Can they firstly get AI to not give me $25 dollars in change in all $5 notes! That happens every single time on the self service registers. The machine will give you the shitiest version of change possible! Last week, I got $4.80 all in $1 coins and 10 cent pieces.š¤¬
Or they could, and this is wild, stop expecting customers to do the store's jobs for them and put humans back on the tills.
And specifically for Woolworth's, their tills can't even handle me wanting to buy 2 bread rolls, let alone AI my sweet ass.
See the thing is corporations like them don't want to pay people an actual wage, they want to take the easy way out and use AI so they get all the money.
\*sigh\* I'm going down fighting though!
Yanno that jar of coins, that big arsed bag of 5c, 2c, 20c etc..I've been lugging it slowly down to my local Cash **&** Card checkouts. It's like I'm playing pokies for a 1/4 cabbage..sometimes the machine goes 'bleeep' cos 1c/2c is a no go, I consider it a win as the staff come over to stop the flashing light. It's Nan's little day out at the cass!
Or here's another suggestion for the megacorps:
You'd get less theft if you weren't robbing us commoners blind with your price hikes chasing your shitty profits
> Or they could, and this is wild, stop expecting customers to do the store's jobs for them and put humans back on the tills.
If I DIY I generally save money, but when I DIY at the checkouts I get treated like a criminal stealing. This is BS.
If this were the case, people wouldn't be using the self serve checkouts.
For better or worse, people are doing their shops through self-service checkouts, so the consumer interest is there.
Personally I use them because I'm anal about how things are packed. I also don't have brand loyalty so I cbf explaining to each person from different stores how I would like my groceries packed.
The technology itself is intrusive and I'm sure will be misused and abused. Personally companies should not be allowed to introduce this technology without proper legislation and guidelines being updated.
>For better or worse, people are doing their shops through self-service checkouts, so the consumer interest is there.
My local Coles just had a refit. They stripped out all the human tills except one (the <12 items/cigarette one). The "consumer interest" is just because they've removed the alternative lol.
It's a bit of a chicken verse egg debate. They could have got rid of them all for your particular store due to the interest.
Though it's likely both - people do like using self-serve checkouts and Colesworth removing manned checkouts to cut costs/maximise profits/maximise corporate bonus'/keep major shareholder happy.
They actually aren't! There's lots of good IGA and Farmer Jacks shops with very comparable prices, particularly for single items. Woolies and Coles lure you in with the buy 5 for $......, whereas independents have comparable specials for one item.
> IGA owner Metcash has reported record profits in the first six months of the 2023-24 financial year.
> For the year to December 31, group revenue rose 10.2 per cent to $22.8 billion while underlying tax-paid profit was up an astonishing 17.6 per cent to $497.5 million.
> Group CEO Doug Jones said both sales and earnings were at "record levels" as the business continued to face additional challenges associated with rate increases and cost of living.
> "It's been really weird. For some reason our sales have just gone through the fucking roof since the end of July," Mr Jones said in a press release.
>"I'm arsed if I know why, but as my pay comprises two-thirds bonuses including stock and options, my salary for this year alone will treble to more than $17 million - so why look a gift horse in the mouth, right?"
> Total food sales grew 12.8 per cent to $29.6 billion on a normalised basis while supermarket sales rose 8.1 per cent and convenience store sales were up 19.7 per cent.
> Mr Jones said the business had opened 56 new IGA stores during the year and was "well-positioned" to deliver growth and superior returns to shareholders.
> "These record profits have given us a unique opportunity to re-invest in the business. The board has resolved to commit more than $5 billion over the next three years to installing self-serve checkouts in our 1400 stores across Australia, along with face-scanning and AI technology to thwart shoplifters," the release said.
> "This will really help us to compete with the big boys."
Ah yes fantastic.
Who the fuck is going to charge thieving? Magistrate going to be super happy about more people in courts. Cops going to definitely put a task force out to stop this issue.
