How can any store refuse to accept cash when the words "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" are printed on the currency by the government?
I would think that any person whose cash is being refused would be within his or her rights to pluck down the bills and walk out with the merchandise.
4
I can't recall the last time a cashier or employee at any store, corner store, or big-box that gave me the personal touch.
They're usually too busy talking over my head to the next cashier or employee.
I'm all for supporting local business (my parents owned one) and a hello would be nice.
1
I cannot recall the last time a cashier at any store or bodega gave a “personal “ touch.
They’re usually busy talking to the next cashier or some other employee.
I’m all for supporting local business, but a hello would be nice.
First of all, when i’m in NY, i don’t want to go to a mall!
Second of all, is there a return desk?
And third, give it up with the cash, non issue.
1
"after many New Yorkers criticized a deal"--left out is that a large majority favored the deal according to every poll.
We reward the richest corporations with the lowest tax rates, as if these businesses were our saviors instead of our masters. It would take a lot of consciousness and knowledge of history on the part of consumers to neutralize Amazon's threat to small businesses. I'm skeptical. We don't base our buying decisions on what's good for the little guy, including ourselves. Instead, we seem to clamor for smart technology all over our homes and cars, with not a care as to whether we really need this stuff or how it's going to affect our privacy and control of our own lives.
Welcome to 21st century monopoly capitalism. Crushing the mom & pop establishment is what Makes America Great.
43
@Round the Bend You know what is the biggest threat to small businesses? Sky-high rents. I've seen many stories in NY1 where diners, delis and other businesses have gone out of business due to rent increases. The same is true for apartment rentals. I think sky-high rents is the true issue we all should be protesting.
8
@Round the Bend
The majority of American consumers never see the ramifications 20 years down the line: a complete KONTROL of their "private" lives from cradle to grave. They live perpetually 24/7 for instant gratification, trendiness, sound bites, etc. Orwell, anyone?
8
@nicole H They also do not seem to realize they are being trained to do the work that cashiers and customer service representatives once did and pay higher prices for much less service . Do not understand why people check out their own groceries and endure the frustration of endless computerized customer service on the phone or online. But then again the younger generations are being trained by their smart phones and store design and do not seem to realize or care that they are getting shafted and people are losing jobs. Artificial intelligence is not the regular person's friend and will be coming for your job soon if it has not happened already.
5
Yes, Amazon's business model will continue to take money away from Mom and Pop stores. It does this because most people prefer convenience over supporting local businesses, but it still makes me sad.
What makes me break down crying, however, is the 40,000 new jobs averaging over $150,000 a year that NYC gave up when we pushed Amazon out. The people with those jobs and their families would have supported a TON of mom and pop stores, many providing services that Amazon can't replace. And it would have chipped in a cool $27.5 BILLION towards the subway system fixes. Where exactly are we going to get that money from now?
36
Precisely.
4
Reality is that Amazon needs New Yorkers more than New York needs Amazon.
Yeah, yeah, they provide jobs... ok, great. So do all other companies that are clamoring for a spot here in our fair city.
Because without New Yorkers, Amazon wouldn't have access to the largest market in the United States.
Amazon can play by our rules if they want an HQ here. If they don't like our rules, then move over and make space for the next company that is indeed willing and able.
35
@Sherif No.
They've already put these stores elsewhere before NYC. Amazon pulled an HQ away from NYC. The world does not revolve around NYC.
7
@Scott Our city, our rules.
5
It’s not the customers in NYC who are brusque. It’s the cashiers. So no cashiers? Fine with me.
41
I don’t have a problem with this.
I have a problem with cashiers who mindlessly throw my food into a bag, without even glancing at me to tell me my total.
So I bag my own.
I have a problem when cashiers are texting during my transaction, and I have to prompt them to look up.
And I grit my teeth.
It hurts when I’m around humans who have no idea how to interact; so they don’t.
My good experiences with fellow humans are memorable and I cherish them.
56
@Susan Did it ever occur to you that the reason why you encounter cashiers such as you mention (and which btw I find very 'intriguing', as I never see such cashiers...)... is it possible that they have learned to behave this way in Response to customers who typically don't even look at the cashier, acknowledge the cashier, speak to the cashier, and who clearly view them with disdain (an air of superiority)? Seriously, is there any job more thankless (and in a place like NYC) than a store cashier, where most customers don't even acknowledge them, and are often speaking on their cellphones WHILE the transaction is taking place? I've witnessed some unbelievably rude customers in line ahead of me, who might as well be at an Amazon Go store, because they don't even seem to realize there is a human being on the other side of the counter.
33
Oh, pish. I have lived in New York City for 65 years. It used to be that all cashiers were polite. Maybe that's when parents made a point of teaching their kids some semblance of manners.
If no one has ever taught you to look people in the eye and be courteous, then there we are. For the record, I find older cashiers more pleasant -- which helps to prove my point: some really bad parenting out there.
As someone who used to take cash (and without the benefit of machines that do the work of figuring out the change for you), I can tell you that yes, it's a hard job.
But that's no reason to be rude to customers, most of whom have just come from jobs equally hard and thankless.
20
Yes Lisa, I worked in retail from 1989 to 2007.
I’ve been on both sides of the counter.
But more recently distractions on both ends make for “ non - interaction “.
It’s a sad, maddening commentary on the service industry.
7
Yes, jobs will be lost. However, this has precious little to do with Amazon. It's happening regardless, because the technology is here, it'll get refined, and implemented one way or the other. Amazon has been leading here, but make no mistake, it's happening regardless if Amazon is driving this innovation or not. Just like farmers lost out to agri-businesses, horse drawn carriage drivers lost out to cars, trains lost out to trucks, and trucks will lose out to self-driving tech... it's inevitable. Low skilled jobs that can be automated, will be automated. That really shouldn't even be the discussion. Instead of having unions, politicians and others try to stop this kind of innovation and root society in the last century, how about we discuss how to enable workers to acquire higher skills, improve the education system, so folks can step into better jobs? Have you ever heard cashiers that are standing 8 hours a day and swipe bar codes to the point of physical fatigue state how much they love their job?
55
@Brian Will
The point is there will be NO JOBS whatsoever.
Talk to people who lost jobs & "retrained" several times for the "future" jobs only to be disposed of at the whim of stock valuation CEO's. Repeat, rinse, repeat ....that hope dopey retraining mantra is a perpetual chase to nowhere, as long as workers are not truly in charge of their livelihood.
