What is the most common employment in the United States?

Supermarket cashier, followed by waiter.

With such a premise, if you visit downtown Seattle, you must do two things: go to the first store in the Starbucks coffee chain, and visit the first Amazon Go store , that is, Jeff's company project Bezos of having commercial establishments where you don't need to pay, because an app charges you when you go out the door .

Actually ... no . It is a bit more complicated than that. After visiting the store, one leaves with the impression that the cashiers of the supermarkets still have a few years of existence . Suddenly, the first Amazon Go is ridiculously small , and yet, this chronicler saw three employees .

One of them seemed to have the main activity of answering customer questions . A second was by legal books next to the shelves in which alcohol is sold, to ask for an identification document to anyone who could remotely appear under the age of 21 , which is the minimum legal age to buy drinks in the United States. Finally, the third employee simply filled the shelves.

The thing is that in any store or supermarket of that size and with those products - in the Amazon Go there was nothing fresh , and everything was canned or precooked - one only normally meets an employee. At most, two. Come on, at least that's the situation in the 7-Eleven under my house.

So one, when he goes to the Amazon Go store in an American tourist plan that goes to a flamenco tablao, is left with the existential doubt of whether that is real or if it is only a tourist trick . At least, yes, they are not getting a blast for guiri , but three employees in a store that does not need to be charged? Is this efficiency or is it marketing?

Apart from the surprise at the size of the staff of the premises, there are another couple of details. One is that to buy you have to download the Amazon Go app . That applies even to customers who have the Amazon Prime app, which is the Amazon service under which a fee (monthly or annual) is paid in exchange for a number of advantages in the delivery of purchases, in addition to streaming of movies and videos and cloud storage service.

The result is that, as one does not walk carefully, it ends with three or four years of Amazon (kindle, Amazon Go, Amazon Prime, Amazon) without realizing it. It is a strange policy in a company that, like virtually all Internet giants, focuses its business model on the idea of ​​making things simple for the customer .

And finally there is the charge . It takes hours. Or it took me hours. Again, it is a surprise, especially if one takes into account that what is supposed to be earned in this store without employees is in rapidity.

All of which raises a question: if there were Amazon Go in Washington, would you use it?

Well, probably ... yes . The store is perfect to enter, grab something that eats quickly (for example, sushi) and take it to zampársela in front of the computer while finishing a chronicle for the section of Economy on how the vigor of private consumption questions the idea that the US will go to go into recession What is not so clear is that it is a business for Amazon. Of course, to bet against Jeff Bezos is to risk losing, so you better not do it .

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