Self-driving Grocery Store

[Laika]

In the future, you won't have to go to the store. The Store will come to you. literally. With no staff, automated doors and using cameras to keep it secure, this is what the "MobyMart" by Wheely's Inc are trying to do. The prototype is currently being tested in Shanghai.

Self-Driving Grocery Stores Are Coming

MobyMart

Welcome to the future people.

Would you use a mobile store like this? Do you think this will catch on?

 

[Kemosloby]

No. I think they'll just run an underground pipe system of pex tubing that can pump a nutrient rich food supply into every home.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

In the future, you won't have to go to the store. The Store will come to you.

Darn. I thought that this was going to be an "In Soviet Russia" joke: "In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, party always finds you"

Would you use a mobile store like this?

I wouldn't be able to. I don't have a smart phone or any type of mobile phone, and am not interested in moving in that direction.

We went the other way when we moved to a less developed country after retirement, and are now enjoying village life. Most of our shopping is done on foot, often visiting several little stores on each foray - one for produce, another for meat, another for paper goods, and another for footwear. We might also stop at the mail service, the nursery, the ATM machine, and the pharmacy on this same walk, and be home in less than an hour.

There is nothing appealing about the vision in that video.

How about you? Is that appealing to you? You're 35 years younger than I am, which is probably a relevant factor.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Makes me think a universal income is only going to be a small bandaid on a huge gashing wound on the issue of employment. Not that I'm against such automation, and it would be great to get people out of such menial and life/soul devouring tasks/jobs, but a post-industrial, post-job society I doubt can function on a jobs-based economy.

 

[Twilight Hue]

In the future, you won't have to go to the store. The Store will come to you. literally. With no staff, automated doors and using cameras to keep it secure, this is what the "MobyMart" by Wheely's Inc are trying to do. The prototype is currently being tested in Shanghai.

Self-Driving Grocery Stores Are Coming

MobyMart

Welcome to the future people.

Would you use a mobile store like this? Do you think this will catch on?

Maybe. But I suspect it will still be cheaper to go to the store yourself.

Given the additional cost of maintaining and operating a fleet, hiring personnel, it sounds pretty expensive.

 

[socharlie]

In the future, you won't have to go to the store. The Store will come to you. literally. With no staff, automated doors and using cameras to keep it secure, this is what the "MobyMart" by Wheely's Inc are trying to do. The prototype is currently being tested in Shanghai.

Self-Driving Grocery Stores Are Coming

MobyMart

Welcome to the future people.

Would you use a mobile store like this? Do you think this will catch on?

perfect Agenda 21 store, for urbanized human living in 200 sg. ft .cubical , no kids and only today's needs.

 

[Father Heathen]

I imagine that the merchandise would be obscenely marked up.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I imagine that the merchandise would be obscenely marked up.

I suppose it will depend on what operating costs will be compared to what labor costs normally are. However, "convenience charges" are becoming notoriously common in various places, so I suspect the initial markup won't be too bad, and the price of delivery may go up some, with a small convenience charge to balance things out for the business while trying to hide the markup.

 

[columbus]

Maybe. But I suspect it will still be cheaper to go to the store yourself.

Given the additional cost of maintaining and operating a fleet, hiring personnel, it sounds pretty expensive.

I imagine that the merchandise would be obscenely marked up.

There's an operation around here called "Peapod". You order groceries by phone or app. Peapod delivers them to your door.
I have several family members who regularly use them. They're a small amount higher than the regular store, but it really is negligible. That's because Peapod isn't supporting the bricks and mortar or a retail staff. Just a high volume warehouse in a cheap part of town and little vans. To my family, the costs of getting to the store and dealing with the kids and such are lots higher than paying an extra $10 on a $150 grocery basket.
Peapod has pretty darned good service too, my sister can ask for 4 ripe bananas and a bunch of greener ones and get it.
Tom

 

[Shadow Wolf]

There's an operation around here called "Peapod". You order groceries by phone or app. Peapod delivers them to your door.
I have several family members who regularly use them. They're a small amount higher than the regular store, but it really is negligible. That's because Peapod isn't supporting the bricks and mortar or a retail staff. Just a high volume warehouse in a cheap part of town and little vans. To my family, the costs of getting to the store and dealing with the kids and such are lots higher than paying an extra $10 on a $150 grocery basket.
Peapod has pretty darned good service too, my sister can ask for 4 ripe bananas and a bunch of greener ones and get it.
Tom

If they deliver to rural addresses, that could save money on gas alone.

 

[ChristineM]

Darn. I thought that this was going to be an "In Soviet Russia" joke: "In America, you can always find a party. In Soviet Russia, party always finds you"



I wouldn't be able to. I don't have a smart phone or any type of mobile phone, and am not interested in moving in that direction.

We went the other way when we moved to a less developed country after retirement, and are now enjoying village life. Most of our shopping is done on foot, often visiting several little stores on each foray - one for produce, another for meat, another for paper goods, and another for footwear. We might also stop at the mail service, the nursery, the ATM machine, and the pharmacy on this same walk, and be home in less than an hour.

There is nothing appealing about the vision in that video.

How about you? Is that appealing to you? You're 35 years younger than I am, which is probably a relevant factor.

Home in less than an hour, our village shopping forays take minutes, (only 1 shop, a post office and a cafe) and an hour or more chatting with the various people we meet.

 

[columbus]

If they deliver to rural addresses, that could save money on gas alone.

To them it's mostly the time. A grocery store 15 minutes away takes over an hour of stress and aggravation, by the time you factor in the kids and everything. That's on a good day.

Or Mom and Dad can just hit boxes on the phone every time they think of something to get until they feel like hitting send, and have the stuff show up while they're playing with the kids late afternoon after work.
My mom used it a lot because she is elderly and grocery stores are huge and draining for her. She could drive, but hated to. Peapod helped her a lot to stay independent in her home alone.
Tom