6
@Brian Will:
PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that almost 40% of US jobs could be taken by robots by 2030. As more people are replaced by machines, work hours must be reduced to maintain full employment. This reduction in work hours will eventually have to result in guaranteed incomes for Americans to remove them from the workforce. The living standards of our progeny will be diminished by the progeny of any future immigrants.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/automation-davos-world-economic-forum.html
3
This is exactly the type of ‘high velocity culture change’ that companies have been trying to shove down our throats as if it’s inevitable. It’s not. Ask the unemployed guy or gal who could use that cashier job that was automated how they feel about it. It’s exactly this arrogant attitude that is the problem.
5
Self check out is a concept that tells me a store doesn't value me as a customer. And in an effort to increase its bottom line, stores that push self check out and "GO" are also widening the divide of human interaction.
I choose a cashier - who receives benefits - over self check out ever time.
62
@Thegooodlife do you feel the same way about an ATM machine? Do you think your bank does not value you?
10
I know a store values me as a customer if it offers the products I want at the price I want to pay. If it does not meet those two criteria, having a human at checkout won’t make a whit of difference.
9
@Michael Blazin And yuo don't mind if the reason they "value you as a customer" is not because you're a great guy but because they're able to mine data about you?
1
I went to Trader Joe’s yesterday. They guy behind the counter & I had a nice conversation about one of the new products. ( “Wilhelmina Mints: was she Dutch or Danish?” ) I left thinking how nice it was to have interacted with a kind, engaging human being. Amazon may be convenient, but I find it mostly soul crushing.
102
@Fintan, yes, I agree with you. But the chumminess of that interaction may have to do with where you live. We are chatty people, here on the west coast! In my experience, that is less true when you are engaging in these small business transactions in rushed NYC. Still, even a nod, a smile and a brief greeting helps to lift the day for many. Isolation is damaging.
14
@Passion for Peaches: You can't imagine the level of "chattiness" that actually DOES go on in NYC every single day - at the supermarket, the farmers' market, the dry cleaner's, the post office, etc.
Yes, isolation is damaging, which is why NY'ers prize their interactions with others.
43
All the Trader Joe workers in Brooklyn -- at least, at our Atlantic Avenue store -- are lovely. They are interesting and well spoken, and I have had nice (albeit brief -- it's a busy store) conversations with check-out people.
Brooklyn, too, is a small town.
26
This is surveillance disguised as a store and just another way for Amazon to gather information about their customers. That you have to scan to get in and cameras/sensors track your every move is extremely disturbing. Can't believe people are so eager to partake in this.
112
@vladimir
Finally someone who mentioned this.
You shop there and a private company has much to much personal information about you--including what you look like.
Next thing you will be getting e-mails for weight loss programs or for dyes for gray hair, or face lifts.
15
@vladimir
I was glad to see this app thing as a very valid reason not to give an Amazon store a go. And unlike others, I guess, I like the little chat with the check out person as opposed to a machine.
7
@vladimir
Don’t want to be tracked in 2019? Stop using your smart phone. Don’t shop online or use google. Don’t walk city streets or use a subway or buy an airline ticket. Have fun.
8
First of all, if you’ve never worked in retail dealing with customers, you can’t complain about attitude. Secondly, if you know how to talk to people in retail, it’s always a pleasant experience. Amazon is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I don’t buy it. Here’s to hoping the boosters do their thing and Amazon is sent packing out of NY again. Good riddance.
1
Why are we letting Cuomo and DiBlasio off the hook for losing Amazon and it 25,000-plus jobs?
2
Like a parasite,
Electronically feeding,
Giving nothing back
It wasn't exactly a breakup: They (Amazon) bailed. I was in strong support of the Amazon deal - yes, they would have gotten big tax breaks, but still generated billions of dollars in net tax payments - but am still astonished how just some opposing voices got them running scared. If you can't stand the heat...
3
NYC was once the capital of automats. I think we would be comfortable dropping the cashier interaction faster than some may believe.
3
Personally I use self-service (bank, gas, food) whenever I can. Cashiers are good and bad. A few are lovely, upbeat people. Some are making the best of an unrewarding job. The big problem is that a significant percentage are surly and want you to be a part of their unhappiness. These people can put a downer on your whole day, which is so sad. I smile and greet before they can, but it rarely works with the unhappy ones; so, for me, Amazon Go would be fine.
3
Here's the deal: Many New Yorkers will GLADLY spend more money in corner bodegas if it ensures a better retail experience. So certain bodegas will be just fine.
But there is a category of New York bodega -- the fire-hazard ones full of expired yogurts and cats asleep on the bread, the ones with surly shopkeepers, the ones that (despite all the surliness and expired food), charge you 10.50 for a dust-covered box of fruit loops from 1977 -- that I can do without.
So Amazon, by all means, move in if you can do better.
6
Never mind that four of them operate 24-7 in a four-block radius -- and you don't know what else is going on that keeps them in business.
Bodegas are good for some things, but I won't even buy milk at our local C-Town, a kind of large, glorified bodega -- it's always sour.
4
The elimination of human cashiers does not bode well for where the labor force is going. Currently only 33% of the population has a college degree. People who don't have far fewer job options - they aren't all plumbers or electricians. Many people work as cashiers and store clerks out of necessity.
One reason Trump is president is because millions of American jobs disappeared overseas or were automated. Expect this issue to continue to drive politics in a bad way.
I had to call Amazon Customer Service twice last week - in both calls, I talked to reps who are in the Phillipines.
Know this about Jeff Bezos. Its not just that Amazon has automated ordering online. Amazon Customer Service jobs are not in this country. They're outsourced to Asia.
For everybody who likes Amazon Go because they'd rather not deal with human cashiers - this is how millions of cashier and customer service jobs are disappearing in this country.
Meaning: million more Americans will lose their jobs and have the same grievances about being displaced in society that put Trump in office.
I'd rather pay a human cashier. It's good that person still has a job.
9
Yes, but every corporation with customer service has for years had customer service located elsewhere. They're very nice, they're probably better educated than lots of Americans, but their accents are sometimes difficult.
It's not just Amazon.
1
@B.
Not it's not just Amazon. But I spent half an hour on the phone with one of the reps in the Philippines about tracking a package because the rep didn't speak English well enough to communicate an answer. Someone with better English skills could have addressed the issue in 5 - 10 minutes. I'm making a point that while Bezos is trying to appeal to "convenience," in many ways what Amazon is doing isn't convenient at all - dealing with them is frustrating because extreme cost cutting is built into how Amazon is run. Any place Bezo can slash service, he does it.