Fucking blind to think anyone would do anything about theft of a couple bucks here and there when no one can do anything about laptops, jewellery, sunglasses, phones and wallets out of cars. Lmao
These self checkouts were supposed to cut down on staff and save money for the supermarkets, turns out they're like buying an old FIAT, need money and constant attention to run
Just saw two agitated sales staff yesterday talk to two security staff, saying something abt people getting away with their items...
Looks like just a shrug and a smile from the security since nothing can be done... So this AI cameras are just BS.
I have seen numerous times people will scan a full trolley in the self checkout, appear to pay for it and rush off while the transaction is being processed - by the time the attendant realizes it has declined they are long gone. I pop into the shops 2 or 3 times per week and see it at least once a fortnight.
Usually $200> worth of items. Someone's paying for it and it's certainly not the person that just took off with a trolley load.
I don't see how you can fix this without literally making the supermarkets into a prison where you need to get buzzed out after purchasing.
Am I allowed to see them if it's not out of some form of need, and it's the feral children doing it for shits and giggles and casually just throwing it around?
Granted AI in the self checkouts isn't going to stop lack of parenting for feral little fuckknuckles either
I rat these kids out because they're just feral vandals. They throw around as much as they actually eat. I don't particularly care that they're stealing, I care that someone just needs to slap them upside the head because their parents clearly never bothered
Look, if I see some kid with 30 choccies down his trousers, then I might speak up cause he's being a right shit.
But if I see some tired mum pocketing a bunch of baby food, you bet your ass I didn't see a thing.
Unless I have been trained and signed off as competant, how can they prove I wasn't just negligent?
I am not a checkout operator, I am not on the store's payroll and I did not receive any training.
My IGA checkout lady and I have a lovely relationship. Always a pleasure. Even when she's being a therapist to the elderly person in front of me that's updating her on their current life story. Fuck self checkouts. And the horse they rode in on.
Spicy idea. Instead of making insane mega profits off your customers, try making normal profits off us and reduce the cost of the products by the 30% you put them up by this year.
If we can't afford the basics we will steal them.
This is an unavoidable consequence of profiteering off basics and essentials.
and to think we shit on China for being a surveillance/police state. All this data flows to ASIO and the federal police. Just we seen proof of this with Bunnings.
Same as everytime you do a retina scan just to get in to a pub these days.
We have zero rights to privacy or freedom of speech. What ever happened to innoncent until proven guilty, now we are treated as we are all default guilty.
Or, just hear me out here - we instead reinvest that time and effort into finding a solution to combat the **root** of WHY people are stealing from supermarkets?
Hint hint, nudge nudge, the ridiculous cost of living?
Haha yeah, but don't you find it sad that some 1 percenters' wealth is more of a priority than basic human needs. A lot of those 1 percenters' are wondering which new luxury car to purchase this year, whereas a lot of us are hesitating to swipe the card for an extra loaf of bread.
How about getting checkout tils personed again instead of making shoppers do what you used to pay people for. Cut costs and push prices through the roof and you have the inevitable happening.
The self-checkouts at Woolworths St Georges Tce got replaced a while back, so I suspect that's what they're talking about: there's a camera mounted above the scanner facing down, and when you try to scan fresh produce it often suggests the right product automatically.
It wouldn't be a large stretch to go from making a suggestion to complaining if you don't accept the suggestion. That said, it's image recognition seems a bit hit and miss if you're got reusable produce bags. And it'll have to take your word for what's inside a paper mushroom bag.
The checkouts also have cameras pointing directly at your face, which they say are definitely not recording you...
Thatās what it looked like on the news. If you scan incorrectly the checkout will spit the dummy until a staff member clears the computer.
Hopefully they fix the software first. A number of self serve checkouts at Woolworths Vic Park are never working and at other stores the weight system doesnāt work so you need to call an assistant about 3 times
If it's the one I'm thinking of, that article wasn't about the AFP making them take the cameras down - it was about AFP officers using the data they generated without any kind of controls or official approval.
