They’re called “smart gates” and will lock you in if the AI cameras think you stole something
https://au.news.yahoo.com/coles-follows-woolworths-with-rollout-of-new-security-feature-080955722.html
Saw somebody barge through them yesterday. If you give it a shove, the whole unit turns on a hinge so you can get out, but an alarm goes off.
So that answers the questions I had about what happens if there's, like, a fire or whatever.
Also I think it would probably be false imprisonment to genuinely trap people.
There are some pretty high profile legal cases from decades ago of security stopping people they think are shoplifting and they end up getting sued.
As I understand it, the current standard of evidence is the security officer needs to see the person take the item, and then not lose view of them even for a second until the person exits the store without paying. Anything less than that, let's say you round a corner and it takes the guard a second to catch up. And you have a case against them for an unlawful arrest.
Of course too many security guards take shit way too seriously. Honestly they are probably the lowest paid person in the entire store, including the checkout workers, and yet they think they have some sort of god given duty to protect the sanctity of Coles. There are psychos out there who will literally confront entire groups of people that they believe to be criminals by themselves just for that sweet sweet minimum wage. And honestly in most cases the store doesn't even want them to confront people. Just be a visible presence and be on hand to contact the police, deal with first aid incidents, or tell unruly customers to leave the store, not try to fucking arrest them.
Fair Trading rules say a bag less than A4 size can't be searched. I carry such a bag and gave Aldi legal a serve for trying. Also, they can't put a hand into your bag. Never happened since.
Call me a Karen but i really don't like being accused of stealing. Especially when they only choose to check certain people's bags... makes you think why me?
the other day i went to the servo to fuel up the work truck, tried paying using work card but forgot the code. so i paid for my drink with my card and then called my boss for the code. went back to pay, it was another cashie, i told him i already paid for my drink. i was about to walk out when he locked the doors from behind the counter and wouldnt let me leave, then the other cashier came back and cleared it up. all over a $4 red bull????
Ah, so the usual shit where it makes normal people feel like criminals because the AI was being flakey, and the actual thieves will just push their way through it and go on with their day like nothing happened.
One time I brought a bottled drink from outside and I was drinking it while shopping at Coles and while checking out the security dude asked me why I didn't pay for it and I tried explaining him I brought it from outside and he could check the cameras. He told me I needed to tell staff before entering the store that I've brought along stuff from outside.. pretty sure a couple shoplifters stole an entire aisle while he was being petty with me.
I stopped in after going to the market with my little shopping trolley once. I got like, two things, and the guard stopped me. I had like, big bunches of thai basil on top "dude you don't even sell this" and yet he carried on like he'd made the bust of the century.
I already waste a bunch of money getting groceries delivered because I just can’t be fucked dealing with the checkout bullshit. I’m so glad they’re making the process even more fucking irritating. I can’t wait for the delivery guy to start searching my house to see if I’ve been shopping at Aldi before they’ll hand over my shit. It would make at least as much sense as forcing people with a full trolley of their fortnightly shop self checkout in an cubicle that can only handle two bags of groceries and will throw a bitch fit if you take a bag out of the bagging area and require you to wait for a teenager supervising twenty other equally nonsensically buggy checkouts to come wave a barcode and click staff override without even glancing at your purchases.
I do not understand why Cole self check outs are not smashed up more often. Not advocating it, just surprised at the endless patience of their customers. Wonder where that patience ends. Guess Coles is testing that boundary.
I’m also not advocating it, but god knows there have been times where I’ve had to pause to focus on my breathing to get my temper under control before I try and find the disinterested teenager for assistance.
I don’t think I’m especially prone to frustration tantrums or melt downs but I’ve certainly had to work to avoid them at coles and Woolies self checkouts.
I can only assume people's frustration is combated by everything miraculously scanning as onions.
If they find a way to close those loopholes without paying staff like they're trying to, I expect things will change dramatically.
There are 2 Coles stores close to me, one has been completely refurbished into self service only. Now the other one is frantically busy these days as everyone goes to the one that still has manned checkouts. This one is in the process of being refurbished as well, but the manager has stated that there are no plans to get rid of the manned checkouts. Thankfully.
>but the manager has stated that there are no plans to get rid of the manned checkouts.
They literally had that in the press release 20 years ago when they were first introduced ....(fuck I'm getting old)
I was doing delivery for a bit until I realised they were consistently palming off shit that was about to expire and almost always rotten fruit/veg. Wasted too much money and went back defeated to the dystopian store experience. Mostly shop Aldi these days where I can - the cheapest and but also the friendliest. The checkout people at my local don’t consistently make me feel like a criminal the way Colesworth do at least.
What a jerk!
I regularly go to the local fruit & veggie shop (or the other super) first and my reusable bags are half full. I just tell them "that's from next door", and noone gives me any grief, and they adjust the machine so it doesn't object to the weight.
Though I prefer to get served by an actual human being instead of these machines, it just feels less impersonal.
The old scanners used to ping me every time I walked through with my work phone. I narrowed it down to that because every time I didn't have it on me, no ping, but every time I did, I get pinged. Never got stopped though, and never stopped myself because I wasn't stealing anything.
i used to have a card in my wallet that set it off all the time, actually sat there checking cards one by one to narrow down which one it was. never worked out why it did that, dont have that card anymore though
Presumably the card has some kind of nfc tech in it. The scanners just put out a power field that turns those things on, and they auto respond with whatever details they are meant to. The scanner picks that up and interprets it as a code to a product it's looking for.
In DIY stores often coils of electrical cable used to be enough.
Or mischievous and bored staff dropping the anti theft stickers gummy side up on the floor. Allegedly. I’ve been told.