6
"Relationships are the only way bodegas have been able to compete". Roger that. The best shopping is at a local market, from farmers and other independents, same ones every week, with cash. Myself, the vendor, a few coins of the realm, and no data logging anywhere. Take that, surveillance capitalists!
On the plus side, in a conventional store, the checkout queue is the most dreadful part.Not having queues would be a big plus, for necessary shopping that can't be done at a market. They will already know one's purchases from the credit/debit card data sharing deals, buying from Amazon would not be a huge loss in privacy.
6
Not having checkout is not a big selling point. At convenience stores, the attendants are usually pretty convenient. This is not going to end well for Bezos. Just like his investment in Whole Foods. Food items, selling for double the price at Kroger, but reduced by 10%. What a great deal.
The big prize in grocery retail is-- the drive-through pickup of ordered groceries. Pushing a cart, picking items off a shelf, up and down aisles, is the thing people hate the most. Walmart is pushing hard to set up drive-thru lanes.
4
@Borat Smithgo go into any Walmart, most grocery stores , and even some banks and the automated self serve lanes far outnumber the often vacant lanes with check out people. This is a natural extension to what is already in place
To the union boss quoted, I hope all 30,000 of your dues paying members cancelled Prime and don’t order from Amazon. I personally think Amazon is evil so I vote with my $ and spend elsewhere.
8
@SB Ithink Prime is great. I get what I want, when i want and quickly and usually cheaper and don't leave home. It works for stuff that I know i want. Works for most things. I do miss just browsing at book stores and music stores and running across something I didn't consider. Food must be done in person basically though. Nobody picks out my veggies, fruits, fish and steaks but me.
1
@JDSept I would love to buy in stores but find that most products from Target, Penneys , Macy are not available in your local store , they are on line specials only. The cost of shipping a good deal is almost as much as the product and takes s week. The brick and mortar stores who put their best products on line have only themselves to blame when you buy from Amazon
Late one night, while driving from an Air Force base in Delaware to a destination in Virginia, I found that I was in dire need of refreshment. And lo, there appeared an oasis ahead in the darkness; a SevenEleven convenience store.
Having gotten a bit of fresh air, a walkabout, and conversation with the generous person who was working while others, slept, I finished that drive feeling pretty good.
Amazon may have something going there, but human contact is a necessity too, and patience is a virtue. Waiting in line and paying with cash may be distastefully analog, but we come with a need for it built in biologically.
15
@gary Depends who waits on you. That guy who is surly and miserable and yioung kid acting like he is doing you a favor is no joy. Lets face it, low paying jobs tend not to inspire great employee dedication or inspiration.
I use cash, a lot, even though I have and use credit cards and have an amazon account. I hate having my financial records cluttered with a bunch of trivial transactions when I review my statements, checking for fraud. I just want to see the big stuff - air tickets, meals in nice restaurants, rental cars, hotels, etc. If I'm ever in a place where an Amazon Go store is a convenient option to buy a sandwich and a bottle of soda, I will opt to use cash. But not here in Chicago - that one is still cashless, though that may change in the near future by city ordinance. These laws requiring the acceptance of cash are not just for the poor, they are for everybody who values their privacy and identity.
14
I'm tired of dealing with rude grocery store cashiers in NYC. Bring on the robots.
8
@Matthew Ratzloff
Be careful what you ask for.
11
So - I guess we can assume - it is official - NYC is really... really... not going to get the co-national Amazon HQ.
2
Jeff Bezos is a sociopath. I'll be rooting for the shoplifters.
11
I believe the movement to force all businesses to accept cash is a mistake. The poor would be helped more if they were provided more access to some sort o banking. Then, they would not need to endanger themselves by carrying cash.
8
@Podesta I agree with you 100%. But it won't happen overnight so let's keep accepting cash until it does happen. I make my elementary children pay for some items when we are shopping with cash. Just swiping a card or holding a phone near the terminal doesn't have the same meaning when teaching children the value of a hard earned dollar.
Next will there be a store that sells nothing, where you walk in and your bio metrics and smartphone contents are recorded and sold to the highest bidder - sort of like face book without the platform?
9
I actually shopped at the Amazon Go store yesterday, and it was a seamless and novel experience. There were many local products: cupcakes, bagels, sandwiches. I grabbed what I wanted, and breezed in and out effortlessly with no lines. There were quite a few employees around, not taking cash but attending to other jobs. Even when the novelty of feeling like I have just shoplifted wears off, I will welcome this experience. This is an emerging technology that will become more and more prevalent in shops all over.
10
The comments here are strikingly inane. People spend countless hours on their hip phones yet are resistant to technology in their I'm as fined private cluster world!
Best they wake up and accept the fact that these decisions are no longer theirs to make. In for a dollar, in for a dime.
2
@Nick DiAmante
You must mean: in for a penny, in for a pound.
5
Last week: A supermarket checker who was checking out AND bagging my groceries had a small pin next to his name badge depicting the "moon face" in Georges Méliès' A TRIP TO THE MOON. We had a brief and pleasant discussion of some of Méliès' film techniques. Who would trade that for the "speed and ease" of Amazon Go?
17
"it's sad that there's no personal touch."
Hypocrites!
How many of these same people are against national healthcare / Obama care and government support for people in need?
Wonder why the need to support businesses where they can get their "personal touch".
Is it lack of emotional support in their lives or fear?
5
It is, quite literally, a case of dehumanization. No, thanks!
10
@David Illig If your humanity is defined by some basically meaningless, faceless, nameless cashier you will never see again or hardly remember you, I have to wonder. No family, friends and neighbors to bond with on a much more closer and human level?
2
Seriously... How often do you have a stellar checkout experience at a bodega?! Or a Key Foods? Or even an Amazon owned Whole Foods for that matter? You might get lucky once in a while, but it’s the exception to the rule. Even at $15 an hour, most cashiers I encounter in these environments take little pride in their jobs, and do not care if the business they work for succeeds or fails in delivering exceptional customer service. So many businesses are ruined by looking the other way and enabling an awful checkout team to set the tone for the entire shopping experience. And truthfully, if I’m looking forward to, and depending on the human interaction of a checkout experience, I probably have bigger issues to deal with.
14
@Percy Maybe it's because of where I live, or maybe it's because I'm friendly, but cashiers are always pleasant and polite to me.
15
Lol always? OK sounds like quite the utopia. You’re a lucky woman.
