Amazon patents packaging surveillance, says it's for our own good
By Vlad Savov 
posted March 31st 2010 9:27AM
posted March 31st 2010 9:27AM
[Thanks, JagsLive]
posted March 31st 2010 9:27AM
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I still don't think even this would have prevented the fiasco with the WD drives they were shipping under-packaged.
@sirphunkee
Lemme say out loud what we're all thinking when we read this headline:
"PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!"
@sirphunkee
It's Double Plus Good.
How....odd? I love amazon and all, but this seems a bit crazy to me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless they video the box being packed AND LOADED on the FedEx truck (in one take), what's to stop someone in the Amazon warehouse from tampering with the package off-camera, and then claiming it's our fault?
@Smart People Play Tuba who cares about all that: WHY DID THEY GET A FREAKING PATENT FOR THIS?!?! Seriously, this is the dumbest patent I have seen yet...
There is a company that I use that already does this and I thought it a great idea, it may not be as technical as Amazons will be though. They simply take a photo of the goods lined up and email it as an attachment with your despatch email.
Gives you piece of mind knowing that they've at least put the right thing in the box!
@Skully Yes, but where is that box going and what happens to the stuff inside off-camera.?
@BigD145
exactly. I don't think this would remove liability from the shipper. Taking a picture of what they're supposed to be including in the shipment doesn't prove they actually shipped anything. All it proves is that the items were in stock.
@Skully
So what happens when you receive the video/photos as it's being packaged and you notice that instead of the copy of Mass Effect 2, they are packing a copy of Ass Raiders 19?
By the time you get the information won't the box be packed and on a truck?
Is it going to be a continuous video with no frame changes from packaging to the item being put on a delivery truck? Who's to say they won't just play the same packaging tape over and over for each person? Or open the box back up?
@cjwild
To me this just seems like a way of getting out of providing good customer service.
@cjwild
I guess, I've never had anything but stellar customer service from Amazon though.
@cjwild
Y'all are so paranoid. They just want to stop being liable for shipping screw ups. Ive seen the inside of some shipping places. I wouldn't trust them to ship a day old turd...
This allows Amazon to go straight to (in most cases) the source of the issue, and hold the proper people responsible.
Or it's just a huge marketing gimmick... either way, the customer still comes out on top.
@cjwild
Amazon already has some of the most efficient and helpful customer service on the net, second only to a short list of other companies nowhere near as big. Does the WD drive thing suck for those affected? No doubt it does. However anyone that's been ordering from Amazon for any length of time will tell you it's clearly an isolated incident. The fact that they're going to these lengths to regain consumer confidence (not that it was even really lost) is admirable. I am staunchly opposed to any form of corporate ass-kissing but Amazon is a stellar, expertly-managed online retailer that has earned the benefit of the doubt.
I've never had any issues with anything that ships from Amazon itself... now, the third-party sellers that they sell goods for is a different story entirely...
Overall good idea. I've had two bad experiences with Amazon.
My brand new camera came as an already opened box, scratched and packed back together and another time a router box came empty so some Amazon employees might not have been that honest.
Sweet, I'm gonna order a live lobster and live piranha, and post the video of them fighting to the death on youtube.
@THJ
Lamest fight ever.
But, why stop there? Pit a baby against a UFC fighter for kicks too.
@A25i
You can't buy real live UFC fighters on Amazon. Babies, however, are another story...
How the f do you patent that?
@headhot
The same way that company in cupertino patents "a thingy that does a thingy"
lmao
@headhot
At least amazon will most likely actually USE this technology.
Seriously. This is called "video surveillance" and it's been around for decades. I don't see how taping someone packaging goods should be patentable.
@headhot
There are already a bunch of overseas eBay vendors that take pics and email them out as proof of shipping. This is nothing new and nothing patent worthy.
CDW better sue the crap out of Amazon, because they've been doing this for years.
@Godnah
But did CDW patent it? Doubtful.
@PBB
If they didn't maybe they can't actually sue for damages, but they can get Amazon's patent attempt thrown out due to prior art.
@Godnah
Actually, CDW doesn't do this anymore. I was just talking to my rep about it.
Sounds like the April Fools thing Google does.
Doesn't stop the postman nicking stuff or abusing it though.
The ultimate unboxing vid. Including real time shipping footage.
WOAH Oh my... (in best George Takei voice)
@A25i You mean the ultimate boxing vid?
@Chas Percodani
Niiiice.
I can't believe the got a patent for this.
I hope this doesn't interfere with tazachocolate, who have been doing something different but close - you can enter the batch number from your chocolate bar and see how it was made.
(Really this sounds more like it should be in an industry "best practices" collection, but patents are what we have instead...)
@eichin
Ever notice they dont show the footage of how the fudge* gets in the bars.
What they really need to do is to put this technology in their own Receiving Department. 10% of orders routinely do not arrive in my experience, and they accept no liability for it...
And who got the patent on crappy stick figures?
hmm. not 100% secure. I had halo 2 ripped open and stolen while in route to me and recently had EQ2 expansion ripped open, as well, luckily everything appeared to be in order. (I probably had the chance to use the activation key before they did).
Thankfully, Halo 2 got replaced by Amazon no questions asked.
however, I do have to say that I've ordered from Amazon dozens of times and those were the only 2 instances where I've had issues.
Amazon should stop using such sexy stick men, I don't need hyper porn now.
I love it. Apparently, as a cost saving measure, they hired one of their employees 5 year olds to do patent drawings.
Another reason why the US patent office is a joke.
I've never had a problem with any of my Amazon orders.
This all seems like a way to drive costs up. What was wrong with the old way of scanning each item as it entered the box?
Looks like a bad idea to me. They did pretty much the same thing where I used to work, recorded us while we boxed, packaged etc, the only purpose it served was to stress us out when the guy watching you screw up (yeah were all human) was calling you into the office to ask you why you were 2.539 packages down on your daily quota, and why explaining that you were human, and humans have to pee, was never a good enough excuse!
@rorymarsh I haven't experienced it directly myself, but this was my immediate thought, too; it's very cruel to the workers to put them on constant surveillance like this. A good example of how dehumanizing and abusive bosses can be to employees. Yech.
would it be easier to just use the same security cameras they use above cash registers and casino booths? really what use is a security camera when they already have a hard time identifiying whats going on and who is who
Ummm amazon? Good luck:
http://us.mt.com/us/en/home/products/Product-Inspection_1/CI_Vision.html?als=ci-vision
Try to patent this and your going to have a nice long legal battle with the company I work for.
I once did a similar add-on for a liquor distributor, made necessary by a dispute between the warehouse employees union and the delivery drivers union, as liquor stores were complaining of cases of product showing up minus a bottle now and then.
Boxes of liquor being pulled from storage shelves traveled by conveyor, to then be loaded on trucks. The add-on would scan a barcode on each liquor box and and look up the expected weight of the box, comparing the actual weight (detected by the conveyor's in-line scale) to the expected weight.
Boxes that were not in tolerance were shunted off to the side for inspection.
The shortages stopped immediately.
@kp kp kp
And amazon already has the patent on this. What company did you say you work for again? (J/K)
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT7085677
@frotal
I work for Ingersoll Rand, but the liquor weight issue was addressed in 1988, if I recall correctly. Amazon can patent whatever they wish, I suppose, but it doesn't mean they can successfully prosecute it.
http://www.out-law.com/page-1392