Albertsons Is Sending Robots To Your House With Groceries

Remember when self checkout debuted? To this day I’m still not the biggest fan. I’m lazy to bag my own groceries most of the time. There’s a trained bagger who knows how to stack my items better than I could. For something that’s supposed to make my shopping experience more convenient, it rarely does.

Fast forward to 2021 and advances that actually have made shopping easier. Online ordering, curbside pickup, and delivery for just about anything. All made possible by technology we hold in the palm of our hands.

Now Albertsons is taking things a step further as they test robot carts for grocery delivery. Provided the customer lives within a 3 mile radius of the store, a special remote cart is sent with items right to their door. Once it arrives, the customer will receive a text message and the cart will unlock. Then all the groceries can be unloaded. Simple as that.

For now the bots are doing trial runs for two stores in Northern California. However if all goes well we could see them pop up right here in Idaho considering it’s the birthplace of Albertsons. Seems like the type of thing at least their flagship store would feature. And in the time of Covid-19 I suppose the less contact the better. But the quote "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should" does come to mind.

Is this service really all that necessary when we already have curbside pickup and standard delivery? What if something happens to the cart on the way to its destination? Those robots are expensive. I don't know that I have enough faith in humanity to think these special carts won't be damaged or robbed. It's a no from me.