1
@Percy
I don't have that experience at all. Most retail workers are hard working and pleasant. Percy, maybe it's you...just sayin'
13
How much of the commentators so beloved "personal touch" do they get at Costco or Walmart? Well, then again,Costco's liquor department (especially in Fountain Valley) does have an outstanding person. i guess that's why it's the part of the store I spend most of my money in...so what do i know?
1
People (rightfully) express outrage over government surveillance.
Yet one of the world’s most valuable/powerful companies creates a hyper-surveilled space (“As they shop, hundreds of cameras and sensors work to track their purchases…”) and there is little reaction to the the privacy implications.
I find it very improbable that Amazon is interested in the (relatively) paltry revenue generated from these stores. Amazon is likely after something far, far more valuable – data about extremely specific purchasing/browsing habits, likely down to the individual. How do people not find this unsettling?
9
@John I think the lack of reaction to hundreds and cameras tracking shoppers is due to the fact that shopping in the store is voluntary. The cameras that track our movements are in the street cannot be avoided.
"“I’d rather go to the mom and pops,” said Daria Siegel, 36, who works in Lower Manhattan and visited the store with a more impressed co-worker who paid for their purchases. “I like to give back to the local economy when I can.”"
These LOCAL stores hire LOCAL workers who live LOCALLY and who also support LOCAL businesses of all sorts.
Do you buy only locally made clothes, shoes, food, etc?
4
Wait wait wait... “tubs of schmear”??? Why are there a hundred comments and I'm the only one bothered by this??
9
@N
Well, speaking for myself, I have no idea what a "tub of schmear" is.
5
@Madeline Conant
A "schmear" is a spreadable food.
I won’t even use the self-checker lines in Wal-Mart. One of their employees asked me why not, and I said “I’m spending my money here, the employees can do THEIR jobs.” I added that I wasn’t going to take someone else’s job.
7
@scott_thomas
The same logic applies to those shoppers who leave their shopping carts all over the parking lots.
5
HA!! No tax breaks, and they are still in NY and want to expand..quite a perspective on the whole deal - amazon needs new york, new york does NOT need amazon, and it is pretty clear.
10
@grace thorsen
Amazon, like it or not, has done pretty well without NYC.
3
@grace thorsen
Yes, this store is exactly the same as the offices Amazon was going to open. Thanks for your insightful comment.
3
@Phyllis Sidney
Amazing, fools lose and call it a victory. Well, they voted for AOC. They got what they deserve...nothing.
5
el sicko. A solution looking for a problem. What's the point? More money for Jeff and the gang? At the expense of small business owners? Give us a break.
I'll bet people spend more time scanning, replacing items, removing items, fixing errors on their app than they do waiting in line for a cashier.
No way would I ever use a store like that.
8
When the next step is fingerprint access to store instead of the app, how will you feel?
I'll stick with a human cashier.
9
it's sad that there's no personal touch. yes. but, to be fair, where's the personal touch even when human beings are doing it? in a way, this makes sense given that even when humans are there there's no difference.
humans were over worked and underpaid and all the other ills of a consumerist culture that pays its lower rung workers peanut wages, to a point where there's really almost no "human touch" left anywhere, really. what's there is often little more than hypocrisy.
if this works, and it will work, American capitalists are too greedy not to make it work, then, one can assume its coming to walmart etc etc. then, there goes the jobs?
4
@Frea When companies don't offer set working hours, and little or no training, when schools graduate under-performing students, no wonder shopping at a bricks and mortar store gives way to Amazon.
4
Perfect metaphor for Progressive incompetence. Amazon is driven away when they bring 25,000 jobs, huge victory AOC. Two months later Amazon is back with a zero employee model, who is smarter?
12
@mkm The article states the store has cashier(s) for those paying by cash. Of course the staffing level is likely to be less than it otherwise would be.
@mkm Amazon is not 'back', insofar as Amazon Go does not include a $3B tax break, nor will the presence of Amazon Go negatively impact entire specific neighborhoods and subway lines by way of new R.E. development, further skyrocketing rents, an increase in subway ridership in a concentrated area, etc.
8
@Lisa whats also not back are the 25,000 jobs Amazon would have created. Not to mention the small business in the area who would have thrived suppling services for the 25,000 . New local businesses would have opened as well. All creating even more jobs.
The tax revenue generated by those 25,000 and the support businesses eventually would have paid that 3 billion and much more for decades to come. If this is victory I’m afraid to see what defeat is.
1
The beauty of Amazon for me is that I don't have to go to a store. It seems kind of dumb. The last thing I want to do is leave the privacy of my own home, where I can order books, and go to another crowded store, being pushed and shoved, to buy a book.
4
@Leighkaren Have you ever BEEN to a bookstore? Funny, because I've never found bookstores to be (unpleasantly) crowded, with pushing and shoving, or any pressure to buy. Quite the opposite in fact. Small indie bookstores, and heck, even Barnes & Noble, are more or less oasis of calm, and where random, delightful, organic conversations can and do occur between clientele, employees, etc. We need bookstores more than ever (and decidedly not of the rapacious Amazon bookstore model)...
17
@Lisa
Agreed. I love my local bookseller and bookstore. I visit a variety of bookstores when I travel here or abroad, usually traveling with an empty carry on specifically for bringing bookstore discoveries home.
But for those of us also looking for the hard to find, out of print novels or autobiographies from the 30s, 40s and 50s, published here or in England, Amazon has been a boon to our bookshelves. Persephone can’t do all the heavy lifting.
2
@Deborah No, but there are plenty of other online shopping choices for book buyers, including independent bookshops that also sell online. Amazon is very far from being the only option out there. I am a voracious reader of all sorts of books, and I am unable to shop locally, but I haven't bought a book on Amazon for years. Check out your options!
1
How does their “technology” prevent shoplifting? Do they send Robocop out after the thief? Does Judge Dredd pass sentence?
6
"Tubs of schmear"? What in the world us that? A schmear means just a little. A swipe of the knife that has been dipped in cream cheese.
3
I personally think that NYC's hustlers are a cagey and creative bunch. I'm looking forward to see what they do to these dopey stores.
10
Maybe if bodegas (and Gristedes for that matter) weren't a ripoff price-wise and Fairway (or other supermarkets) had a reasonably fast checkout process, Amazon wouldn't be able to break in.
