Identity/biometrics/technology marketing and writing services
The Amazon Fresh store in La Verne only lasted a few years.
The Amazon Fresh in Upland, just opened last May, won’t last that long. Amazon:
“After a careful evaluation of the business and how we can best serve customers, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores, converting various locations into Whole Foods Market stores.”
Not sure how long it will take to decide on the fate of each store, but Whole Foods already has an Upland presence.
I’ve talked at length about the new Amazon Fresh store in Upland, even before it opened. Now that it’s been open for over a half year, I was wondering how others felt about the store.
The average Yelp review, based upon 51 reviews as of December 18, is about a 3.5, which is good. But what’s interesting is the polarity of the reviews, with 28 5-star reviews and 12 1-star reviews.
You can’t please everybody, but some of the 1-star reviews are interesting.
“very, very few employees at this location are incompetent and have no customer service skills. also no manners or decency.”
I think the reviewer meant “competent,” but hey.
“No matter what time of day I go there, there are always workers blocking the isles with large carts. That makes it impossible to shop.”
Again, “aisles.” But the reviewer noted a common complaint: the store appears to prioritize delivery orders over people coming in-store to shop, and multiple reviewers have noted the rudeness of the workers fulfilling delivery orders.
And apparently the rudeness does not coincide with speed.
“The order wasn’t ready for pickup hours after scheduled”
However, this particular review was written just a few days after the store opened, so some hiccups are expected.
And those who love the store LOVE it.
“Nice clean store. Cheap prices. The dash cart is awesome. Very helpful employees.”
And
“The store is clean, spacious, and very easy to navigate. Shopping here is simple and enjoyable. The staff is friendly and ready to help, which made the experience even better.”
So it appears that experiences can vary anywhere. Hopefully this store will last longer than the La Verne one.
Ready to commute from Upland to the Small Business Expo in Pasadena.
I was wandering around my local (Upland, California) Staples on a Saturday afternoon. If I had arrived on a weekday, I could have applied for TSA PreCheck.
(No, I didn’t apply for TSA PreCheck in 2017 when MorphoTrak became part of MorphoTrust (when IDEMIA was formed) and I became eligible for a corporate discount. I didn’t predict a pandemic. Oops.)
Now that IDEMIA is not the only game in town for TSA PreCheck, the competitors are trying to grab market share. Thus the alliance between CLEAR (and IDEMIA) and Staples.
It appears that you start enrollment at the kiosk, and then complete the process with a “Staples Travel Specialist.”
Incidentally, this Staples is in the same shopping center as an IDEMIA IdentoGO location.
I went back to the Upland Amazon Fresh at noon, primarily to see how Amazon incorporates technology into its services.
Amazon Fresh supports the Dash Carts I discussed in a previous post. (The Whole Foods I visited this morning does not.) These let you scan your items as you take them from the shelves, speeding your checkout.
Another device speeds your checkout by weighing your produce before checkout. Looks like you have to manually input the item number, though.
This device appeared to be for returns, but I wasn’t really sure.
As I wandered through the store, I was impressed with the variety of groceries offered.
But I was unable to find one item in Amazon Fresh—something that is readily available at the Dollar Tree next door.
The missing item?
Books.
Remember when Amazon was only a book seller?
Because of the long line at the Upland Amazon Fresh, I didn’t want to wait around to activate my new Amazon One account. So I went to the Whole Foods on the other side of town. Then the fun began.
I had previously designated a payment card to use with Amazon One (Card #1). When I went to check out and provided my palm, I was asked to insert this card.
The reader said there was a problem with this card, so I inserted a different card (Card #2) and the payment processed on that card.
After my purchase I went back to my Amazon One app…which still showed Card #1 as my purchase card.
Not sure what’s going on.
I think I’ve already mentioned that the Amazon Fresh in Upland, California is holding its grand opening in about an hour.
So I figured I should pre-investigate what was necessary to enroll in the Amazon One palm vein system once I arrived at the store.
My first discovery was that Amazon One has its own app, separate from the Amazon app. I don’t know how many apps Amazon has, but if Amazon and Meta ever merge (Amameta?), I will need a separate phone just for its apps.
So I downloaded Amazon One, linked it to my Amazon account, and waited for the instructions on how to enroll my palm at an Amazon location…
…only to find that Amazon One wanted to take pictures of both my palms, right there on my smartphone. Just like any contactless fingerprint app.
So I am now enrolled, and I have confirmed that my local Amazon Fresh accepts Amazon Go.
However, as even non-locals will realize, this is NOT 235 East Foothill, but WEST Foothill. So much for geolocation. (And the location of the Madonna of the Trail statue is wrong also, but I digress.)
Now let’s see if it all works.
So the day approaches, and the Upland Amazon Fresh will hold its grand opening on Thursday, May 1.
Wonder if the bear will show up.
What? You forgot about the bear?
“Yes, that’s an Amazon driver in the foreground, raising his hands to try to scare a bear away so he can make his delivery. He was successful.
“The full Storyful video can be found here. (And of course it’s a Ring video. You didn’t expect a Nest video, did you?)”
I wonder if the bear’s paw will work with the palm vein reader.
By the way, this is a reminder that Bredemarket provides its services to local Inland Empire businesses also. I can offer
If Bredemarket can help your stretched staff, book a free meeting with me: https://bredemarket.com/cpa/
And one more thing…
After I wrote the main body of this post, I realized that I accidentally wrote the Bredemarket trifecta, covering all three of my concentrations:
If you’re concerned about Amazon taking over everything, don’t fear. It will eventually fail.
But until it does, I’m gonna make some money!
Finally.
Oh, and they’re hiring. Sort of.
Work Address: 235 E. Foothill Blvd, Upland, CA, 91786
Pay Rate: $17.80 per hour
Availability Requirements: Shift availability is dependent on operational needs.
Part-time: Shift availability required 3 days per week, including Saturday and Sunday
Flex-time: Must be available 2 weekdays between Monday-Friday and 1 weekend day/evening between Saturday-Sunday. May be scheduled up to 8 hours weekly, with additional shifts offered based on store availability.
Shifts are between 4 a.m. and 12 a.m. and may be up to 8 hours long
Bredemarket