Convenient stores are well, convenient. They’re great for travel, especially in airports, or subways, and usually, have cute little novelty things that you can buy to cherish that sentimental time at the said airport or subway station. It’s also been a hot minute since it had a more modern change. They weren’t the worst things in the world, but they could use a little love. Now we’ve talked a lot about futuristic things, but I like how we’re pushing away from making ginormous phone adapters on wheels to stuff like this that needs it a bit more pizzazz. You also already shop here too, just online of course. Introducing the one, the only Amazon Go!

Amazon Go is a convenient store that plans on having machinery that you would not find in any other store (I thought this would be some sort of supercenter like Walmart but oh well).  They only allow people in that have the Amazon smartphone app. Talk about prestigious I guess… They also plan on having it in Seattle’s subway system, which also makes it underwhelming. I thought this would be the thing that runs Walmart out of business but no. I guess dreams can’t come true. It’s set up like a convenience store that sells its usual snacks, beverages, and fun for people to enjoy.

The catch about this store is, there are NO cashiers. Then how do they pay? How do they stop shoplifters? What is this mutiny?  You probably aren’t even asking this questions, but I’m going to tell you the answers anyway. They have little gates that you go through once you enter the store. Those gates are basically your check-out. You just walk through them once you’re done shopping, and they’ll charge it from your Amazon account. You don’t even need to stop and pull your credit card out. You have to go through the same gate you did when you entered the store, and of course you need an Amazon account.

They don’t even have carts. Since there’s no point for having them, they have a shopping bag where you would put your purchases in. If you take an item off a shelf, then that item is put into your virtual shopping cart, and if you put that item back on the shelf then it’s removed from that virtual cart; simple, and cool. They have cameras on the shelves, computers to help track and automate the systems, and a certain skill of computer vision and understanding to help make all this possible. Who needs micro-chips anymore; not them. They still have workers, like people who restock shelves, customer service personnel and technicians. Considering that Amazon Go can jeopardize jobs around the U.S, it’s better to have some human jobs rather than automate an entire store. People say it is similar to shoplifting; it is not. What would it feel like to shoplift without actually doing it.

I do not know if or when it will start diffusing to other parts of the U.S. What I know is that Amazon is shaping the way we buy chips, and alcoholic beverages without having to deal with the pesky cashiers and nasty check-out lines. You choose not to get a better education, then don’t get mad at me when I have more than 25 items at a check-out. All is love for Amazon and their nation-sweeping convenient store.