Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkout

In its place, the company will let customers scan while they shop with Amazon Dash Cart

Amazon Fresh store in London
Amazon is removing cashierless checkout from U.S. supermarkets
(Image credit: Leon Neal / Getty Images)

What happened?

Amazon will remove its "Just Walk Out" checkout technology at all U.S. Amazon Fresh grocery stores, a company executive told The Information on Tuesday. "Just Walk Out," which uses cameras, shelf sensors and sometimes offsite workers to tally and charge customers for their groceries, was installed at 27 of the 44 U.S. Amazon Fresh stores.

Who said what?

"We're rolling out Amazon Dash Cart, our smart shopping carts" that let shoppers scan items as they put them in the cart, an Amazon spokesperson said to Gizmodo.

The commentary

When "Just Walk Out" debuted in 2016, it was "Amazon's biggest and boldest innovation in grocery shopping," Gizmodo said. But the "stumbles" and the high costs made Amazon less competitive "with food goliaths like Walmart, Costco and Kroger." Dash Carts are "far simpler, probably less error-prone and almost certainly cheaper" than "Just Walk Out," The Verge said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What next?

Some Amazon Go convenience stores and smaller Amazon Fresh shops in the U.K. will continue using "Just Walk Out," The Wall Street Journal said.

Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.