Two former google employees want to make the neighborhood bodega obsolete

[inanna]

September 13 at 1:31 PM

Bodega, an ‘unmanned pantry box,’ has already become America’s most hated start-up

...

What the hell is an “unmanned pantry box?” IT’S A HIGHFALUTIN’ VENDING MACHINE. Congratulations, you just tricked people into giving you millions in venture capital for a vending machine. At best, this is a new Juicero — a product that sounds great on paper, but is completely unnecessary in real life, because a better or easier version of it already exists.

<snip>

To think that this box of tampons and Cheez-It can replace a bodega is a fundamental misunderstanding of what a bodega is. Bodegas serve fresh egg sandwiches! They’re places where the community can interact! They’re woven into the fabric of cities, and only someone who has never really spent time in one would aim to eliminate them with a midcentury modern-looking glass case.

<snip>

Why are these entrepreneurs so eager to make obsolete a business that is one of the best ways for recent immigrants to this country to build a life and provide for their families? It’s ignorant at best, and chillingly heartless at worst. Bodegas aren’t a problem to be solved — they’re a life vest for people who may have come to this country with nothing. They’re the American Dream.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2017/09/13/bodega-an-unmanned-pantry-box-has-already-become-americas-most-hated-start-up/?utm_term=.5c4c800163c9

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. This is such straight-up white bullshit. Call it what it is: a fucking vending machine.

It's not disruptive. It's not even particularly useful. It's not solving a problem and the fact that it already has millions in funding is a great example of why capitalism is broken.

[MrScorpio]

4. Bingo!

This gentrification bullshit is way out of hand.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. A fucking vending machine isn't going to keep an eye out for your abuela when you're on a work trip.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. To actively target real-life bodegas by calling a vending machine a bodega is so fucking tone-deaf

and clueless I'm mad I have to get mad about it.

[LisaM]

5. I like the person who coined it as a Bro-dega.

A bit closer to what they really are.

[Renew Deal]

6. Setting aside the emotions about immigrants

I don't think the idea makes a lot of sense. The effort required to run the fancy vending machines is comparable to what it takes to run the bodega. And the bodega aka deli is pretty efficient. They won't be able to replicate the quality of the food amongst other things.

[mopinko]

7. an app? you need an app?

dudes, the whole point of a bodega is that they speak your language and they cash your paycheck. you gonna do that w your app? come on.

[GeorgeGist]

8. F A I L

[gratuitous]

9. Sounds like Uber and Lyft

And what those two robber baron start-ups have done to the taxi business.