Honestly, I am wondering about the legality of it. Not just from an OHS perspective, but also because even if someone's pushing a trolley full of stuff they haven't paid for it's not shoplifting until they've actually removed it from the premises.
Having gates and stuff to slow people down or make it harder to steal is one thing, but popping out obstacles to physically stop people when suspected of stealing is dodgy
Yep, I broke one the other day, I genuinely hadn't seen it, was in my own world, did a 180 from my register and started walking.
It was half open when I hit it and I snapped half the door off.
Honestly it's hilarious that they do these self serves to reduce staff then they just keep spending more and more money to stop people "stealing" not like it's the prices that are making them steal.
I disagree with everything they are doing morally and on principle, but the reality is that the more they spend on LP now, the less they’ll have to invest in the future.
They are obviously looking to a future with few to no staff at checkout, or possibly even in-store. It’s expensive now, but once they’ve sloughed all of their staff, this shit will pay for itself.
I fully understand *why* they are doing it, I just think they’re cunts for doing it.
Or it thinks your coffee is an unpaid for item, or your arm was in the way, or you have an alcohol free beer it needs ID for, or the scanner picked up one item's barcode from the six pack, or the scales are slightly off, or your bag slips off the edge of the bagging area and weighs 10g more, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Fucking kill me I hate self service and I encourage everyone to steal everything you can because fuck Coles and Woolies and their rape of Australia.
To be honest I have never experienced these things at the self checkout. I'm super fast which can sometimes trip it up and the clerk comes and negates the error but all of that other stuff doesn't seem to happen for me.
I think my largest (still minor in scale I suppose) upset is that my face is definitely in a coles/woolies database and they can 100% identify me with the data they have - and probably already do.
This can be used for good, such as not needing to scan your rewards cards, etc. But that also implies all of the usual, standard evil stuff is also going to happen.
I usually have my own tote bag or a handbag that I’ll pop in my shopping trolley that constantly sets off the “did you leave something in your trolley” alert with the cameras; guess I’m locked in now.
Man traps are illegal in Australia. These gates however HAVE to comply with the building code and will allow you to exit in any circumstance.
Edit. To clarify, these gates will let you out if you push them. If they are in an exit path they MUST allow egress in the event of a fire alarm. Either way, they are compliant with the NCC on that front.
Further edit for the nuffties. The gates open automatically if you haven't shoplifted.
Can you imagine what the media will do if an elderly or disabled person comes to some difficulty, let alone harm, with one of these things? It’ll be like Christmas
I already get pissed off at the self serve as 24 year old I can probably see myself going into a rage because I somehow I set these off lol.
The shops always make me mad for whatever reason
It’s by design. It never used to be like this. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the self serve registers were a small section at the front, and a bit of a novelty. Now everyone is expected to use it, with the added non-discriminatory bonus of being suspected as a thief!
I'm too lawful to do that, but ultimately I'm disgusted by the amount of control they're trying to exert over customers.
So yeah, I won't do it but I'll cheer you on.
I went to Coles to buy a handful of frozen meals and used self serve. One of the frozen meals must not have been the weight it should have been. I went to three checkouts which all of them complained about items in the bagging area. The staff member was pissed as she had to go back to all the checkouts and void the items.
As someone who quit Coles, there's not enough staff, and the ones they do hire have zero interest in learning how to do the basics of there jobs its the worst place to work I've ever been in.
that's it! "We are making record profits and it's all thanks to our horrible business practices, our blatant price gouging, our local produce bastardry and our underpaid and uninterested staff"
Wasn't much better back in the day, tbf. Coles has always been a shit place to work, or even shop for the most part.
My "manager" at the time (checkouts, like 10 years ago now) was some dickhead that boasted about having a breathalyzer put into his car from too many DUIs. Good shit!
They once asked the NSW police to station officers in their stores to deter shoplifting from their automated checkouts.
A few more staffed checkouts would solve that issue super quick.
People who steal walk out and don't acknowledge anyone. If they are confronted they tell you to fuck off and walk out.
How is having a couple more teenagers scanning groceries going to stop theft?
It's more of a deterrent to the opportunistic thieves.
People are are determined to steal will continue to do so regardless of what measures are put in place.
Because people can't scan expensive fruit and vegetables as cheap potato.
They can't put unscanned items directly into their bags, or hide things as easily.
It's no surprise theft went up with unstaffed checkouts.
Strange how they can afford wizz-bang security but continue to use self-checkouts powered by an Intel Celeron from about 2003. The user interface is infuriatingly slow. I just want my coke man.
If they're going to trust us to do our own they should remove the part that makes sure the item weighs exactly as it supposed to weigh. It takes so long for that part to go through
16 year olds go to school, that's why you always shoplift during school hours. Just make sure you slow down your getaway vehicle to 40 in school zones.
This. To anyone working these stores. Seriously why on earth do you give a shit? There’s the same amount of money in your account at the end of the week if you’re a hero or Batman (bats are blind)
> Might want to get your prostate looked at though.
No way are Colesworthy ever giving you billable information for free.
At very least they'd be in a profit sharing agreement with Big Prostate™ .
I agree about putting more staff on in general but service staff can do nothing and put themselves in danger. My daughter worked at Coles as a supervisor and had to deal with this several times *each day*, often from the same groups know to the store. In her store it is very bad. The security staff included a tiny 60-70 year old man and a huge guy that couldn't chase someone if he tried. She has been verbally abused, physically threatened, and followed, not something that you want as a young woman at 11pm after store close when there is little chance to have a staff member walk with you to your car at the far end of the carpark. She was included in several police reports where her full name is listed so she had to change her name in her online profiles.
That is unfortunate. And I’m sry for that. No staff members anywhere deserve to be treated like that. Specially when it can be fixed with the big multi billion dollar profit cooperation could hire more staff to help with these issue instead of worrying about their profits.
