2 ex-Google guys secure venture capital, re-invent vending machines

[suberzat1]

https://www.fastcompany.com/4046604...odegas-and-mom-and-pop-corner-stores-obsolete

While it sometimes feels like we do all of our shopping on the internet, government data shows that actually less than 10% of all retail transactions happen online. In a world where we get our groceries delivered in just two hours through Instacart or Amazon Fresh, the humble corner store–or bodega, as they are known in New York and Los Angeles–still performs a valuable function. No matter how organized you are, you’re bound to run out of milk or diapers in the middle of the night and need to make a quick visit to your neighborhood retailer.

Paul McDonald, who spent 13 years as a product manager at Google, wants to make this corner store a thing of the past. Today, he is launching a new concept called Bodega with his cofounder Ashwath Rajan, another Google veteran. Bodega sets up five-foot-wide pantry boxes filled with non-perishable items you might pick up at a convenience store. An app will allow you to unlock the box and cameras powered with computer vision will register what you’ve picked up, automatically charging your credit card. The entire process happens without a person actually manning the “store.”

 

[cosmiccoffee9]

nice, I've been waiting for small independent business owners to be suddenly left without their main income stream and jobs for their entire families for quite some time, this is a worthwhile development in a scenario that was begging for change.

I do wonder where I'll buy Rhino pills tho.

 

[joe billionaire]

They gonna pack rillos in there?


Na but don't they have things like this in Japan? , I don't really see this as anything new, what if I picked up a half gallon of milk to check the date and I put down because I don't like the day it expires lol (I do this) sounds like I'll be charged for everything I grab

Lol and this won't work everywhere maybe in the glitzy parts of town...but real corner stores get robbed everyday b so will these

 

[Based Jesus]

nice, I've been waiting for small independent business owners to be suddenly left without their main income stream and jobs for their entire families for quite some time, this is a worthwhile development in a scenario that was begging for change.

I do wonder where I'll buy Rhino pills tho.

Dudes wanna put bodegas out of business
Also at LA stealing our slang

 

[cosmiccoffee9]

They gonna pack rillos in there?


Na but don't they have things like this in Japan? , I don't really see this as anything new, what if I picked up a half gallon of milk to check the date and I put down because I don't like the day it expires lol (I do this) sounds like I'll be charged for everything I grab

Lol and this won't work everywhere maybe in the glitzy parts of town...but real corner stores get robbed everyday b so will these

@ the old newspaper box trick...some poor guy opens the lid on the store and 15 kids come rushing across the street and snatch every snack in the mofo. yikes.

Dudes wanna put bodegas out of business
Also at LA stealing our slang

something about them using the word "bodega" really did strike me the wrong way...guess they could have gone with "iPapi" if they wanted to be pandery about it.

 

[harlemtothebronx]

And the logo is a cat?

**** these people.

 

[Teknoman]

Not buying out of principal.

 

[infamouserror]

Culture vulture bull****

 

[Peep Game]

https://www.fastcompany.com/4046604...odegas-and-mom-and-pop-corner-stores-obsolete

While it sometimes feels like we do all of our shopping on the internet, government data shows that actually less than 10% of all retail transactions happen online. In a world where we get our groceries delivered in just two hours through Instacart or Amazon Fresh, the humble corner store–or bodega, as they are known in New York and Los Angeles–still performs a valuable function. No matter how organized you are, you’re bound to run out of milk or diapers in the middle of the night and need to make a quick visit to your neighborhood retailer.

Paul McDonald, who spent 13 years as a product manager at Google, wants to make this corner store a thing of the past. Today, he is launching a new concept called Bodega with his cofounder Ashwath Rajan, another Google veteran. Bodega sets up five-foot-wide pantry boxes filled with non-perishable items you might pick up at a convenience store. An app will allow you to unlock the box and cameras powered with computer vision will register what you’ve picked up, automatically charging your credit card. The entire process happens without a person actually manning the “store.”

When will they stop stealing stuff, throwing a coat of paint over it, and pretending it's something new :x ????

 

[tomdiginson]

Descendants of Con Edison

 

[jayhood23]

Gonna count how many times the word gentrification is used in this thread

 

[ninjahood]

nice, I've been waiting for small independent business owners to be suddenly left without their main income stream and jobs for their entire families for quite some time, this is a worthwhile development in a scenario that was begging for change.

I do wonder where I'll buy Rhino pills tho.

sounds like them ex Google employee got a bad chopped cheese

 

[illwill8710]

Wack

 

[Sir San Diego]

When everything in the world is automated what jobs will be left? Serious question.

 

[216c2a]

No thanks. **** these corporations for killing small businesses.

 

[cashbanks]

**** this.

 

[Mister Meaner]

Don't think for one second this will run the corner store out of business.



I bet you can't eem use EBT at this machine.

 

[MetalMario]

name and logo pissed me off the most

 

[downyboy]

extremely poor choice of name.

 

[diego]

Fix thread title OP. This is a targeted attack on bodegas and more importantly a way of life in NYC.

**** these scumbags.

 

[harlemtothebronx]

I hope that **** doesn't survive in our neighborhoods.

How many more things are white people going to attempt to 'rebrand?' Don't they have their own cultural touchstones to exploit?

Calling it 'Bodega' using a cat as the logo and essentially trying to kill one of the few types of businesses that flourish in our communities is all wild disrespectful.

I genuinely hope they go under, or their "bodegas' get treated horribly out there.

 

[jamie dimon]

the real value of a bodega is papi behind the counter

 

[freeze]

Seems impractical af.

And then calling it bodega to try and slime in on some culture...I spy several seats that are empty af and need occupants.

 

[cosmiccoffee9]

Not buying out of principal.

that's the only way to impede the progress of things like this, we the consumers have to reject it on principle. profits don't just come out of nowhere.

When everything in the world is automated what jobs will be left? Serious question.

interesting question that nobody seems to have an answer for. the change is happening sooner than you think...right this sentence, there are kids in their first semester of education for jobs that will be obsolete by the time they graduate.

Don't think for one second this will run the corner store out of business.



I bet you can't eem use EBT at this machine.

even if it's somehow not more beneficial for these things to accept them, I really don't see EBT card holders forming a relevant resistance to this if they actually succeed in implementing it.

"take your ****ing stamps to Walmart."

-ex Google venture capitalists, probably

 

[freeze]

programmers will always have joints despite robots. provided the scientists arent foolish enough to try and make the robots self aware and autonomous, we'll be fine.