Whole Foods May Get Cashierless Technology in 2021
The concept is convenient, but labor unions say it will mean fewer jobs.
Aug 27, 2020 | 1 min read
SEATTLE—Amazon may bring the same cashierless technology found in Amazon Go convenience stores to Whole Foods supermarkets as early as next year, according to TheVerge.com.
Presently, the technology is available in more than 20 Amazon Go convenience stores. It uses cameras, sensors and computer vision to tabulate a customer’s purchases and lets them leave the store, merchandise in hand, without going through a cashier line.
The technology rollout for Whole Foods is reported to be one of two final projects that Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer division, is focusing on before he retires next year. Amazon Go stores launched in 2016 and were tested by Amazon employees before opening to the public in 2018. Amazon purchased Whole Foods in 2017.
The concept of cashierless grocery stores is convenience: walk in, select groceries and walk out. The new technology will likely replace jobs with machines, facing criticism from labor unions. After Amazon announced that it would begin selling this tech to other retailers, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union criticized the tech giant, saying the cashierless model is “a direct threat to 16 million American retail jobs.”
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