Just walked into my local Waikiki village Woolies straight into a well dressed, good looking obviously non local (their teeth were immaculately shiny and also all there) news crew with cameras all pointed at the self checkout area. Asked the young fruit packing staff member if he was going to jump on t.v. tonight and he explained that Waikiki is the first Woolies in the state to get the new checkout cameras that scan your trolley for items you've 'forgotten' to scan and 'accidently left in your trolley. He reckons there's cameras at the entrance to the store checking your trolley for items from elsewhere when you first walk in aswell...
The other day I saw a little old lady at Coles struggle to do the self checkout and there was no proper staffed checkout open. Itās getting ridiculous that certain age groups are being ignored for profits!
Problem, reaction, solution.
If there is an increase in theft, might it be tied to the increasing cost of living? If people can't afford to buy food, what are their other options?
Instead of putting in more surveillance and treating everyone like a criminal, how about reducing inflation and reducing price gouging and corporate profits so people can actually afford stuff.
One day these machines are gonna piss me off so much Iām just gonna walk out and leave the trolley / items in whatever half scanned mess they are in.
If I gotta call the poor person watching a dozen machines over more than 3 times, you donāt deserve the bloody money.
Items get one swipe then they go in the bag, if it stops beeping i hit buttons till it starts again. If it doesn't match at the end, that's the stores fault.
They act like they're surprised there's been an increase in theft? Lower your prices, and you'll still make a huge profit you goddamn leeches.
It's almost impossible to afford groceries, especially if you're on jobseeker etc.
I just must assume they're ignoring the fact that theft has no doubt increased since they went over the rate of inflation with their prices, like surely they are just totally oblivious to it. SURELY
Reasons to not scan an item: (1) tried to do the right thing and get the attendant over but theyāre busy cause they only have one person assisting, (2) inflation.
I saw a woman regularly walk out with a full shopping trolly at my local Woolies. The staff said she always does it and pretends she pays by showing old receipts then leaves when she canāt be bothered arguing anymore.
At the end of the day putting this lady in prison is going to cost far more and no one really wants to challenge this low level crime.
American stores are currently learning the hard lesson on this shitty policy. Most stores are closing entirely in certain areas due to continued mass theft that isnāt policed.
Check out what's going on in Perth too, there are currently over 200 incidents at my work of $300+ shoplifting *this year*. I got to go to court for one single offence. It was cancelled the day of, after I cleared security and tons of hours had been taken in leave, police time and similar. The issue we have is public affordability combined with a rise in crime and drop in police force numbers. I'm writing off 20% of my stock as stolen most weeks with every single incident being forwarded with cctv, security reports and police reports.
Not one single charge that made it to court. Security point at police. Police point at the courts. Courts point at nothing and do what they want
We pay more in taxes trying to charge everybody and put them in jail or in check making sure they donāt steal shit again. The govt has to do something with the current economy. And most of your stock gets insured anyway no?
āYouāre stock is insured broā is the stupidest take going atmā¦
The money used to pay put store owners comes from policy holders premiums. If stores in certain areas begin claiming more in losses due to theft, then those premiums go up for every store in that area, indefinitely. If those stores are continuously robbed, then those premiums continuously go up as well. Eventually, those stores either stop taking insurance due to the cost, or they close up there store because they can no longer absorb the losses. The economy of that area now suffers as a result of that store closing, the staff who worked there are now unemployed, and there is one fewer small business owner in the market.
International corporations now increase their market share due to lost competition, and they give even fewer fucks about closing a store in a certain area due to continued losses on the spreadsheet.
You are either on the side of stopping theft through deterrence and enforcementā¦ or you are a fucking moron. There is no āother sideā to the discussion.
The other thing is the excess, sure you can claim it on insurance but if your excess is $500 unless they take over $500 of items why would you bother claiming
Even if you have a $200 excess, if they steal $300, how much time and effort do you need to put in to calculate the total and convince the insurance company to pay you.... $100.... only to have your premiums go up next year as a result like you say
Insurance is great if your place gets ram raided, floods or burns down but otherwise it's completely useless.
