Journalist reviewing Amazon's new checkout-less supermarket realised she accidentally shoplifted
It was an accident
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Your support makes all the difference.Amazon’s cashier-less grocery store of the future, Amazon Go, debuted on Monday in Seattle - but it appears the store still has some kinks to work out.
Despite featuring cutting-edge technology capable of scanning the store and its contents with thousands of cameras - a journalist reviewing the new store left to find she had accidentally shoplifted.
CNBC tech reporter Deirdre Bosa was trying out the new store - and picking up a few items - when she unwittingly stole a yoghurt.
Tweeting her experience with the new store, immediately after leaving the store, Bosa wrote: “Feels like I just stole all this stuff. Also way easier to buy more when you know you’re not gonna see a register. Still waiting for my receipt to be convinced I didn’t steal something.”
But it turns out her intuition was spot-on; the store’s security system failed to pick up a yoghurt she placed into her shopping bag.
Updating her followers, Bosa tweeted: “I think I just shoplifted?? #AmazonGo didn’t charge me for my Siggi’s yoghurt #nolines #nocheckout,” along with a picture of her receipt and her smuggled yoghurt.
The Siggi’s brand quickly came to the rescue - tweeting in response: “oh no! It’s ok, that one’s on us.”
But Bosa’s conscience got the best of her, despite the yoghurt brand’s assurance - and she immediately made Amazon aware of the mistake.
However, it appears the people behind Amazon Go’s store are so confident in the new store’s abilities to detect shoplifting, that they didn’t even bother putting in a feature where people could report incidents.
Responding to the case of accidental shoplifting, Amazon Go’s vice president Gianna Puerini told Bosa to “enjoy the yoghurt on us” because the incident “happens so rarely that we didn’t even bother building in a feature for customers to tell us it happened.”
But like most new releases, it looks like Amazon Go’s technology will need some updates before it is running smoothly.
The Independent has contacted Amazon for comment.
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