5
it's the future unfortunately and in 10 years it will be everywhere, in airports and so forth. Where the tragedy lies is not in the innovation but in the adjustment. We all will still have to work longer hours with less time to enjoy all these convivences because none of this tech has given the American citizen more time off to enjoy their humanity. Now it threatens to kill even more jobs for citizens with no pay off in either taxes paid because of lost human labor or added any new revenue for local municipalities. I'm sure Amazon will be clocking every second of the poor stocking/ cleaning employees bathroom breaks till the have a machine that can do that job. Wouldn't be all bad if we all got to work only 3 days a week because of all this awesome innovation we've developed and supported as consumers, but actually the opposite is true. These convivences are becoming a punishment.
6
It's just a matter of time before amazon will get called out for profiling specific customers (or customer types) to spot for shoplifting. Say, would amazon stop someone who looks like a homeless to rummage through its store? Would amazon be condemned as discriminatory for doing so? Does merchants like amazon have a right to do so?
4
I am all for humans having jobs, but for small purchases the check out takes longer when there are lines to the cashier and you are dealing with chatty cashiers and customers who forgot an item and then hold up the line or cant't find their money etc.
8
If I remember correctly it was the ATM that started us down this path, then the gas pump, self serve checkout, and now RF. I also remember the very same sentiments argued when all of these technologies were introduced, but who goes up to a teller now when the ATM is free?
Better or worse folks, it is the future.
8
@mlb4ever, I don't know about you, but I love self-checkout. I don't want to deal with grumpy cashiers. Who would argue against cashless toll booths (except workers' unions, perhaps)? I like pumping my own gas, rather than having attendants "topping" off the pump, against my wish.
The experiment of concept stores like Go counts on customer's dislike of checkout lines, not necessarily self-checkout itself. For me, that's a plus. BUT BUT, I'd like to know how much privacy I, as a customer, would have to give up to eliminate those few minutes of my life waiting in a checkout line (if any). To me, it's not a matter of convenience, but a matter of giving up my privacy, which is NOT something I would trade anything for.
4
@tiddle -- correct about the privacy .. While about half the time I use self-checkout at real grocery stores (mostly upstate as I do not see them in NYC except at CVS), I would NEVER Load an APP on my Phone to do the checkout. That is what private, only I have it, credit cards are for (with chips).
4
I'll certainly never buy a single thing from these automated stores. It's creepy that the machine is tracking your every move, and that every visit will be recorded, and that the machine will try to figure out what you want to buy and insure that you get it. Amazon's not mentioning that part of the tracking of all user data, but you'd be a fool to believe they wouldn't acquire all the data about you that they can.
Also, in the current struggle of automation versus humans, I'm on the side of the humans. Lots of people are totally willing to throw their privacy away for some convenience, and could care less about all the jobs that these places will eliminate. But I'll keep fighting this losing battle until the automation decides I need to be eliminated.
31
@Dan Stackhouse People are asleep when it comes to privacy and AI. They give away their data willingly. They use their phones for everything and never realize they are being tracked everywhere. Do they ask is Amazon using their facial recognition technology in these stores? Who knows?
5
Amazon has chosen an ideal location to test market this idea. They'll be catering mostly to commuters and office workers from the surrounding buildings. When you're on your way to work and want to grab a coffee and bagel, do you really want the "human touch" or do you want to get out and on your way so you aren't late for work? If you're on your lunch hour, do you want to spend any of your precious free time standing on line and getting your "human touch", or do you want to pay and go and enjoy the rest of your lunch hour? And consider that there are people whose jobs involve nothing but constant human contact (i.e., salespeople) who may want nothing more during their lunch break than to trade the chit-chat for some peace and quiet. This is one store, people. You're free to go bend the ear of some helpless retail clerk in many other locations while you buy your yogurt or granola
14
@A. Cleary, a lot of people want to keep the "human touch," and there are corner stores and mom-and-pop shops that make people feel warm and fuzzy. But, I do agree with you, in that most people (unions, for one) don't want to acknowledge how much people dislike interacting with others, particularly when they're in a hurry. If there is a city that lionizes the "get out of my way" motto, that's NYC, and in that, amazon should find its niche to cater for these crowds with no problem at all.
2
@A. Cleary
I think the issue is that every concept starts with one or just a few of something. Eventually it becomes the standard. If you think that this is just going to remain as a handful of novel, isolated stores, I don't know what to tell you. I can easily foresee Amazon licensing this technology to all kinds of other retail places under the guise of consumer convenience and theft deterrence for store owners. Bezos is about money. Licensing the tech is another means to get that money.
1
Without an Amazon account you are "swiped into the store"? What exactly is this process? Are you "swiped out" when you leave? Do you need to wear an id while shopping that helps Amazon track all your future visits and purchases? Are you zapped by a laser if you shoplift or detained by robot police? Are you given a sales pitch at the register on why you should open an account before being allowed to pay cash? I don't put anything past Amazon and think it would easily do all of this.
6
Missing the personal touch you might find in your local bodega?
How lonely do you have to be for that?
13
@DD, there are times (and people) for local bodega, but there are also times (and people) who loves to hustle, with no time for small talks. You worry that they would feel lonely? These folks are probably on their cell the whole time when they're in/out of the Go store. They don't even have time to be lonely.
3
“Basically, the personal touch is not there,” said one shopper of his experience at Amazon Go. I don't know where he's been shopping, but my experience shopping at drug stores and other convenience type stores in NYC leaves much to be desired in terms of customer service. In a word, there is none. In fact, I'd rather go through self checkout any day than have to bother a grumbly checkout clerk who'd rather stare at their cell phone than run my items' bar codes over the reader.
When the last experience you have in shopping is a negative check out, it just ruins the whole thing. Give me the option to ring up my own groceries any day of the century.
18
@Regina Valdez, I'm totally with you. Some stores have better staffing than others, but my experience mirrors yours. I can scan the barcodes and bag my stuffs faster than the grumpy cashiers, and I don't have to deal with their lackadaisical way of moving about. If unions are trying to compare the "human touch," I'd say, it's a non-starter. If anything, what GO store might spook me is, is the invasion of privacy, and that has nothing to do with any humans at all.
3
It's amazing what technology can do. If they had one in Austin, I'd shop there.
4
Just as I have never set foot in a Walmart, I will never shop in an Amazon store. It is a race to the bottom where the wealth of a nation flows upwards. Call me old-fashion for knowing my checkers, purchasing local products when I can, and engaging in my community. The dehumanizing of life in this country is appalling and Amazon deserves the scorn.
