It seems like it would be far less controversial if they took the cute machine learning tech and ran a b2b company that helped existing mom-and-pop stores service their communities.
Yes but how would we get to witness an epic flop when two overpaid children of privilege who only heard about bodega cats from @bodegacatsofinstagram get smacked in a face by realities of bodegas?
No cat, no bags of ice, no limes, no beer and no deli sandwiches - calling this vending machine "Bodega" when it doesn't have the staples of a bodega is offensive to my new york sensibilities.
This would be a vending machine if it was able to gate people from taking things they didn't pay for. This is just a cabinet. What stops people from completely clearing this thing out, without paying for anything?
"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."
Bound to a credit card, so you have a name. Maybe even 20$ min charge, of which 10$ are profit. So if 80$ stuff gets stole you have 70$ loss and a you can file criminal charge.
It's honestly impressive how tech people continue to exhibit a complete lack of social awareness. This is a product no one asked for (NYers actually enjoy bodegas as they are), and the PR seems to be blatantly pro-gentrification (i.e. getting rid of one of the few viable business opportunities for lower-class immigrants is spun as a good thing).
If that's true, they'll fail. What I worry about in regards to businesses like this is cream-skimming.
For example: these bodega guys sell the most popular items at higher margin; those items drove additional foot traffic into the bodega who then bought the next tier of items. Or someone needed the next tier and picked up the more impulse items while there. Once the cream has been skimmed, the economic model of the bodega is no longer available, so the shops vanish, which inconveniences everyone.
This is the Uber model too: pick off the wealthier passengers, leave the dregs to taxis who are required by law to pick everyone up.
This model has destroyed dry cleaners in SF; as a bonus the dry cleaning startup failed as well, but by that time the damage was done.
It's capitalism, sure, and in case you're wondering I'm not advocating for regulation to prevent innovation. But personally I try to avoid these cream-skimming businesses even though I am in the "cream" demographic.
> It's capitalism, sure, and in case you're wondering I'm not advocating for regulation to prevent innovation.
Capitalism doesn't require regulation to prevent innovation. It requires regulation to prevent exactly this from happening: Large anomalous but short-lived ventures killing small-scale existing markets.
This is such a stupid idea. These "pantry boxes" aren't going to replace bodegas. Who's going to restock them? And how soon? They literally just do not have the physical capacity to scale. Also: no beer, no tobacco products, no coffee, no ice cream, no hot food - basically the things that people go to bodegas for (but they have Lacroix!)... Not to mention some of the clerks are pretty friendly, at least in my area.
These people should study Japanese convenience stores. I doubt anyone can improve much on the fundamentals of that business model. I visit the local conbini every night, and it serves as my bank, post office, and of course source of snacks.
I saw a tv show about how the managers of each conbini uses a sophisticated app that aggregates inputs like weather and sales trends to anticipate demand for each product and help order and deal with logistics. Every cash register has a set of age bracket buttons, so that can track age demographic even for cash sales.
The original breakthrough of 7-11 when it first franchised in Japan was to use the stores as a distributed warehouse where almost all inventory is for sale almost all the time. Since then, they’ve been chipping away at refinements and there’s plenty of competition, not to mention jobs for immigrants, etc.
I read somewhere that the average person in Japan spends around US$6.00 per day at a conbini. Even with all the costs, that’s a pretty healthy revenue stream.
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[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 49.3 ms ] threadSorry, a high school friend's family owned a bodega in Bushwick before it was "gentrified." That's the main thing I remember about their business.
From the second paragraph of the article.
* Fake account via throw away mail service * Block camera lens to blind computer vision with gum * Steal all the things
And if you have a stolen credit card, do you use it for 70$ worth of chips and nail-polish? I'd think there as more to get in any normal store.
For example: these bodega guys sell the most popular items at higher margin; those items drove additional foot traffic into the bodega who then bought the next tier of items. Or someone needed the next tier and picked up the more impulse items while there. Once the cream has been skimmed, the economic model of the bodega is no longer available, so the shops vanish, which inconveniences everyone.
This is the Uber model too: pick off the wealthier passengers, leave the dregs to taxis who are required by law to pick everyone up.
This model has destroyed dry cleaners in SF; as a bonus the dry cleaning startup failed as well, but by that time the damage was done.
It's capitalism, sure, and in case you're wondering I'm not advocating for regulation to prevent innovation. But personally I try to avoid these cream-skimming businesses even though I am in the "cream" demographic.
Capitalism doesn't require regulation to prevent innovation. It requires regulation to prevent exactly this from happening: Large anomalous but short-lived ventures killing small-scale existing markets.
I saw a tv show about how the managers of each conbini uses a sophisticated app that aggregates inputs like weather and sales trends to anticipate demand for each product and help order and deal with logistics. Every cash register has a set of age bracket buttons, so that can track age demographic even for cash sales.
The original breakthrough of 7-11 when it first franchised in Japan was to use the stores as a distributed warehouse where almost all inventory is for sale almost all the time. Since then, they’ve been chipping away at refinements and there’s plenty of competition, not to mention jobs for immigrants, etc.
I read somewhere that the average person in Japan spends around US$6.00 per day at a conbini. Even with all the costs, that’s a pretty healthy revenue stream.
Mini-bars are at least attached to your name and credit card for the duration of your stay.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/11/13/bus_391181.s...