Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it&#x27;s last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there&#x27;s no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It&#x27;s better for the consumer they claim.<p>Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a touch screen along the side. A few hours later it arrives. Setting it up was almost as easy as your old one. Plug it in, enter your wi-fi password, and a credit card to start your free pro trial of the monthly subscription service that tweets at you when the toast is done. It says you can cancel at anytime but it requires a 5 day waiting period. It also requires access to your contacts.<p>Tired and just wanting your toast you agree. You insert two slices of white bread and press the big red GO button on the touch screen. An electrical motor whines from inside the toaster at it begins to retract the toast into itself. There&#x27;s a few seconds of silence as the toaster slowly heat ups. While awkwardly standing there you notice the touch screen flickers and begins to display a buffering icon. An ad for I Can&#x27;t Believe it&#x27;s Not Butter begins to play. To make matters worse you can&#x27;t even ignore it by looking away due to a small tinny sounding speaker playing the company&#x27;s jingle.<p>This is your new morning routine.<p>Welcome to the future.

I do not blame cooler screen for selling this technology to anyone. But I want everyone to consider how much it takes to bring about a technology like this to a grocery store.<p>If this is any of the big chain groceries, the manager doesn&#x27;t even have the authority to put a sticker on the glass door. This was vetted by hundreds of people and none of them thought... glass?<p>Business class tickets were purchased, hotels were booked, months of back and forth, daily meetings. Hundreds of thousands were spent on pilot programs like this one. Still no one thought... glass?<p>In my opinion, it&#x27;s a silly idea. But I applaud the person who had this silly idea, built a company around it, got deals with screens, door, glass, and cameras manufacturing companies, and then convinced a grocery chain to buy this for their store.<p>I would really, really love to have been in that sales pitch meeting.<p>Edit: What bothers me the most about this, is that it will actually work. Any surface where eyes may fall on, will be replaced with an ad.

Everyone here who’s worked for some moderately large corporation knows exactly why this was done: it’s a flashy pet project for some “labs” team in an otherwise boring retailer and <i>maybe</i> they’ll recoup some of the cost in ads, minus whatever they lose for it being an awful idea. Some charismatic product manager sold it to execs as “being the future of connected retail” or some other BS. In a few months they’ll be removed because it’s a stupid idea.<p>When the company that made these was analyzing their market, I have no doubt they were targeting this exact scenario knowing that even the stupidest products have a place to make a boring brick and mortar retailer think they’re doing technology.

A boring dystopia indeed.<p>One day someone will be hunched over on a sidewalk, dying of thirst, and a patrolling Nestle®-branded drone senses (using state-of-the-art machine learning &quot;customer needs&quot; technology) his predicament. The drone hovers there projecting a holo-ad about Nestles hot product &quot;Nectar of Life&quot; which is just water from the region&#x27;s last remaining aquifer cut with brackish water from the coast. The ad ends with a map to the nearest vending machine and buzzes off for it&#x27;s next engagement. The man, too weak to move, just sits there, nothing he can do except wait for another ad drone to come by.

In the &#x27;90s I was in a technology based art class at CMU. An artist talked about a project they wanted to do: a music streamer, but it would use GPS to know it&#x27;s location, and play music from the local culture, to keep you connected to your surroundings.<p>Another student said: &quot;You mean, a radio?&quot;

This is obviously a comically idiotic idea, but ... hmm ...<p>If someone had taken this and put it in a museum as an art installation, I would love it. Thinking about it like that ... it tickles something in my brain. Using those absolutely huge, gorgeous screens, using our most sophisticated technology ... just to display a flat, bland, skeuomorphic representation of a completely mundane part of the human experience: the convenience store fridge section. I dunno, I&#x27;m finding it hard to describe what I feel thinking about this as a piece of &quot;art&quot;. It would definitely make quite the statement. The size and scale of it is what takes it to another level.<p>But yeah, instead this is reality...

I hope that these things don&#x27;t periodically switch from showing the actual products &amp; prices to showing a full-screen ad for something. A movie theater near me does that with their screen-based menus. Very annoying to be trying to decide what you want and suddenly have the menu vanish.<p>It&#x27;s a bit sad to think how wasteful these are. Not just the waste produced by producing the screens and powering them all day, but the fact that you can&#x27;t reliably see what&#x27;s in there by looking means people will just learn to open it and browse with the door open, letting the cold air out.<p>Edit: Also, does anyone know what the cameras are for, if not facial recognition or CCTV? I&#x27;m guessing it&#x27;s eye tracking for market research. I suppose that could be anonymized and aggregated on-device in a privacy-preserving way, but you&#x27;d have to take their word for it.

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&#x2F;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.