54
@PJS
You know, I had similar thoughts about Walmart. Having now patronized it numerous times I marvel at the slice of our population and the cars they drive at each new visit. I liken it to a United Nations experience, and there are many shopping item choices. Sometimes my favorites are out of stock.
1
"New York ... where customers are notoriously brusque ...."
If the writer was from NYC, he'd know better than to promote such an inaccurate stereotype. Every real NY-er knows the rudest folks live elsewhere.
45
@Stephen beck Agreed. Definitely from a flyover state and has been living here for 1-3 years, and thinks that people are 'so mean' because we don't passive aggressively wish everybody A GREAT DAY.
7
@stephen beck New Yorkers are the most helpful people in the world, absolutely, just don't gush over it please, I'm happy to help now let me get back to my own business.
2
Does this comply with the Legal Tender Act of 1797?
1
Uninformed people keep mentioning this argument. The statement is legal tender for the payment of debts. If you do not buy anything, then you cannot have a debt that can be paid with legal tender. Take that mangy dollar bill elsewhere.
5
I think there are 11 other locations...not 11 major cities with Amazon Go stores.
2
Oh, heaven's...wasn't taking over Whole Foods enough? Sorry...I may buy probably too much on line by way of my Amazon Prime, but by darn I am giving my grocery money to our great locally owned supermarkets here in my city. We speak about China owning our economy...take a look at our own home-grown monopoly. What ever happened to America's anti-trust laws, Mr. Trump?
13
@Kathy Lollock
Whole foods employees, take notice. Your jobs are on the line.
@Kathy Lollock
The grocery store closest to me is Whole Foods. And its not one of the amazing giant Whole Foods out in the outer 'burbs, those huge wood ceiling'd beautiful stores with ginormous delis, coffee bars and amazing produce. My Whole Foods is a dirty depressing grubby little mess located in what was formerly just another chain grocery store before Whole Foods got it, then Amazon got it. It's less than nothing special.
Amazon lately has been pushing the idea that it's lowered the prices in Whole Foods. Not true. While some products may be cheaper - I'm betting the 365 products - I'm shocked by the dollar price jumps in all prepared foods, like bottles of soy sauce and avocado oil which jumped a dollar last year and just increased another dollar recently, less than 5 months later. The constant enormous price increases at Whole Foods are shocking.
Bezos, you're not fooling anybody. This guff about cheaper Whole Foods prices is "fake news."
2
Love how the guy that misses the human connection will be back over and over. I bet this becomes his favorite lunch spot.
9
Let's focus on developing and protecting good paying jobs. The tellers at the 7-11s of this world average $10 an hour or whatever the local minimum wage is above that amount. Moreover, it's a high risk job in terms of constant burglaries. We will never have a more equitable and prosperous society without change. If local city councils and state governments legislated our economy, 5% of society would still be employed as blacksmiths and farriers...just check the legislation that met the arrival of the great job killer the automobile!
5
@DoctorRPP, Whatever the "society" wants, let's see how many customers amazon GO store would get. If it gets popular, then there goes the idea about what society wants (or doesn't want). It's the same tired argument about (and against) ride share like uber, where there's much lament about uber lowballing drivers, yet customers keep using uber because they love their low price (paid in part by lowballing labor costs to drivers).
There are so many people complaining about one thing, yet voting for it with their wallet. So hypocritical.
3
Less cash, fewer robberies.
Curious, we looked up how much Uber would charge to get us to Gravesend, and Uber's price was a LOT higher than the price our longtime car service quoted.
First, this is at Brookfield. For those not in the know, that means The World Financial Center. The mall there is called Brookfield. For all its beauty, it is across Ground Zero and the West Side Highway.
Which means, unless you have business there, or extra time after your Ground Zero visit, there really is no need to go there. This reduces foot traffic to the locals at the WFC who would be more than glad to pick up lunch there, greatly reducing the dangers of shoplifting that bodegas, located in the middle of everything, face daily.
Then I doubt shoplifters would be very interesting on vegan meatless organic lasagna with whole grain pasta. Not exactly appealing to others than the already fans.
And last, if you need an app to open the gate, what would happen if I go with my wife? She has an app, I don’t. so she goes in and I wait outside? Yea, that sounds like a place to skip all together.
Good luck with this. Am sure we will not be using her Prime subscription there.
9
How can anyone indulge in this type of store, where no human employees are visible? Don't you care about people and jobs at all? This will lead to more unemployment, more homelessness, more hungary, and more crime due to desperation. Please do not shop there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never use self-check lines, cause I believe in full employment.
8
@FH NYC: There are lots of human employees on the floor, just not cashiers.
9
We have more unemployment because legislatures have not adjusted the work-week for modern times. Fewer hour would mean more jobs but lower profits for the bloated owners.
2
While we may “need” jobs at the moment to keep the wheels of our economy turning, who—in the long term—wants to be a cashier for the bulk of their working career? I firmly believe that we should be actively automating those jobs that are otherwise repetitive, dangerous or unstimulating.
3
wake up.... Amazon not only wants to control the market, Amazon wants to be the market. hopefully New Yorkers will make the store a disaster, just like the plan to locate at Long Island City. #BringItDown.
7
First it was Walmart the Big Box Store. Now it’s Amazon, the internet behemoth. These corporations care nothing about local communities. Their business models drive labor out of the US which leaves whole communities withered. Yet ignorant people continue to patronize these criminal stores like they’re the best thing since sliced bread. Amazon does not care about you. They care about their own bottom line. Use your head and shop local. Don’t patronize the death of the small business. Yes, Amazon is convenient today but we’ll all pay the price terribly tomorrow.
14
@Mike L
Alas, Americans are addicted to cheap (anything)
3
"Victor Williams, who works in Brookfield Place and lives in Brooklyn, expressed similar sentiments, saying: “I didn’t really interact with anyone. It felt almost like a carnival ride.”
Amazon and Google don't need more of our dollars and data, but less. Mom and Pops are the soul of this city...of any city...and any comments of 'Mom and Pops are already over and have lost the war', are simply giving in. Mom and Pops can and do thrive, esp. those who are malleable and understand who their customer is. Being social media and (local) politically savvy also doesn't hurt. ;-)
4
Definitely not shopping there. Have also minimized going to Whole Foods when Amazon bought it. They are not interested in your grocery dollars, they are interested in your data. They should be paying YOU for stepping in their store.
25
@EBK
You realize virtually every major retail store tracks customers and gathers data on them? Those free memberships they offer for lower prices and coupons are a handy way to collect tons of data on shopping habits, which they use to refine product placement and inventory purchases among other things, as well as send you targeted advertisements and coupons by mail.