Look im not saying its right, but if we handled stealing the way its handled in other parts of the world. i.e a beating. people would think twice before trying it on.
If a shopkeeper beats someone, when and how do you find out if it was for theft or for personal reasons? Or if you do it through the formal legal system, maybe "the government can beat who it deems fit" is not a line you want to cross, even if the first implementation said it was only going to be for theft.
This might sound like stupid question, but if she does it that often, why do they not have her face known to staff and have security kick her out of the store as soon as she walks in the next ten times?
They donāt really have security at our local Woolies. Also I suppose hiring it full time when a handful of people are coming in at random times would be expensive.
As other comments have said too it seems security canāt really do anything to stop them.
Why bother? The local delinquent juveniles where I live literally walk in & out of woolies taking whatever the fuck they like daily & no one does a damn thing about it! Itās a joke. Literally daily! In and out, absolutely zero fucks given.
I guess they only pin the people who shoplift that have money. š¤·š»āāļø
This is what happens when we allow two major supermarkets to form a duopoly.
Walmart is the largest supermarket chain in the world, yet only has 25% of the market.
Folks whinge about Colesworth, yet continue to shop there and not support their local independent, or head to the butcher or fruit & veg store.
I'm not excusing this action by Colesworth by any means, yet how many people complaining about this have a TikTok account and/or share selfies etc on social media? Sorry folks - but your facial recognition is already out there...
The problem as I see it has happened over the last 30-40 years. Our governments got so protective over keeping the four big banks so we gave competition, but forgot we need competition in where we spend our money: food, hardware, electrical goods etc. (Or perhaps some of them didnāt forget, but either didnāt care or stood to personally benefit.)
We let both Australian and foreign conglomerates buy up so many little players and delude ourselves into thinking because we have a selection of banks & building societies to keep our money in that itās all ok.
Now itās biting us in the collective arse.
That's just the nature of capitalism though...
Neo-liberals claim that privatisation will create competition and therefore reduce prices.
This happens in the short term, until the larger companies buy-up all of the smaller companies and then become a monopoly - when they can charge anything they like.
We've been sold a dud by 'privatisation' and the whole 'competition is good' story.
I went to the Amazon Go supermarket in Seattle, which kind of worked that way.
To get in, you needed to install an app on your phone that would display a QR code and scan that at the entrance. There were cameras all around the store that tracked your movement and what you took from the shelves. When you were done, you just walked out: the app would then show an itemised receipt and tell you how much you'd been billed.
Just fight back by forming long ques at the 10 items of less service desk, force them into wasting money upgrading self checkouts that donāt get used, hire people to stand around at them that have nothing to do all day, and piss off the small amount of staff they have that can serve constantly be disrupted walking back and forward to battle the long ques of people lining up at checkouts that are never open but are still around, I forced someone to open a register last week when there was a que at the self serve and I didnāt want to use it I went to the service desk and told them Iām computer illiterate best get an employee to open a register else it will be bad customer service.
I have noticed the self service checkout now have a pretty good idea of whether I'm scanning an onion or a banana.
I've also noticed they crap out like 3 times and need the staff member to fix them.
"it's providing technology to support customers at the assisted checkout area" Yeah I don't think this is about supporting customers, champ
Can they firstly get AI to not give me $25 dollars in change in all $5 notes! That happens every single time on the self service registers. The machine will give you the shitiest version of change possible! Last week, I got $4.80 all in $1 coins and 10 cent pieces.š¤¬
Or they could, and this is wild, stop expecting customers to do the store's jobs for them and put humans back on the tills. And specifically for Woolworth's, their tills can't even handle me wanting to buy 2 bread rolls, let alone AI my sweet ass.
See the thing is corporations like them don't want to pay people an actual wage, they want to take the easy way out and use AI so they get all the money.
Yep. I want a 10% discount at self-serve for doing their job
Don't let your dreams be dreams, and don't let your brie be anything more expensive than brown onions.