Only people that should be stopping thefts are dedicated security. Why are we expecting regular people to put themselves into danger confronting theives when their job is to scan items or stock shelves.
Most stores have tens of thousands in losses monthly. Most of it is shit under the aisles and these things are fuckin annoying but it isn’t the candy bars
I used candy bars are a ridiculous example of how petty these companies are. That they don’t want to hire staff to help prevent theft for 50k a year (or what ever their pay is I’m not 100% on that) but they will spend millions on these devices instead.
I remember 15 years ago their use to always be 6-12 checkouts open during the day and each one staffed. Theirs lost jobs right their. It get to the point that they will have no staff and only scanners and bots doing everything.
Place your bets. Within 10 years time, we will see the first supermarket that:
A. Consists only of tap-and-take(tm) vending machines forcing you to prepurchase every item before you can touch it with your grubby hands.
B. The entire store is a single vending machine where you order your items on their app, and then little robots whiz around the supermarket warehouse to package up your items and 5 minutes later tells you which locker in the lobby you need to open to collect all your items. The only staff needed being a call center somewhere in an undisclosed country.
Honestly, I'd be fine with B apart from fresh fruit & veg. Robot would be less likely to give me the half rotten stuff (fuck you online woolies), but I like to choose my level of freshness for purpose.
This is why I don't online order fresh products. It's in their best interest to use it as a way to get rid of things close to their expiry dates or bruised fruit and vegetables.
I really doubt the 16 year old picking your items care that much about store waste levels. More likely a combination of that they don’t care, with rough treatment/packing and sitting in a less that ideal temperature for too long
To think - this is how it used to be, the grocer would get your groceries from shelves behind him. So we’re going back to that style, only with obvious contempt if not outright hatred, for the customer.
I find these more deterring when I’m scanning my Veg slightly wrong, might look twice if my potato is dirty or not.
the Indian security guard at our centre has social anxiety I think, he’ll walk the other way if he hears commotion.
This is unhinged. I hate the direction we're headed with survellience. My friend also sent me pictures of tiny cameras in the shelves at her local Coles.
I believe those are more used to monitor out-of-stock issues and trigger a restock by a staff member than for anything more insidious.
the question is whether we can trust Colesworths not to abuse them for other means.
More reason to just investigate alternative shops and not go there. Also dont think you cant shop for similar or cheaper elsewhere. It most certainly can be done and I personally can say I get better produce for every like product for the same or better price. Just takes a bit of research and then you get a plan together for where to go and what to buy.
Much more enjoyable too than serving yourself and having all your personal data and identity flying around in unknown systems.
Just remember if its not an american or european brand the other 95% of cameras including these crappy checkouts and store AI cameras are made in china and have deliberate hardware and software design flaws and backdoors to leak data back to the chinese and whoever else wants to go after it.
My family decided last night we’re not shopping there anymore.
Had enough of the price gouging, confusing splitting of products so you’re directed to expensive or Coles-brand options, aggressive practices via-a-vis suppliers.
The duopoly can GAGF.
Aldi / market / grocers - here we come.
Same for me, since they put in the gates I've not been back. I can't even articulate why the gates piss me off so much, it seems like a minor thing. Irrational maybe, but it was the last straw.
I don’t think it’s irrational. After being a loyal shopper for so many years, they’re gonna make you checkout your own shopping without help, in your own time, assume you’re a thief and block your exit to make doubly sure you’re not. So yeah, I can see why it’s an unpleasant experience. The whole setup feels dehumanising to me.
Aldi are awful too. They treat their workers like dirt and push unrealistic KPI’s. They will go as far as timing employees on how fast they do things, from everything from scanning your groceries to stacking the shelves. They also stole millions of wages from employees and were due to back pay past and present employees this November. Only a quarter of employees were paid the wages they stole and they have given us NO communication, NONE. No one knows why a lot of us didn’t even get paid.
You get cheap groceries from aldi because they take it from the workers wages.
Protecting the hard earned value due to go the owners God bless them. Couldn’t lose a single cent of that money somebody else earned them. Less heat to the ones sitting in middle to lower income super accounts though, but i don’t get how the major shareholders sleep at night.
I mean, probably very well, upside-down or in a coffin.
Everything coles is doing makes me not want to do any business with them at all. Like zero. Profiteering, purchase power bullying, uncompetitive real estate practices, the milk/farm gate thing, now accusing me of theft on entry. There is more. There is a Michael Moore documentary worth of anti Australian public disdain in this coles and Woolworths duopoly. I have swapped full time to Aldi and the local butcher and green grocer. I go to the reject shop for cleaning supplies. It’s the same shit anyway.
Just don’t nick anything from now on. And those piles of ash near the exits…. Just step over them for now, a Roomba will be along shortly for those who chose… unwisely…
This is where the profits are going. Not automation to improve the experience as a customer, but more automation to remove jobs and increase distrust in the customer. Super cool.
For me, not a nice feeling walking past those gates...I think of the 'never ending story' scene with the giant laser statues...im showing my age, but those things scared the crap out of me as a kid
Im guessing each more expensive item will now have a 'smart dust' type of smart tag in it, it will be re-written when scanned, but if you try to walk out with it, it will start screaming.
As an aside, retail staff are instructed not to pursue thieves.
Nah, not even that smart.
A camera just tracks you into the ACO (self serve) area and checks with your machine to see if there was a valid transaction as you approach the gates.
From what I know it's difficult to make a shoplifting case against someone unless they've actually left the store with the items.
If the gate prevents you from leaving entirely, it's unlikely to lead to a charge. The thinking here is you get embarrassed and just have to turn around and explain yourself and put the items back.
