Simple solution: don’t eat at Panera. Food’s overpriced and not very good anyway.

I shop at Whole Foods at least 2x/week, and I've not once seen a person use the palm scanner to check out.

not sure how 'hand reader' can be categorized as 'contact-less'. I assume you need to touch your hand to a pad?

Those poor employees are going to have to ask every single customer if they’re a palm member and then have an answer for why the fuck anyone would want that

Or simply don't use the optional device.

And that's the end of Panera as a business.

1. Why would they want this over literally anything else
2. Why would *I* want this as a customer.
3. No more questions.

[removed]

...and pick up any germs from the last hundred people to touch it. I prefer to boop my credit card if it can do wireless payment.

Their food is what you get if a mediocre bakery tripled the salt in all of their recipes. Just go Google an actual fucking bakery in your town.

>Over the next few months, the bakery-café chain will roll out scanners that can access customers' credit card and loyalty account using their palm. The biometric-gathering technology, developed by Amazon and called Amazon One, is already popular in airports, stadiums and Whole Foods Market grocery stores. Panera is expected to become the first national restaurant company to use it. > >... > >"In contrast with biometric systems like Apple's Face ID and Touch ID or Samsung Pass, which store biometric information on a user's device, Amazon One reportedly uploads biometric information to the cloud, raising unique security risks," the senators' letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said.

When I first read the headline, I wondered what kind of technological capabilities a company like Panera might have. However, seeing that they're going to be using Amazon One things make a lot more sense.

For me, a server-based biometric system for retail purchases is pretty much a non-starter. I wonder how many other retailers will be signing on with this particular system, and what benefits a server-based system brings to them.

All they have to do is find a portion of their base that agrees with their notion while not sustaining any large financial losses and it will happen.

I can’t imagine too many scenarios where I’d gladly turn over biometric data to a private company. But surely it won’t be to pay for a You Pick Two

TBF, they're probably already tracking your face since it's owned by Amazon.

I mean, filters on social media sites are essentially scanning your face and people do it every other second. As an aside, the other day I took a picture of my dog. I was looking through the photo and then happened to press my thumb down on my dog in the photo. It suddenly did a mini-pop out of my dog like picking a selection--apple contoured my dog to recognize that it's a dog in the picture. I'm reverting to my old camera, cause that is creepy af.

Their soup comes in a bag and they just warm it up for you. FYI

This really feels like trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Is tapping your card so much harder than allowing your hand to be scanned?

And they are the new co-working space. Most of the time you can't find a place to sit even if you did want to go.

That's what kills me. Who's handing over biometric data to fucking Panera? That risk-reward equation doesn't compute.

On my Android phone I noticed my pictures were being automatically tagged. Scenery, Vehicles, Beach, Food, Animals, etc. And they were accurately tagged. I didn't tag them or upload them anywhere. Clearly my phone is scanning my pictures using some sort of recognition software.

you hover your hand over the reader

And...? Is that supposed to be scary or bad sounding? You do know soup can actually be better after it's been stored in the fridge a while, right?

Annheiser-Busch has your best interest at heart, for sure.

It’s just a way to use the wheat they can’t shovel out the door in beer.

I think the idea is that it's more difficult to steal your palmprint than skim your CC.

It is is easier to steal a credit card for sure. However is the potential biometric security risk worth it? If a CC is stolen most places can cancel the card in minutes and even reverse any charges that may have been made. Digital wallets may also be more secure. This just feels like a "cool" convenience, and too many companies opt for these to entice customers while overlooking potential risks.

I'm personally not in favor of biometrics, but I live in a country where CC theft isn't a big issue (Japan). I'm not sure if living in the US with skimmers, pickpockets, and muggings would change the narrative around security. There's also a convenience angle. On a date you can't claim you forgot your wallet when the bill comes...

It comes down to "Do we trust companies?" The answer, uniformly, should be "No." and that's the end of it.

I think that's the big thing for me. My distrust for companies, especially those operating here in the US, is high enough that I aim to give them as little extra data as possible. I've worked for too many companies and startups here to see that their handing of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is quite often a joke.