which by that time I had forgotten (“You have entered the wrong code”) so I had to walk back and get the nine-digit code. I kept trying to accept the cart’s weighing of the onions (1.46 pounds for a couple of fairly large organic onions) and every time I went to hit the “accept” button, it disappeared and was replaced with a message that said “make sure the cart is on the level and holding still”. After about 4 iterations of this (an iteration is a technical term for “right or wrong, do it again”) I was finally able to accept the two onions. Onion emergency averted!
The vanilla flavored non sugar oat milk was restocked, so I put that in the cart. Ding! The two cans of tomato sauce and two cans of diced tomatoes … Ding ding! The Lindt intense orange chocolate .. ding! I headed down the freezer aisle and as I passed each bank of freezers it lit up for me. Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Are the Academy Awards at 7 a.m.? Where is the red carpet? I felt like an honored guest until I got to the no-person checkout, where I found no person. As I was looking around trying to get instruction on what to do next (move your goods from the bags in the cart to the bag I had brought with me … the cart cannot leave the store) it turned green! The guy who showed up pointed to the total on the readout. I walked out of the store, and that was that.
All in all, a little bit slower than a hand-carried basket, but I might give it another shot. ’Cause I want to get out of there as fast as I can.
— all photos Copyright © 2022-2024 George D Girton all rights reserved