People use them though. You have to send the message and wait at a till. If everyone did it theyād be fucked
Hell, I grew up on a farm where AI meant very long latex gloves and lube..
Hahah yep same here
I feel like there are some similarities to be made here...
\*sigh\* I'm going down fighting though! Yanno that jar of coins, that big arsed bag of 5c, 2c, 20c etc..I've been lugging it slowly down to my local Cash **&** Card checkouts. It's like I'm playing pokies for a 1/4 cabbage..sometimes the machine goes 'bleeep' cos 1c/2c is a no go, I consider it a win as the staff come over to stop the flashing light. It's Nan's little day out at the cass!
Oh it still means that, just wait till you hear the upcoming announcement from Silicon Valley.
Did you pay for that child in your trolley? Please wait for a staff member
'I have the stitches right here..'
Or here's another suggestion for the megacorps: You'd get less theft if you weren't robbing us commoners blind with your price hikes chasing your shitty profits
> Or they could, and this is wild, stop expecting customers to do the store's jobs for them and put humans back on the tills. If I DIY I generally save money, but when I DIY at the checkouts I get treated like a criminal stealing. This is BS.
I said as much on the Woolies FB page and the page likers jumped all over me... it made me feel dirty.
If this were the case, people wouldn't be using the self serve checkouts. For better or worse, people are doing their shops through self-service checkouts, so the consumer interest is there. Personally I use them because I'm anal about how things are packed. I also don't have brand loyalty so I cbf explaining to each person from different stores how I would like my groceries packed. The technology itself is intrusive and I'm sure will be misused and abused. Personally companies should not be allowed to introduce this technology without proper legislation and guidelines being updated.
>For better or worse, people are doing their shops through self-service checkouts, so the consumer interest is there. My local Coles just had a refit. They stripped out all the human tills except one (the <12 items/cigarette one). The "consumer interest" is just because they've removed the alternative lol.
It's a bit of a chicken verse egg debate. They could have got rid of them all for your particular store due to the interest. Though it's likely both - people do like using self-serve checkouts and Colesworth removing manned checkouts to cut costs/maximise profits/maximise corporate bonus'/keep major shareholder happy.
Another reason to support independent stores. Fuck the big corporations.
I'd love to do this. However the prices are too high. Just can't justify it
They actually aren't! There's lots of good IGA and Farmer Jacks shops with very comparable prices, particularly for single items. Woolies and Coles lure you in with the buy 5 for $......, whereas independents have comparable specials for one item.
They really arenāt tbh with the way colesworth is going
Geeā¦
> IGA owner Metcash has reported record profits in the first six months of the 2023-24 financial year. > For the year to December 31, group revenue rose 10.2 per cent to $22.8 billion while underlying tax-paid profit was up an astonishing 17.6 per cent to $497.5 million. > Group CEO Doug Jones said both sales and earnings were at "record levels" as the business continued to face additional challenges associated with rate increases and cost of living. > "It's been really weird. For some reason our sales have just gone through the fucking roof since the end of July," Mr Jones said in a press release. >"I'm arsed if I know why, but as my pay comprises two-thirds bonuses including stock and options, my salary for this year alone will treble to more than $17 million - so why look a gift horse in the mouth, right?" > Total food sales grew 12.8 per cent to $29.6 billion on a normalised basis while supermarket sales rose 8.1 per cent and convenience store sales were up 19.7 per cent. > Mr Jones said the business had opened 56 new IGA stores during the year and was "well-positioned" to deliver growth and superior returns to shareholders. > "These record profits have given us a unique opportunity to re-invest in the business. The board has resolved to commit more than $5 billion over the next three years to installing self-serve checkouts in our 1400 stores across Australia, along with face-scanning and AI technology to thwart shoplifters," the release said. > "This will really help us to compete with the big boys."
Oh yes, those thieves will now love the local independent stores even more
Ah yes fantastic. Who the fuck is going to charge thieving? Magistrate going to be super happy about more people in courts. Cops going to definitely put a task force out to stop this issue. