Mike Segar/Reuters
Amazon and Starbucks are teaming up. Combination Starbucks Pick Up and Amazon Go stores are popping up across New York City. The idea is to walk in, grab your coffee, a book, and whatever other convenience item you like, and simply walk out. No payment necessary.
Of course, you do pay. It’s just that in this sci-fi scenario, you get “frictionless checkout”: it happens on your phone and you never even push a button. You “just walk out,” the name of the technology Amazon patented to make these stores possible.
There’s a hidden price you pay, too: Amazon takes a biometric picture of your skeleton or your palm in order to identify you with your account, so it knows whom to charge. Amazon and Starbucks say these stores will reduce lines, increase convenience, and help people move through their days quickly. But they will do much more than that, and it’s not good.