Walmart Just Filed for a Weird Patent. Shopping Carts May Never Be the Same

[nir]

Touch the shopping cart handle only if you dare.

 

Walmart has plenty of haters. But for many consumers, Walmart's prices just can't be beat. You can't afford to be choosey when you're on a tight budget.

 

If price is not so much of a concern for you, what if you discovered that Walmart wants your personal data? And not just data about your shopping behavior, which we already give hand-over-fist to Amazon in the name of fast shipping.

 

Walmart is interested in what's going on in your body while you shop.

 

The want to collect this data is a particularly creepy way: through the handles of their shopping carts. The company recently submitted a patent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office called System And Method For A Biometric Feedback Cart Handle, CBInsights reports.

 

These innovative shopping cart handles would collect your biometric data, meaning your stress level, your body temperature, and heart rate -- all while you're strolling through the aisles of your local store, filling your cart with Walmart's everyday low-priced items.

 

Putting positive spin on data collection

 

Walmart is wisely putting a positive spin on why they want to collect shoppers' biometric data.

 

Say someone was unwell while shopping in one of their stores. Their pulse becomes erratic or their temperature drastically changes. The shopping cart handle would transmit this info real-time to a server, which would then notify a Walmart associate to go check on the person.

 

That sounds awfully altruistic for Walmart. It's probably not the only reason America's largest retailer wants to collect information about what's happening inside the minds and bodies of consumers while they shop.

 

How Walmart could spin this to their benefit

 

Internet retailers already excel at targeting us for products they know we want to buy based on our online shopping behavior. It's not so easy to gather data about your preferences while you shop in brick and mortar stores.

 

But what if Walmart could see if your heart rate increases when you pass a new display? What if they could see it drops when you walk by another? This technology would essentially monitor how customers are feeling while they shop. Walmart could then use that data to optimize the design of their stores for ultimate feel-good vibes. Or to entice people to stay in their stores for a few minutes longer, which is the tried-and-true way to get people to spend more.

 

Though the creepy shopping cart handle doesn't exist yet, it's not hard to imagine it quickly coming to fruition if the patent is approved. Similar technology already exists on treadmills, which have sensors in handles that can gather your heart rate.

 

The technology itself isn't inherently bad. Intent matters. Even when the purpose of certain technologies is good, bad actors can still use it for not-so-good purposes. Is Walmart a good actor or bad actor? Up for you to decide.

 

Source

 

[dMog]

scary stuff...they can do this... but pay their employees crap and treat them just as bad as they pay them

[steven36]

44 minutes ago, dMog said:

scary stuff...they can do this... but pay their employees crap and treat them just as bad as they pay them

Walmarts  minimum wage is $11 dollars  and hour in states were  Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour  and pay more than that  in states were have higher minimum wage than $11 dollars. The average pay for full-time workers is $13 an hour.  You think Walmart pays bad  you should live in a Federal minimum wage state and work in fast food , Temp jobs. etc. Fast Food is fighting for $15  and soon automation will take those jobs

 

America's fast-food chains are contemplating replacing minimum wage workers with robots — and it could lead to a crisis

https://www.businessinsider.com/minimum-wage-increases-spur-fast-food-chains-to-consider-automation-2018-1

[lurch234]

10 hours ago, steven36 said:

America's fast-food chains are contemplating replacing minimum wage workers with robots — and it could lead to a crisis

 

I wonder. Automation is far from cheap. And should you be a giant or a small fry (pun intended) in the fast food business, it will cost a pretty penny to upgrade all your stores or just your lowly corner shack. It always comes down to numbers at the end, anyways. So we'll see

[steven36]

3 hours ago, lurch234 said:

 

I wonder. Automation is far from cheap. And should you be a giant or a small fry (pun intended) in the fast food business, it will cost a pretty penny to upgrade all your stores or just your lowly corner shack. It always comes down to numbers at the end, anyways. So we'll see

if they cant afford automation they sure can't afford to pay workers  a high wage  in many restaurants waitress make less than minimum wage because they count tips as part of your take home pay .

 

$11 is a high  minimum wage in the  USA for a company that don't have to pay it in all 50 sates, only the state of   Washington and  D.C. pays over that so far. some more states will pass it in a year or two.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx#Table

 

Thing about state passed laws if the economy goes bad, they can always change it back to $7.25 because by Federal law that's all they are required to pay.  Pay scale being different  at a state level is something new it just started  in the 21st century they use to leave up to the company and it's really not been tested and we don't know what effects it will have in the long term .

 

Also  there has always been a problem with some businesses that pay illegal  immigrants  under the table cash, less than minimum wage. You see this a lot were they grow crops and construction work.

 

Automation is nothing new its been taking jobs since the 1990s , corn  is harvested now by automation.. Automation took my moms job at the mill back in the 90s she had to go back to school  now she has a much better job.

[flash48]

When people find out about this, they will either pull the cart from the front or push the cart with gloves on, or perhaps wrap the handle with an old towel.

[tivstip]

they will raise prices to products and if no one will be stresses then is ok :))

when they are stresses its sign something must me done 👿