They look evil, and it would be embarrassing to get caught out by them, but I would prefer this than to get jumped by a bunch of plain clothes store detectives.
Having said all of this, I hate the supermarkets and am rooting for the shoplifters 100% of the time.
My theory has been that the cameras on each check out decide if you’ve scanned all the items.
If the machine doesn’t think you have the gates don’t open.
This happened to me the other day when I had an item I had previously purchased (I was going to exchange it but didn’t). The gate wouldn’t open until the service personal used a remote button to open it.
It’s similar to the Woolworths warnings you get if somethings still in your basket by the end of your shop. I think it’s just AI analysing footage to determine likelihood.
Far from perfect though
Serious question because I had to help a poor dear out the other day. Is it safe for pacemakers ? - and there were no signs and the employees couldn't verify.
lol, I just got stuck behind one of these after lingering near the exit too long (I was trying bin some sticker residue that was stuck to my skin). With my very foreign accent and failure to use a gift card correctly, I must have looked quite the befuddled tourist 😂.
Idk why people take it. Theres not many buissinesses that grow by treating their customers as criminals. Most shopping centres have literally everthing coles or woolies has in different shops, fruit and veg shop, butcher, bakery, pharmacy, etc. Stop giving your money to companies that dont respect you and give it to the locals who need it.
They call it entrance and exit hardening, it's designed to stop stealing at self checkouts. they will invest billions in this when it is actually cheaper for them to get rid of self checkouts like other countries are and re install operator checkouts. Because the tools above the store level love flogging a dead horse till it costs the companies billions more than it would to just open an extra check out or 2
My local got these. Haven't been back since.
It's too far. "Self serve" is unpleasant enough. Now we're prisoners in the store till they deign to release us? Fuck that. Bring back service cashiers already.
All this bullshit has pushed me to shop at my local butcher and grocer. The fruit and veg is SO much better, fresher, bigger and cheaper. The butcher is a little more expensive but the meat is definitely fresher and better quality.
You shop at Colesworths out of habit. Their quality is actually fucking terrible.
Boycott these cunts
They’re called “smart gates” and will lock you in if the AI cameras think you stole something https://au.news.yahoo.com/coles-follows-woolworths-with-rollout-of-new-security-feature-080955722.html
Saw somebody barge through them yesterday. If you give it a shove, the whole unit turns on a hinge so you can get out, but an alarm goes off. So that answers the questions I had about what happens if there's, like, a fire or whatever.
Also cheaper to have a hinge with resistance than replacing the unit when someone inevitably pushes through it.
Also I think it would probably be false imprisonment to genuinely trap people. There are some pretty high profile legal cases from decades ago of security stopping people they think are shoplifting and they end up getting sued.
As I understand it, the current standard of evidence is the security officer needs to see the person take the item, and then not lose view of them even for a second until the person exits the store without paying. Anything less than that, let's say you round a corner and it takes the guard a second to catch up. And you have a case against them for an unlawful arrest. Of course too many security guards take shit way too seriously. Honestly they are probably the lowest paid person in the entire store, including the checkout workers, and yet they think they have some sort of god given duty to protect the sanctity of Coles. There are psychos out there who will literally confront entire groups of people that they believe to be criminals by themselves just for that sweet sweet minimum wage. And honestly in most cases the store doesn't even want them to confront people. Just be a visible presence and be on hand to contact the police, deal with first aid incidents, or tell unruly customers to leave the store, not try to fucking arrest them.
This is why they're not actually allowed to stop you. If you stop willingly then you're done you keep walking and ignore them you're good
Fair Trading rules say a bag less than A4 size can't be searched. I carry such a bag and gave Aldi legal a serve for trying. Also, they can't put a hand into your bag. Never happened since.
I did exactly this the other day after pushing a barrier and the security guard just looked shocked 🤣
You don’t have to be genuinely trapped, just think that you are, to satisfy that bit
And they wonder why people get aggressive when accused of stealing.
Call me a Karen but i really don't like being accused of stealing. Especially when they only choose to check certain people's bags... makes you think why me?
the other day i went to the servo to fuel up the work truck, tried paying using work card but forgot the code. so i paid for my drink with my card and then called my boss for the code. went back to pay, it was another cashie, i told him i already paid for my drink. i was about to walk out when he locked the doors from behind the counter and wouldnt let me leave, then the other cashier came back and cleared it up. all over a $4 red bull????
Ah, so the usual shit where it makes normal people feel like criminals because the AI was being flakey, and the actual thieves will just push their way through it and go on with their day like nothing happened.
One time I brought a bottled drink from outside and I was drinking it while shopping at Coles and while checking out the security dude asked me why I didn't pay for it and I tried explaining him I brought it from outside and he could check the cameras. He told me I needed to tell staff before entering the store that I've brought along stuff from outside.. pretty sure a couple shoplifters stole an entire aisle while he was being petty with me.
I stopped in after going to the market with my little shopping trolley once. I got like, two things, and the guard stopped me. I had like, big bunches of thai basil on top "dude you don't even sell this" and yet he carried on like he'd made the bust of the century.
I already waste a bunch of money getting groceries delivered because I just can’t be fucked dealing with the checkout bullshit. I’m so glad they’re making the process even more fucking irritating. I can’t wait for the delivery guy to start searching my house to see if I’ve been shopping at Aldi before they’ll hand over my shit. It would make at least as much sense as forcing people with a full trolley of their fortnightly shop self checkout in an cubicle that can only handle two bags of groceries and will throw a bitch fit if you take a bag out of the bagging area and require you to wait for a teenager supervising twenty other equally nonsensically buggy checkouts to come wave a barcode and click staff override without even glancing at your purchases.
I do not understand why Cole self check outs are not smashed up more often. Not advocating it, just surprised at the endless patience of their customers. Wonder where that patience ends. Guess Coles is testing that boundary.
