Amazon Made Shelves That Automatically Reorder Low Office Supplies
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Amazon loves to cook up new ways to make it easier for their customers to spend money. Their latest creation proves they’re not afraid to get a little weird.
It’s called the Amazon Dash Smart Shelf, and you can see three of them in the picture above. They’re not so much shelves are they are platforms that sit on a shelf — or a table, desk, or other flat surface.
The Dash Smart Shelf comes in the three sizes shown here. The smallest measures 7″ x 7″, the midsize 12″ x 10″ and the largest 18″ x 13″. Inside the Smart Shelf beats the heart of a Wi-Fi connected scale.
Are your supplies stored in a location that doesn’t have easy access to a wall outlet? Not a problem. Amazon equipped the Shelf with a battery so that it can keep tabs on inventory no matter where it’s stashed.
“Training” a Smart Shelf is a relatively simple process which you perform using the Amazon app on a smartphone or tablet. Pick the product you plan to store on the Shelf, set the starting quantity, and tell Amazon what your minimum quantity on hand is.
Changes in the total weight tell the Smart Scale when it’s time to re-order. It takes care of that part of the process automatically — replenishments just show up in the familiar smiley box without anyone from purchasing ever lifting a finger.
The Smart Shelf can be configured to send notifications, too, in case you don’t want an inanimate object spending the company’s money.
Amazon has experimented with things that order other things before. Their first attempt, the Dash Button, had a decent run but was killed off earlier this year.
The buttons were priced at just $4.99 each. The Dash Smart Shelf will likely cost a bit more, but Amazon hopes businesses will see them as a way to save money — by freeing up time for employees who currently look after office supplies to perform other tasks.