Cashier or No Cashier? That's Amazon's Question

After a year of testing, Amazon has finally officially opened its Amazon Go convenience store in Seattle. Highly touted: No cashiers--customers simply "grab and go" and their purchases are automatically billed to their online accounts as they leave the store.

This is supposed to save time (and saves Amazon a bit of payroll money). How much time? And do customers care about that extra minute or two? Or are they just happy not to stand in line as they do at traditional stores?

Employees are in the store, restocking shelves and answering questions. But how do customers feel about the setup? One told a reporter that "you feel like you're stealing when you go out the door" because there's no checkout.

Of course, the lanes set up to capture purchases electronically do suggest a checkout kind of feeling when customers walk out. You can see them just behind the customer in the photo above, as he enters the store in Seattle (photo from Amazon's website). These lanes resemble traditional security scanners in certain department stores.

Is this more comfortable or convenient for shoppers than walking up to a cashier when completing a purchase transaction? That's what Amazon will be finding out if it expands Amazon Go beyond its own hometown.