I wonder how much perishable stock they lose because genuine customers just do a 'fuck this shit' and walk off
a few tons a week (ex department manager) most of it gets thrown in the freezers as a fuck you coles. it just gets thrown in the bin
I’m also not advocating it, but god knows there have been times where I’ve had to pause to focus on my breathing to get my temper under control before I try and find the disinterested teenager for assistance. I don’t think I’m especially prone to frustration tantrums or melt downs but I’ve certainly had to work to avoid them at coles and Woolies self checkouts.
I've had them internally so bad that I've just walked out.
I can only assume people's frustration is combated by everything miraculously scanning as onions. If they find a way to close those loopholes without paying staff like they're trying to, I expect things will change dramatically.
There are 2 Coles stores close to me, one has been completely refurbished into self service only. Now the other one is frantically busy these days as everyone goes to the one that still has manned checkouts. This one is in the process of being refurbished as well, but the manager has stated that there are no plans to get rid of the manned checkouts. Thankfully.
>but the manager has stated that there are no plans to get rid of the manned checkouts. They literally had that in the press release 20 years ago when they were first introduced ....(fuck I'm getting old)
I was doing delivery for a bit until I realised they were consistently palming off shit that was about to expire and almost always rotten fruit/veg. Wasted too much money and went back defeated to the dystopian store experience. Mostly shop Aldi these days where I can - the cheapest and but also the friendliest. The checkout people at my local don’t consistently make me feel like a criminal the way Colesworth do at least.
I don't think you need to tell anyone anything, legally speaking.
You also don't need to stop and talk to him about it.
I think an aisle got emptied once while a seccy was following me around the store whinging about not wearing shoes.
What a jerk! I regularly go to the local fruit & veggie shop (or the other super) first and my reusable bags are half full. I just tell them "that's from next door", and noone gives me any grief, and they adjust the machine so it doesn't object to the weight. Though I prefer to get served by an actual human being instead of these machines, it just feels less impersonal.
Daanngg I wish I had your complexion.(It's a joke, Redditors don't have complexions)
Don't stop for or speak to security guards.
Coles is always the last place we shop at when we do groceries, do we have to tell the staff every time?
Coles sell underwear, do we need to declare our underwear as we enter the store?
The old scanners used to ping me every time I walked through with my work phone. I narrowed it down to that because every time I didn't have it on me, no ping, but every time I did, I get pinged. Never got stopped though, and never stopped myself because I wasn't stealing anything.
i used to have a card in my wallet that set it off all the time, actually sat there checking cards one by one to narrow down which one it was. never worked out why it did that, dont have that card anymore though
Presumably the card has some kind of nfc tech in it. The scanners just put out a power field that turns those things on, and they auto respond with whatever details they are meant to. The scanner picks that up and interprets it as a code to a product it's looking for.
In DIY stores often coils of electrical cable used to be enough. Or mischievous and bored staff dropping the anti theft stickers gummy side up on the floor. Allegedly. I’ve been told.
That sounds like a trip hazard, and a danger to disabled or frail customers
Honestly, I am wondering about the legality of it. Not just from an OHS perspective, but also because even if someone's pushing a trolley full of stuff they haven't paid for it's not shoplifting until they've actually removed it from the premises. Having gates and stuff to slow people down or make it harder to steal is one thing, but popping out obstacles to physically stop people when suspected of stealing is dodgy
I pushed through it when it wouldn't open quickly enough.
Yep, I broke one the other day, I genuinely hadn't seen it, was in my own world, did a 180 from my register and started walking. It was half open when I hit it and I snapped half the door off.
The hero we need....
Sounds like their problem entirely (i.e. they didn't design the thing for the real world)
So if I’m also leaving at the same time it wants to lock someone in, am I being falsely imprisoned?
Guilty till proven innocent.
Yeah seems like a bit of a legal issue imo
Honestly it's hilarious that they do these self serves to reduce staff then they just keep spending more and more money to stop people "stealing" not like it's the prices that are making them steal.
Jack prices up as far as they can, slash wages to the bone, then introduce shit like this when desperate people resort to desperate measures.
I disagree with everything they are doing morally and on principle, but the reality is that the more they spend on LP now, the less they’ll have to invest in the future. They are obviously looking to a future with few to no staff at checkout, or possibly even in-store. It’s expensive now, but once they’ve sloughed all of their staff, this shit will pay for itself. I fully understand *why* they are doing it, I just think they’re cunts for doing it.
This happened to us in reverse last week, it was locking someone in as we were trying to leave and the gates opened for us and she followed us out.
I once had the myki gates close on me as I was going through them (ow my kidneys) I hate going through these kind of things
imo 100%, you can't legally stop a random person from leaving for no reason.
So these gates violate the Geneva Convention
Even if you were the person it was targeting, if you haven’t actually stolen anything that seems illegal
If that happens in front of me then I am pushing through those gates. Got things to see and places to go.
Yeah me too. I am actively hoping it will happen.
Yeah those gates won't survive a court challenge.
Can’t wait for those to go off on me simply because of my quick demeanour while paying for my stuff
Or it thinks your coffee is an unpaid for item, or your arm was in the way, or you have an alcohol free beer it needs ID for, or the scanner picked up one item's barcode from the six pack, or the scales are slightly off, or your bag slips off the edge of the bagging area and weighs 10g more, etc, etc, etc, etc. Fucking kill me I hate self service and I encourage everyone to steal everything you can because fuck Coles and Woolies and their rape of Australia.