Brick &amp; mortar retail is trying its very hardest to kill itself.<p>The bigger a tremendous fucking hassle it is to go to the store instead of ordering online, the fewer people are going to come in.<p><i>Supermarket window</i>: &quot;we now use anti-shoplifting face and license plate tracking&quot; [e.g. auror.co ]<p><i>Supermarket aisle</i>: can&#x27;t see any products, have to open every door to look at actual products instead of TV ads<p><i>Supermarket aisle</i>: e-ink price labels; can no longer flip up to see how much the thing cost before it was on &quot;sale&quot;.<p><i>Supermarket aisle</i>: e-ink label is down, no idea how much product costs<p><i>Supermarket checkout</i>: <i>always scans shit at the wrong price</i><p>Plus we&#x27;ve got <i>covid, drive time, smaller selection, unknown stock levels</i> [sold out].<p>Any old man could tell you giving a shit about your customers&#x27; experience is going to benefit you in the long run. But no. It&#x27;ll be too late by the time they realize what they&#x27;ve done.

Seriously though, how does someone even come up with something this dumb? How does one go about thinking of and actually implementing this? How did the development process go through without someone interjecting &quot;why the fuck are we spending $1000s on 6ft LEDs when we can just use glass?&quot;

Everyone&#x27;s complaining about ads. But just like on the web, ads aren&#x27;t the problem, tracking is.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;RunDaltonRun&#x2F;status&#x2F;1408578486046887939" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;RunDaltonRun&#x2F;status&#x2F;1408578486046887939</a><p>This thing is for tracking what you look at, and is supposed to help the store figure out how to &quot;optimize&quot; their shelf.

I thought the idea was that these would allow more insulation in the doors than glass, and that the energy use from the screen was less than the energy saved from cooling losses (but what is the payback from the manufacturing, shipping, install, recycling, repair etc?). I&#x27;m skeptical, but it is conceivably possible that it works out if the screens are very efficient, using off the shelf parts. Maybe.

This is so exciting. I have to say, as soon as this pandemic is over, the first thing I&#x27;m going to do is attend a brand activation campaign or event and just... witness a brand generate awareness and build lasting connections with its target audience.

I think part of the reasoning behind this is also that people are less likely to buy from a half-empty shelf. That&#x27;s why markets put so much effort into constant restocking.<p>This way, the shelf can always look full while needing less restocking.

I’m lost in these comments. It’s been years that opaque vending machines representing pictures of the content at eye level are out in the world [0] and there’s so many people reacting as if that is the rubicon that should never be crossed.<p>I’m not in favor of more animated shinny ads shoved into our eyeballs, but we already had the screens everywhere and there already seemed to be no way to go back without town regulation.<p>If having them in front of a vending machine makes people go berserk, it might be a good thing, but it still blows my mind it’s the straw that would break the camel’s back.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pinterest.jp&#x2F;pin&#x2F;177821885259694953&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pinterest.jp&#x2F;pin&#x2F;177821885259694953&#x2F;</a>

My gas station has installed video on the pumps and while pumping, I must listen to whatever dreck is being sold. It irritates me that I have no choice but to listen.<p>Is there anyone, anywhere, who believes this is helping consumers make their choices?<p>I fully expect an updated movie script where some lunatic sticks his head out the window at 2am and shouts, &quot;I&#x27;m mad as hell and I don&#x27;t want to listen to it anymore.&quot;

Whenever I see these I just open the door and let all the cold air out while I look and encourage anyone I&#x27;m with to do the same. The prices are still on the inside so we just comparison shop with the door open. Eventually they will realize they&#x27;re losing money through cooling cost and replace these monstrosities.

Its pretty stupid with sports drinks, but I could see this being perhaps practical in a frozen food aisle. I often open the freezer, take out a product to read its nutritional facts, then put it back. I guess now I could just tap?

And I thought with Juicero we had reached peak stupid…

Just wait until the door can recognize your face. After you buy some milk, the screen will recommend you go down to isle 4 and grab some cereal and get 50cents off, only valid during that store visit.<p>^^^ the real play

I bought a Nintendo switch recently. The amount of crap I needed to go through to just okay a game. I spent 2 hours, wasted about $50 on games (there is no refund).<p>In frustration I gave up.<p>In the name of ads and growth, it’s crazy how user-hostile many interfaces are.<p>Glass is a great interface. TVs ain’t.

This concept could actually be nice to present a pretty interface for products wrapped in plain, cheap packages (or no packages at all and served to customers in reusable containers).

Solutions always breed more problems. The trick is to have a solution that, on balance, solves a more costly problem than it creates. These doors do not feel like they solve <i>any</i> customer problems (I have never needed an electronic UI to see through glass) and instead give birth to a huge maintenance burden that the retailer will not be willing to meet.

back of TVs get pretty hot. though it could be an effective death trap. Imagine a girl, life size, with a heavenly voice beckoning you to go inside. Mesmerized by her mermaid like appearance, you can&#x27;t help but step inside, the door locks, and then ...

These look like they&#x27;d be fun to break.

Imagine stocking this and having to make sure the products inside even sort of line up with the view from the aisle. You’d either need to open and close the damn thing 20 times to check your work, or you’d need to update the listings every time your inventory shifted. There’s probably one person in the entire store that knows how to update the displays.<p>Don’t we ask retail workers to do enough already? They’ve just dealt with a pandemic for Christ’s sake.

Serious question. Where can I get a brand new dumb TV?

