Palm Scanning Comes to Whole Foods

Amazon testing new method of payment
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 22, 2021 5:35 PM CDT
Palm Scanning Comes to Whole Foods
This photo provided by Amazon shows the Amazon One device at an Amazon Go store in Seattle.   (Amazon via AP)

If a new test by Amazon works, shoppers at Whole Foods will soon be paying with a scan of their palm instead of with credit card or cash. The company is testing its Amazon One palm scanner at a Whole Foods store in Seattle and plans to expand the test to seven more stores in the region in the coming months, reports Reuters. Amazon has been using the technology at its own physical Amazon stores, and this marks the first major expansion of the idea, per the Verge. Customers would link to their palm scan to a credit card when first registering, then pass their palm over the scanner to pay after that.

Amazon also says it is talking to several other unnamed companies interested in implementing the technology at their own stores. CNBC notes that the tech is different from Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology that allows customers at its physical stores to pick up an item and walk out instead of waiting in a checkout line. But the two technologies would be able to work in sync with each other. The Verge notes the privacy concerns involved with Amazon acquiring biometric data on hordes of shoppers, given that the data would be stored in the cloud and thus be potentially vulnerable. (More Amazon stories.)

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