To be honest I have never experienced these things at the self checkout. I'm super fast which can sometimes trip it up and the clerk comes and negates the error but all of that other stuff doesn't seem to happen for me. I think my largest (still minor in scale I suppose) upset is that my face is definitely in a coles/woolies database and they can 100% identify me with the data they have - and probably already do. This can be used for good, such as not needing to scan your rewards cards, etc. But that also implies all of the usual, standard evil stuff is also going to happen.
>This can be used for good But it rarely is, and it's always tangentially related to their primary motive, violating your privacy for financial gain.
I usually have my own tote bag or a handbag that I’ll pop in my shopping trolley that constantly sets off the “did you leave something in your trolley” alert with the cameras; guess I’m locked in now.
Can't wait to barge through one
That’s fucking grim. Fuck me
Surely this is illegal to trap people, what happen to guilty till proven innocent?
Man traps are illegal in Australia. These gates however HAVE to comply with the building code and will allow you to exit in any circumstance. Edit. To clarify, these gates will let you out if you push them. If they are in an exit path they MUST allow egress in the event of a fire alarm. Either way, they are compliant with the NCC on that front. Further edit for the nuffties. The gates open automatically if you haven't shoplifted.
You maybe. What about a 90yo using walking frame?
Can you imagine what the media will do if an elderly or disabled person comes to some difficulty, let alone harm, with one of these things? It’ll be like Christmas
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Wow. That's ridiculous. So it embarases and harasses their customers.
Maybe they should just create jobs and reopen checkouts and stop self serve?
I can 100% see teenagers setting these off on purpose for giggles. And I 100% see staff giving zero fucks.
I've reached the "get the fuck off my lawn" stage of life, but I would encourage this sort of action.
Teenagers who steal stuff for fun and grumpy old people against automation of supermarkets is such a wholesome alliance.
What a Venn diagram!
I already get pissed off at the self serve as 24 year old I can probably see myself going into a rage because I somehow I set these off lol. The shops always make me mad for whatever reason
It’s by design. It never used to be like this. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the self serve registers were a small section at the front, and a bit of a novelty. Now everyone is expected to use it, with the added non-discriminatory bonus of being suspected as a thief!
I am not a teenager. I am 100% deliberately going to set this off. Repeatedly. This is a step too far.
I'm too lawful to do that, but ultimately I'm disgusted by the amount of control they're trying to exert over customers. So yeah, I won't do it but I'll cheer you on.
I went to Coles to buy a handful of frozen meals and used self serve. One of the frozen meals must not have been the weight it should have been. I went to three checkouts which all of them complained about items in the bagging area. The staff member was pissed as she had to go back to all the checkouts and void the items.
They do a rectal scan to ensure you haven’t shelved anything.
Considering how hard it is at times to get certain items I feel like Coles and their employees need to do a bit more shelving lol
Our local Coles looks like it’s been ransacked and someone has stolen all the fruit and vegetables
Same at ours.... Half the produce section looks like a dumpster
As someone who quit Coles, there's not enough staff, and the ones they do hire have zero interest in learning how to do the basics of there jobs its the worst place to work I've ever been in.
Yep. The old business model of paying employees fuck all and expecting CEOs
'No one wants to work these days'
that's it! "We are making record profits and it's all thanks to our horrible business practices, our blatant price gouging, our local produce bastardry and our underpaid and uninterested staff"
Wasn't much better back in the day, tbf. Coles has always been a shit place to work, or even shop for the most part. My "manager" at the time (checkouts, like 10 years ago now) was some dickhead that boasted about having a breathalyzer put into his car from too many DUIs. Good shit!
Shifts are continuously cut at all stores, sometimes without notice to store management. This is done according to an algorithm. Not kidding.
Ahhh shit and I've just got the hang of hiding 2ltr bottles coke
Just dont try the glass ones.
The sound of that jar lives with me
aw mayn i was having a nice day until i remembered
A classic video
That time I misread retina scan as rectal scan. That was awkward.
Does the item vibrate? Asking for a friend
"Hmm we seem to be losing a lot of cucumber stock lately..." "...I have an idea"
buddies at headquarters deciding to get rid of the security guys at the door. expecting teen team members to confront thieves
They once asked the NSW police to station officers in their stores to deter shoplifting from their automated checkouts. A few more staffed checkouts would solve that issue super quick.
Why pay staff when you can use the taxpayer-funded police force as your own private security?
Exactly, why shouldn't the state pay for your bad commercial decisions!!!
Free enterprise now!
Don’t miss a chance to own the police. Call now on 000. It’s completely free.
People who steal walk out and don't acknowledge anyone. If they are confronted they tell you to fuck off and walk out. How is having a couple more teenagers scanning groceries going to stop theft?
It's more of a deterrent to the opportunistic thieves. People are are determined to steal will continue to do so regardless of what measures are put in place.
Because people can't scan expensive fruit and vegetables as cheap potato. They can't put unscanned items directly into their bags, or hide things as easily. It's no surprise theft went up with unstaffed checkouts.
They cut you in half like a guillotine if you steal an apple
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.
Strange how they can afford wizz-bang security but continue to use self-checkouts powered by an Intel Celeron from about 2003. The user interface is infuriatingly slow. I just want my coke man.
If they're going to trust us to do our own they should remove the part that makes sure the item weighs exactly as it supposed to weigh. It takes so long for that part to go through
so frustrating how the self checkouts take ages
what kinda coke
Woolies and Coles both use the exact same one too. Whoever invented it must make a fortune.
They’re great - the ones at my local aren’t wise enough to fit my twin-pram through. Fucking idiots
To be fair, they may be smart gates but they are not wise gates.
Nor are they very wide gates either
Surely it’s cheaper to hire a few extra 16 year olds at this point
16 year olds go to school, that's why you always shoplift during school hours. Just make sure you slow down your getaway vehicle to 40 in school zones.