Am I alone in thinking that maybe this is a good idea?<p>When someone opens the door in one of those cabinets, glass doors always cloud up. Then I have to wait and wait for it to be clear again, and in the meantime, some other customer will often come by, open the door, and grab something, and I have to wait all over again for it to defog.<p>I do see a lot of opportunity for abuse, but I also see a lot of potential.

Here&#x27;s a thought experiment. Imagine those screens weren&#x27;t on the coolers themselves, but on a wall nearby. And coolers were just coolers, let&#x27;s say horizontal ones with frozen stuff you can&#x27;t clearly see at a glance. How much more do you like it this way and why? What&#x27;s the difference? There&#x27;s still a camera and it probably records you.

How is this any better than looking at the real product on the shelves? I mean, why did the shop want to pay for it?

Off topic but I see one of the cases advertising &quot;organic seltzer&quot;. WTF is organic seltzer?!

&quot;how can we find ways to make our society even less energy efficient for no benefit to any quality of life except making some company some money. You know, like usual, but let&#x27;s make it even more on the nose.&quot;

I can see a future where every seven eleven has surge pricing. Black mirror Indeed.

In addition to ads, this will also be used for companies to monopolize shelf space

I remember seeing this Cooler Screens startup idea a while back and thinking &quot;this is terrible, I hope it never catches on&quot;. The facial recognition marketing alone is like a dystopia.

Pretty obnoxious, but to be honest I&#x27;ll just stand there like a dingus with the door open staring inside anyway like I already do with the glass doors.

Is there any benefit to using these? I imagine that <i>maybe</i> it could save power by keeping light out and uaing better insulation... but I have no idea.

This is similar to how buses and trains in many cities replaced windows with ads. Completely ruined the experience of riding public transit.

In the future houses or apartments with smart screens and ads will be cheaper than houses with premium see through windows.

I think I&#x27;d be fine with this if the image were from cameras inside the cooler, displaying the product in realtime.

This makes life seem more like a video game.

Companies that are technology ‘fashionistas’ will spend lots on stuff like this but ultimately will not see a return.

I hate this so much i have no words for why this is a thing, people putting resources into this should be ashamed.

What is the environmental cost of such useless technology (production, maintenance, end of life,...)?

this would annoying obviously but it would be extra annoying if an item was sold out but didnt display that. now you have the door open and you need to close and open it repeatedly to reference the price on the front of the door with what you are looking at inside

I guess I&#x27;ll keep wearing my masks, and maybe add sunglasses as well.

Does it say where this is? I didn’t see it, but might have missed it.

Nothing is worse than looking at a menu and it rotates to an ad.

What an absolute useless waste of energy ! ...

Hopefully the prices are at least up-to-date. I oftent skip buying items if their prices aren&#x27;t listed.

Minority report.

In between the two times this image was circulated, I visited a store and watched as a pair of people opened a glass door, held a long conversation, the closed that now totally frosted&#x2F;condensed door which was now impossible to see anything through.

Speaking of see-through.<p>Has anyone ever seen two-way glass that allows bidirectional observation within proximity of it&#x27;s surface but diminishes with distance of either observer or view-field depth?<p>It was used in a pair of bathrooms (men&#x27;s and women&#x27;s) for the washbasin &quot;mirror&quot; at a restaurant or nightclub on or near 6th Street ATX about 2004. It allowed washroom patrons to see each other in the other bathroom, but not past a certain distance within each bathroom and didn&#x27;t work if the viewer were far away.

There&#x27;s way too much cynicism here and a lack of insight as to how consumer retail works.<p>&#x27;Privacy invasion&#x27; aside there&#x27;s a lot of obvious benefits to this.<p>1) Impactful Displays - this will increase sales. In your local coffee shop, going from the static nice pictures, to &#x27;active displays&#x27; unambiguously generates more attention.<p>It&#x27;s a little bit like having &#x27;nice photo&#x27; menus vs &#x27;empty menus&#x27; for regular dining. Obviously a nice restaurant doesn&#x27;t want that - but for everything else, it helps turnover.<p>2) They can make the &#x27;presentation layer&#x27; spiffy without having to worry abut what&#x27;s underneath. A lot of effort goes into making sure everything looks &#x27;right&#x27; on the shelf. Any kind of disorderly shelf gives customers a bad impression.<p>3) Easy pricing changes. My local &#x27;Drug Mart&#x27; they have the &#x27;pricing girl&#x27; constantly changing tags. I literally recognize the woman. With the prices on a display, it makes it much easier to manage.<p>4) Creative possibilities: beyond just displaying &#x27;what&#x27;s inside&#x27; there will be other opportunities. Possibly more detailed product information.<p>My biggest concern would be frankly the size of those screens and their cost and maintenance - and would the added benefits work out in the metrics. For 3 mid-sized screens at your coffee shop - yes. But for 10-20 large screens (that move, and could be broken) in the back of your grocery store, maybe not.<p>This is definitely a worthwhile retail experiment.<p>I suggest we may be seeing a lot more of this in the future.<p>Maybe not, but it&#x27;s entirely possible.