Here Comes the Full Amazonification of Whole Foods; The New York Times, February 28, 2022

 Cecilia Kang, The New York Times; Here Comes the Full Amazonification of Whole Foods

"The technology, known as Just Walk Out, consists of hundreds of cameras with a god’s-eye view of customers. Sensors are placed under each apple, carton of oatmeal and boule of multigrain bread. Behind the scenes, deep-learning software analyzes the shopping activity to detect patterns and increase the accuracy of its charges.

The technology is comparable to what’s in driverless cars. It identifies when we lift a product from a shelf, freezer or produce bin; automatically itemizes the goods; and charges us when we leave the store. Anyone with an Amazon account, not just Prime members, can shop this way and skip a cash register since the bill shows up in our Amazon account...

Alex Levin, 55, an 18-year resident of Glover Park, said people should not reject the store’s changes.

“We need to understand the benefits and downsides of the technology and use it to our advantage,” he said...

Many were suspicious of the tracking tech.

“It’s like George Orwell’s ‘1984,’” said Allen Hengst, 72, a retired librarian."

The case of the missing Whole Foods yogurt; Philly.com, 3/5/16

William Bender, Philly.com; The case of the missing Whole Foods yogurt:

"The lawsuit, which was consolidated in Austin, hit a snag last month when the judge ruled against the plaintiffs because they had not conducted FDA-compliant testing, which requires samples from 12 cases of yogurt. Whole Foods could face legal ramifications if it destroyed all of the yogurt, making the stringent FDA test impossible.

"We can't do the test because they destroyed the stuff we needed to do the test," Osefchen. "My hope is, they can't get away with that."

Friday's motion accuses Whole Foods of "intentional destruction" of evidence and "knowingly concealing" it for 16 months.

"They knew they had a big mountain of yogurt," the attorney said. "It took hundreds of people to pull it off the shelves. They had to send it somewhere.""