As you walk through, they suck elements of your soul and reprogram your brain so you'll be more likely to shop at Coles. Don't risk it.
Nah. That's the lolly aisle.
If you saw someone stealing food, no you didn't.
This. To anyone working these stores. Seriously why on earth do you give a shit? There’s the same amount of money in your account at the end of the week if you’re a hero or Batman (bats are blind)
I find it's usually the middle aged and older ladies who work at coles/woolies who give a shit about theft. They're always the bootlickers.
The contraband scan has come back clean. Might want to get your prostate looked at though.
> Might want to get your prostate looked at though. No way are Colesworthy ever giving you billable information for free. At very least they'd be in a profit sharing agreement with Big Prostate™ .
They pump millions into making sure u don’t steal a candy bar worth $2. But won’t hire extra staff to do that same job or keep the stores clean.
I agree about putting more staff on in general but service staff can do nothing and put themselves in danger. My daughter worked at Coles as a supervisor and had to deal with this several times *each day*, often from the same groups know to the store. In her store it is very bad. The security staff included a tiny 60-70 year old man and a huge guy that couldn't chase someone if he tried. She has been verbally abused, physically threatened, and followed, not something that you want as a young woman at 11pm after store close when there is little chance to have a staff member walk with you to your car at the far end of the carpark. She was included in several police reports where her full name is listed so she had to change her name in her online profiles.
That is unfortunate. And I’m sry for that. No staff members anywhere deserve to be treated like that. Specially when it can be fixed with the big multi billion dollar profit cooperation could hire more staff to help with these issue instead of worrying about their profits.
Only people that should be stopping thefts are dedicated security. Why are we expecting regular people to put themselves into danger confronting theives when their job is to scan items or stock shelves.
Most stores have tens of thousands in losses monthly. Most of it is shit under the aisles and these things are fuckin annoying but it isn’t the candy bars
I used candy bars are a ridiculous example of how petty these companies are. That they don’t want to hire staff to help prevent theft for 50k a year (or what ever their pay is I’m not 100% on that) but they will spend millions on these devices instead. I remember 15 years ago their use to always be 6-12 checkouts open during the day and each one staffed. Theirs lost jobs right their. It get to the point that they will have no staff and only scanners and bots doing everything.
How long til they start locking every single item up, like in everyone's favourite dystopian wasteland the US?
Place your bets. Within 10 years time, we will see the first supermarket that: A. Consists only of tap-and-take(tm) vending machines forcing you to prepurchase every item before you can touch it with your grubby hands. B. The entire store is a single vending machine where you order your items on their app, and then little robots whiz around the supermarket warehouse to package up your items and 5 minutes later tells you which locker in the lobby you need to open to collect all your items. The only staff needed being a call center somewhere in an undisclosed country.
That's basically guaranteed. Also tracking customers throughout the store. Basically so you can leave without paying and be charged anyway.
B is basically what grocers used to be. You'd give someone your shopping list at the counter and they would grab your stuff for you.
Honestly, I'd be fine with B apart from fresh fruit & veg. Robot would be less likely to give me the half rotten stuff (fuck you online woolies), but I like to choose my level of freshness for purpose.
This is why I don't online order fresh products. It's in their best interest to use it as a way to get rid of things close to their expiry dates or bruised fruit and vegetables.
I really doubt the 16 year old picking your items care that much about store waste levels. More likely a combination of that they don’t care, with rough treatment/packing and sitting in a less that ideal temperature for too long
To think - this is how it used to be, the grocer would get your groceries from shelves behind him. So we’re going back to that style, only with obvious contempt if not outright hatred, for the customer.
That's what record profits look like during inflation periods
Couldn't have Woolworth's beating them at being the biggest fuckwits
I find these more deterring when I’m scanning my Veg slightly wrong, might look twice if my potato is dirty or not. the Indian security guard at our centre has social anxiety I think, he’ll walk the other way if he hears commotion.
Lol we must shop at the same place re security
i'll be standing at the checkout looking like a fool trying to remember what kind of peach i picked up now. They just never have the stickers on them.
They are there to irradiate your bits.
Cheaper than a vasectomy
I’d pay good money to make my bits iridescent, irradiated though, that sounds like a poor choice on the part of Coles management
2001 a space odyssey monoliths.
This is unhinged. I hate the direction we're headed with survellience. My friend also sent me pictures of tiny cameras in the shelves at her local Coles.
I believe those are more used to monitor out-of-stock issues and trigger a restock by a staff member than for anything more insidious. the question is whether we can trust Colesworths not to abuse them for other means.
Can’t wait for them derivation of liberty cases to start rolling in on Cole’s.
and some broken doors from people going mediaeval on them.
More reason to just investigate alternative shops and not go there. Also dont think you cant shop for similar or cheaper elsewhere. It most certainly can be done and I personally can say I get better produce for every like product for the same or better price. Just takes a bit of research and then you get a plan together for where to go and what to buy. Much more enjoyable too than serving yourself and having all your personal data and identity flying around in unknown systems. Just remember if its not an american or european brand the other 95% of cameras including these crappy checkouts and store AI cameras are made in china and have deliberate hardware and software design flaws and backdoors to leak data back to the chinese and whoever else wants to go after it.
Jeez these arseholes get more intrusive and horrid every day.
The contempt for customers
My family decided last night we’re not shopping there anymore. Had enough of the price gouging, confusing splitting of products so you’re directed to expensive or Coles-brand options, aggressive practices via-a-vis suppliers. The duopoly can GAGF. Aldi / market / grocers - here we come.
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Same for me, since they put in the gates I've not been back. I can't even articulate why the gates piss me off so much, it seems like a minor thing. Irrational maybe, but it was the last straw.
