UPDATED: Amazon Go: A New Day for the American Consumer, or the Last Days of the American Retail Worker?

Updated: 1/22/18

As of Monday, January 22, 2018, the flagship Amazon Go store has publicly launched. A little over a year after Amazon began beta-testing the Seattle brick-and-mortar location with its employees, it is now opening its doors to costumers. Only time will tell if the store – which uses a range of new technology, including motion sensing and digital tagging to replace checkout lines and cashiers – will be a success, but given the time and money that Amazon has invested in it, it seems likely that this will be a one-and-done experiment.

Jaws dropped, eyebrows arched, and many a retail worker’s forehead began to sweat earlier this week, as shipping giant Amazon announced the opening of their first brick-and-mortar store, Amazon Go. This retail venture promises to streamline the personal shopping experience by doing away with the cashier transaction portion of it. For as much potential as there is for Amazon Go to streamline and optimize the retail industry on behalf of the consumer—who can say goodbye to long checkout lines and the lengthy scan-and-pay processes—it carries an equal amount of potential to completely disrupt that sector, as those employed in retail worry that their jobs may soon be lost to automation.

It is hard to overstate just how revolutionary the concept of Amazon Go is. Through a combination of machine learning, sensor fusion, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, customers will be digitally tagged upon entering the store and have their accounts charged for the items they’ve selected shortly after leaving with them. Motion sensors would catalogue those items as they are removed from shelves. (Lest this all sound too much like a giant, high-end version of a hotel minibar, the video introduction that Amazon Go debuted this past week promises a hassle-free experience which allows customers to simply place an item back on a shelf without being charged for it, should they change their mind about a purchase before exiting.) The process completely does away with the need to wait in lines at the register. It also, by necessity, does away with the need for people to work behind those registers.

Amazon is beta testing the first such model in Seattle, which is currently open members of the company. It will open to the public early in 2017. If the store proves successful—both logistically and financially—the company will look to open up similar locations throughout the country in the coming years (although they were quick to deny rumors that they were ready to move on 2,000 such franchises in the near future).

To many, this is the other shoe that they’ve been waiting to drop. As mobile technology continues to advance in lockstep with consumer expectations for increased service optimization, it was only a matter of time until jobs which have generally been considered low-skilled would become increasingly automated. More so that trade agreements or outsourcing, America’s manufacturing sector has been ravaged by this advancement in technology. As a result, we find ourselves in what many consider to be a ‘service economy’, and should those jobs in the larger service industry be lost to further automation, there will be no ready answer as to where this latest round of displaced workers will turn to next.

These concerns are by no means limited to the retail and service sectors. Self-driving cars have put professions in the field transportation on high alert as of late. Amazon Go is the largest example of advancement in this field yet, and it has the potential to be far more wide-reaching in terms of how it effects the everyday transactions of people in their communities. And therein lies a possible glimmer of hope for those worried about what Amazon Go could mean for their livelihood. While the changes it represents are irrefutably on the horizon, they are not necessarily around the corner. For one thing, although the promotional material for Amazon Go hinted at an experience of total electronic automation, those stores will not be completely without any human operational element. Indeed, the cashier position may be the only one that finds itself obsolete, as the store will still require actual humans to manage it. Siri will be unable to handle all of a customer’s concerns and questions, and no amount of security technology can replace the need for human personnel (especially as the transaction-free business model inherent to Amazon Go carries with it the potential for new forms of theft). And while robots may one day be able to clean up messes in aisles, stock shelves, and count inventory, at current time their ability to take those duties from human beings is neither technologically possible nor financially feasible.

There is, as of yet, no telling whether Amazon Go—with its selection currently limited to on-the-go meal packages and basic necessities—is capable of competing with the local grocer or corner convenience store, to say nothing of the major supermarket chains. Giant leaps in technology can often fall flat due to the inability or unwillingness of the larger populace to adapt to them and integrate them into their daily lives (look no further than Google Glass). Amazon Go may end up being nothing more than a quirky little Seattle tourist spot and hip techie hangout.

However, at the risk of sounding alarmist, no one should count on that scenario playing out, nor should they ignore the potential fallout from the opposite occurring. If the retail sector is destined for automation, this is certainly what the start of that transition would look like. Should Amazon Go prove to have legs, those in retail should start educating themselves now on how to best integrate their skills with automation technology, lest they find themselves as obsolete as actual cash registers.