Hacker News Reader

Comment by jordemort | Hacker News Reader

They have these in my local Walgreens and I hate them. I think the drink coolers were stocked for maybe a week after they were installed. Since then it’s been 50/50 if the product the screen is showing is actually behind the door. I don’t think the store employees are able to keep on top of stocking without being able to see what’s in the case.

View on HN

You've got to put on your homo economicus hat and think outside the box of social norms and common decency. The solution is to find something that's the right size to prop the doors open. Then prop the door of each section that you're comparing, so that you can see products and ponder each one. After you pick something out, pay it forward by leaving the doors propped so the next person has an easier time. For full credit, make sure to wear a mask to defeat the facial recognition cameras.

A wad of chewing gum seems like it would fit nicely where the camera is

There's an angle that the company making these didn't think of. That's exactly the kind of critical use case you miss when you don't do enough testing.

No. It’s bloody obvious.

The answer no doubt was “think of the ads” and “our AI guy (there’s always that one AI guy) is working on a model to help detect low stock”.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly how it went. Sometimes it will show items as out of stock on the screen but it seems to miss about 2/3rds of what's actually depleted when you open the door.

And yeah, the creepy little camera on the top of all of them makes me very pleased to have an excuse to wear a mask inside the store.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com