Welcome to the future!
By Jacey Gibb, Distribution Manager
Hot on the heels of their first brick and mortar storefront, Amazon is changing the game of in-person shopping even further: The fully automated grocery store Amazon Go will soon sell food products that automatically throw themselves into your kitchen garbage three weeks after you purchase them.
“When Amazon branched out into the in-person retail world, our customers knew to expect big changes,” said Miranda Peters, Communications Director for Amazon’s Retail Division. “This was, logically speaking, the next step for us.”
Whereas Amazon’s grocery competitors like Walmart or Superstore sell food that consumers must throw out themselves after forgetting about the purchase, Amazon’s innovative products will help you bypass the unnecessary period between buying something because you think you might eat it and when you inevitably throw it out because, seriously, who cooks these days when there are so many options for take-out and delivery?
“These new changes apply to most of our inventory,” confirms Peters. “Ranging from that durian you adventurously purchased before realizing you have no idea what to do with it, all the way to items like celery, which you know how to eat, but somehow always finds its way into your kitchen garbage.”
Back in January, Amazon opened the world’s first AI-operated store—without cashiers or check-out lines—to much fanfare. The unique shopping experience also allows consumers to avoid side-shade thrown by check-out clerks who are all like, “Do you even know how to roast a spaghetti squash?”
Response to the changes has been mostly positive, with many consumers excited to save time in their wasteful, consumer-driven lives.
“With all the time I’ll save from not having to throw out my own expired food, I’ll have so much more time and energy for the important things, like my financially-crippling addiction to online shopping.” said Andrew Bensen, a 34-year-old from Seattle and a recent shopper at Amazon Go.
However, some economists are skeptical about whether or not the masses will embrace Amazon’s new initiative.
Calvin Webler is an economist with The Guardian, and he’s confident Amazon’s latest offering is just another gimmick that will blow over.
“History has shown us that people’s connection to their food, and defeatedly tossing that food in the garbage after it’s reached a turning point, are a big part of what makes us human,” says Webler. “Since the first cave person killed a woolly mammoth, decided to save some of the meat for later, and accidentally left it in his cave fridge for too long, we’ve been throwing out our spoiled food.
“I will be very surprised if Amazon finds a way to bypass this cornerstone of human behaviour.”