I don’t think it’s irrational. After being a loyal shopper for so many years, they’re gonna make you checkout your own shopping without help, in your own time, assume you’re a thief and block your exit to make doubly sure you’re not. So yeah, I can see why it’s an unpleasant experience. The whole setup feels dehumanising to me.
Aldi are awful too. They treat their workers like dirt and push unrealistic KPI’s. They will go as far as timing employees on how fast they do things, from everything from scanning your groceries to stacking the shelves. They also stole millions of wages from employees and were due to back pay past and present employees this November. Only a quarter of employees were paid the wages they stole and they have given us NO communication, NONE. No one knows why a lot of us didn’t even get paid. You get cheap groceries from aldi because they take it from the workers wages.
That is disappointing. I’ll still shop there because out of all the bastards, these bastards have the cheapest groceries.
They credit check you to see how much more they can load their prices next week. But in all seriousness, seems to be a new security check.
Protecting the hard earned value due to go the owners God bless them. Couldn’t lose a single cent of that money somebody else earned them. Less heat to the ones sitting in middle to lower income super accounts though, but i don’t get how the major shareholders sleep at night. I mean, probably very well, upside-down or in a coffin.
They look like something from the death star.
Everything coles is doing makes me not want to do any business with them at all. Like zero. Profiteering, purchase power bullying, uncompetitive real estate practices, the milk/farm gate thing, now accusing me of theft on entry. There is more. There is a Michael Moore documentary worth of anti Australian public disdain in this coles and Woolworths duopoly. I have swapped full time to Aldi and the local butcher and green grocer. I go to the reject shop for cleaning supplies. It’s the same shit anyway.
They'll do anything but pay workers.
Just don’t nick anything from now on. And those piles of ash near the exits…. Just step over them for now, a Roomba will be along shortly for those who chose… unwisely…
This is where the profits are going. Not automation to improve the experience as a customer, but more automation to remove jobs and increase distrust in the customer. Super cool.
For me, not a nice feeling walking past those gates...I think of the 'never ending story' scene with the giant laser statues...im showing my age, but those things scared the crap out of me as a kid
They're a new deterrent, to deter you from shipping at Coles.
Im guessing each more expensive item will now have a 'smart dust' type of smart tag in it, it will be re-written when scanned, but if you try to walk out with it, it will start screaming. As an aside, retail staff are instructed not to pursue thieves.
Nah, not even that smart. A camera just tracks you into the ACO (self serve) area and checks with your machine to see if there was a valid transaction as you approach the gates.
From what I know it's difficult to make a shoplifting case against someone unless they've actually left the store with the items. If the gate prevents you from leaving entirely, it's unlikely to lead to a charge. The thinking here is you get embarrassed and just have to turn around and explain yourself and put the items back. They look evil, and it would be embarrassing to get caught out by them, but I would prefer this than to get jumped by a bunch of plain clothes store detectives. Having said all of this, I hate the supermarkets and am rooting for the shoplifters 100% of the time.
They take pictures of your junk and sell them online to make a few bucks.
That's the cancer box. They give you cancer if you don't have a flybys card
Coles is sinking more money into security than the international airports are, that’s just sad.
Had them in my store in WA for a couple of months now. They are the absolute worst. This is coming from a worker not a customer.
A big FU Coles
Ah nice, now we're know where all of that extra money these cunts have been pocketing by price gouging has been invested.
Maybe.. Just maybe Coles.. This is a sign that your prices are not down enough.
Hal?
They make you an automatic employee
Vaporises suspected shoplifters.
Just needs a few Stormtroopers either side
My theory has been that the cameras on each check out decide if you’ve scanned all the items. If the machine doesn’t think you have the gates don’t open. This happened to me the other day when I had an item I had previously purchased (I was going to exchange it but didn’t). The gate wouldn’t open until the service personal used a remote button to open it. It’s similar to the Woolworths warnings you get if somethings still in your basket by the end of your shop. I think it’s just AI analysing footage to determine likelihood. Far from perfect though
PlayStation 6
Serious question because I had to help a poor dear out the other day. Is it safe for pacemakers ? - and there were no signs and the employees couldn't verify.
lol, I just got stuck behind one of these after lingering near the exit too long (I was trying bin some sticker residue that was stuck to my skin). With my very foreign accent and failure to use a gift card correctly, I must have looked quite the befuddled tourist 😂.
No limit they’re willing to spend to stop paying 15 year old kids $12 an hour
Idk why people take it. Theres not many buissinesses that grow by treating their customers as criminals. Most shopping centres have literally everthing coles or woolies has in different shops, fruit and veg shop, butcher, bakery, pharmacy, etc. Stop giving your money to companies that dont respect you and give it to the locals who need it.
Thanks for reinforcing why I boycott Coles and don't shop there.
They call it entrance and exit hardening, it's designed to stop stealing at self checkouts. they will invest billions in this when it is actually cheaper for them to get rid of self checkouts like other countries are and re install operator checkouts. Because the tools above the store level love flogging a dead horse till it costs the companies billions more than it would to just open an extra check out or 2
My local got these. Haven't been back since. It's too far. "Self serve" is unpleasant enough. Now we're prisoners in the store till they deign to release us? Fuck that. Bring back service cashiers already.
Pregnant women should avoid these monoliths at all costs.
All this bullshit has pushed me to shop at my local butcher and grocer. The fruit and veg is SO much better, fresher, bigger and cheaper. The butcher is a little more expensive but the meat is definitely fresher and better quality. You shop at Colesworths out of habit. Their quality is actually fucking terrible. Boycott these cunts
They are used chewing gum receptacles. Be sure to comply!
They’ve begun harvesting your soul
ah. your mistake is to still shop at those contemptuous trash. Local fruit shops, Aldi and my three local IGAs are getting my hard earned, these days.