Go figure, a business that sells things wants to know what you're likely to buy so you don't have to waste your time looking for it (a negative user experience that decreases the chance you will make a purchase or return). Improving discoverability of desired products is something every single store, retail or online, strives to do. Amazon did this before they even opened the story in NYC, they figured out which local products people bought from local stores and stocked the shelves appropriately. How do you think they figured that out? Where could they possibly have found purchasing habits for large numbers of people? It's almost like stores are tracking people and selling their data...
6
I have dealt w/self checkout at my local CVS. It is not a smooth process. There is a store employee standing there, to oversee and help, but I’m the one actually doing the work. There are often machine read errors, card read errors and I’m trying to pack my items into a bag while paying attention to the prompts on the key pad. I’d much rather that the person standing by to help me (and getting paid minimum wage) would actually just check out my purchases - it goes more quickly & accurately and may even include a smile.
31
@E Faro, Agree 100%. Most times I prefer to wait in the CVS line for a human. And it's not because I'm not tech savvy. It's just that the process seems to go more efficiently/quickly.
17
@E Faro,
Yes, I only shop at CVS as a last resort because of what you describe. Another one is Home Depot, but at least there the number of manned checkouts allow one to avoid doing the store's work for them.
14
I don't have an issue with progress. The genie is out of the bottle and if it is not Amazon it will be some other entity foreign or domestic. What I have a problem with are the removal of low skill jobs. In this day and age you need higher education and with many low quality grammer and high schools there is a large subsection of individuals that will never have a chance. You need high quality schools starting early in childhood so that you can let those that want to pursue higher learning be successful.
13
@Hilliard. Is this “progress?” I think of progress as something that improves things. So often we say “the genie is out of the bottle,” or “that’s just the way it is.” Technology in and of itself is not always good and I remain hopeful that we human beings have the capacity to shape our lives, rather than just being dragged through them by the wheels of commerce. If we have the courage to see businesses as organs of society (Peter Drucker’s words, not mine), there just may be a way to use all this technology to make life better, not just different.
14
@Fintan Yes, I think it is progress. Have you seen Puddy's Enterprise Car commercials? maybe some days you don't want to deal with people to get through a transaction. Not wasting my time in line? that is progress.
4
@hilliard: [What I have a problem with are the removal of low skill jobs.]
There are currently millions of Americans who lack a high school diploma and compete with immigrants for low-level jobs. Employers prefer to hire immigrants because it makes them more money. A few dollars a day less for each worker means thousands of dollars a year in extra income for the owners; a good incentive to skirt the law.
Businesses do not hire immigrants because citizens are not available; businesses hire immigrants because there are few American citizens who are willing to work under the slave-labor conditions which provide the greatest rewards for the owners.
We need a national minimum wage law that is enforced.
8
I personally like the idea of not having to interact with people during my shopping experience. The most annoying thing about shopping is having people constantly bothering me asking if they can help (If I wanted help, I would have asked for it!) or mindless small talk.
I'm all for cashless option as well - I never carry cash because it cannot be replaced should it become lost or stolen. I can easily cancel a card and obtain a replacement, but I can't do so with cash. I totally understand how marginalized people could be affected by this policy, which is why we need to make it easier for these individuals to go cashless.
12
@Scott S.: You don't speak for the majority at all. A great many of us who are not at all "marginalized" still prefer to pay in cash. I can't even imagine leaving the house with no cash!
I personally am not interested in going "cashless" - not now, not ever. In fact, I refuse to patronize any store that will not accept cash. I don't need my purchases tracked to that level, thanks.
Stores that refuse to accept cash are just losing that much more business. With commercial rents as high as they are in NYC, you'd think a smart business owner would want to attract as many customers as possible, as opposed to turning people away.
10
Why not go live as a hermit in Alaska if that’s how you feel? Just because you don’t like interaction with people doesn’t mean everyone does. Talk about being anti-social.
7
@L Suit yourself. Perhaps you don't care for the digital age. I barely carry any cash at all. You do your thing and I'll do mine and everyone's happy.
1
When did we forget that the reason we have stores, an economy, a civilization at all is for the benefit of PEOPLE?!? Finding ways to keep profits going without it bettering the lives of the people involved is insanity.
Also-
It took me 2 seconds to think of how people can rob this store while not shoplifting: have someone else's account when you swipe in. Then you walk out with as much junk as you want while someone whose info has been stolen is left to clean up their accounts and credit.
Criminals on both sides of the non-existent register.
24
@DP I thought we have stores for the convenience of purchasing goods. If I want to better the lives of others I volunteer and donate to worthy causes.
6
Do you miss the "personal touch" of bank tellers that used to dispense your cash instead of ATMs? Do you stand in line to check in at the airport instead of using the kiosk because you miss the human connection?
Anything that can be automated to eliminate the need for mindless, debasing shift-work (cashiers, security guards, fast food servers) should be. Our technology is moving us closer to the end of human drudgery, and we shouldn't keep these unskilled jobs around just for the sake of having jobs for people. We need to rethink our relationship to work, and how everyone can ultimately enjoy the resources of the planet without being subject to jobs that most people wouldn't do if given the choice.
90
@Michael: As technology began rapidly entering the workplace in the 1950s, instead of decreasing worker-hours and maintaining the workforce at the same level with the same level of compensation, employers used the savings from technology to keep worker-hours and salaries the same, but reduced the size of the workforce. Greater productivity was translated into greater profits for the owners. The benefits did not trickle down. With the decline of unions and the failure of the government to shorten the work-week as they had done in the early part of the 20th century, the work-week stayed about the same, with fewer employees required.
At the beginning of the 21st century, worker compensation had remained relatively stable for the past 50 years while the compensation of owners has increased twenty-fold. The answer is not to encourage Americans to 'Buy American', but to demand that employees benefit from technology as do employers: Fewer hours for employees with a commensurate increase in compensation so that the level of employment remains the same having more workers working fewer hours and all Americans benefiting from the fruits of technology, not just the employers.
Legislation reducing the work-week from 40 hours to 35, eventually to 20, will dramatically increase employment while giving more leisure time to Americans and restoring the owner/worker incomes to a more traditional ratio of 10 or 20:1 rather than the current 200:1.
23
@Michael There will need to be far fewer people, then.
9
@Michael...Unfortunately, technology is only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. By design, everyone cannot equally enjoy the resources of the planet. Instead, priority #1 is to maximize cash flow and profits. While technology innovators may one day succeed in eliminating many low paying jobs, to herald such innovations without first enacting a base floor of economic, health, and education measures is penny wise and pound foolish.
10
i don't really understand what the big deal is here. Just b/c there are no cashiers doesn't mean there are no people. There are still people working in these places, right? You need people to stock the shelves, clean up messes made by customers, deal with customers when something inevitably goes wrong with the tech.
30
It’s the entire business model of Amazon that is the problem. They have no stake in the local communities that they rape and plunder. They pay the lowest wage for the most work. If that’s your idea of progress than good luck.
6
Why do people shop there. It takes away entry level jobs where people can learn, being on time, customer service skills, communication with managers etc. I never use self checkout.
31
@Calleen de Oliveira: [Why do people shop there.]
We shop at stores for our benefit, not for the benefit of the employees.
8
@Calleen de Oliveira
Because 99% of service establishments of any kind no longer teach or require such behavior.
3
So this futuristic store is a deli? Will Amazon be offering haircuts and tire changes soon, as well?
6
@Addison Steele: They'll offer automated haircuts!
1
@Addison Steele Shhhhh. Don't give it ideas.
4
As there are no cashiers or apparent paper receipts, what happens if you are over-charged or double-charged for something? Millennials care more about selfies than about details like this.
11
@ScottC
Your sentiment was well received, but then you pointed a finger at the future for no apparent reason.
I'm sure there are millennials working on problem solving high level issues all over the country as I type.
They'll be OK. If the greedy older folks leave anything for them and their children to breathe, drink, and not have to pay our interest on.
9
@ScottC, I don’t trust Amazon to get the charges right 100 percent of the time. I suppose they can access archived, digital CCTV footage of the customer grabbing the ham and cheese sandwich rather than the veggie wrap he was charged for, but can you do that on such a large scale?
I wonder whether this will appeal to older customers like me. I refuse to do self-checkout at Safeway and Home Depot, just on principle. I notice, too, that those businesses still need to have an employee oversee the checkout process, and help customers when things don’t scan.
4
@ScottC You have to look at your Amazon bill. If you get overcharged you have to ask for a refund. Usually happens when you pick something up and change you mind and put it back.
"Chief among those challenges: shoplifting. While the crime is hardly unique to New York, retailers and security experts have long thought of New York City as the country’s shoplifting capital."
Source?
18
Don't forget that they have very clear videos of all of the shoppers. With those videos shoplifters can be identified for the police if they had also stolen the credit card and other identification needed to buy in the Amazon store.
I don't think this column mentions the shoplifting inverse ... being incorrectly charged ... overcharged ... for a product. It happens all the time in bricks-and-mortar stores ... the scanned price does not match the advertised/listed price. Or the product has been incorrectly coded, so instead of spending $1.29 for a quart of low-fat milk, you're charged $3.50 for a quart of nut milk. How does Amazon handle these type of problems? Do you just complain to one of the employees? And what if you don't notice the issue until you get your purchases home and look at the receipt?
26
@10034. Amazon is amazingly good at refunds and their customer service is excellent.
5
@10034: They'll go to the videotape.
@Srini Customer service? You mean 'customer service' by the rep named 'Linda', whom you reached after hitting a few buttons, who lives in an undisclosed country (typically the Philippines), and who speaks English in that now-omnipresent robotic manner, and who's 'happy to help you with your problem today'? Is that the excellent customer service you refer to?
8
You characterization of New Yorkers is unfair.
10
This is the future. But it makes me want to have two phones, one to handle stuff like this.
3
Missing the, uh, personal touch? Really? I would prefer to go to a human being for my transactions, I always skip the "cash out yourself" lines at the big box stores, but to say folks are missing the personal touch at a bodega or even most supermarkets is kind of silly. Most of the cashiers I come across have to be reminded to say thank you (by my saying you're welcome), barely look you in the eye, sometimes even have an ear bud and even a conversation going while checking me out.
I am all for dealing with humans who do give the personal touch but it's getting harder and harder to find. These establishments need to educate their workers to make eye contact and treat their customers like, well, customers! Complaining is not going to do anyone (except Amazon) any good at all. Evolve or get out of the way. As most of the people interviewed in this article make clear, they'll be back . . . to Amazon!
67
@David Shaw
I agree but what can one expect of someone making minimum wage? And think of the, at times, disrespect those low-paid workers receive from abusive customers and/or employers.
17
@Hugh I'm afraid that's just the way it is. I'm in sales and we all run into issues in our work, you have to deal with it, grow up, if you want to keep your industry and job alive.
3
@Hugh Exactly. I can't think of many jobs much worse than that of a supermarket, fast food, drugstore etc. cashier, who's doing the same mindless repetitive work, and all under the eye of often rude, self-absorbed customers who typically make far more money, and look down on such workers as sub-human.
Along similar lines are those food delivery guys, who are also treated and considered horribly. Working in corp. America, I see them lined up inside office building lobbies, waiting for their charges to appear and pick up their food deliveries. To many, these food delivery guys are nameless and faceless, but every one of them has a story as to how they came to be here in this country....they have families...struggles...dreams... etc.
9
“On Tuesday, the internet giant unveiled its first New York location for Amazon Go, its cashierless, brick-and-mortar convenience store concept that has already been tested in 11 other cities.”
What are the 11 cities? As far as I can tell, only 3 cities (Seattle, SF, Chicago). There are 11 total stores in those 3 cities.
11
'“Amazon’s ruthless business model will lead to massive job losses that could cripple our entire economy,” Marc Perrone, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents more than 30,000 workers in New York City, said in a statement.'
Nope. This is like loggers and coal miners and car makers and Rust Belt factories complaining that their jobs were stolen. If you want to continue working in a changing world, you have to adapt. This requires education and training. Amazon and China aren't the problem; America's laughable education system is the problem, and it's not going away one. Education requires money, and that's not easy in a very selfish country. Either pay for education or just complain. If that's too hard to understand, then try this: No one is entitled to jobs. You have to have to do work that other people don't want to lower themselves to. Like your housekeeper for example. That selfish American sense of entitlement is a major part of the problem. Own it.
65
Very good. We’ve taken care of business for 45 years now, what about people.
10
@Lost....Education takes more than money. We spend quite a lot on education and don't get a good return on investment.
Some blame lack of discipline in the school, some blame one parent families, some blame teach "to the test" and so on. Lots of theories.
But, merely throwing money at the existing system and thinking it will change results is foolish
3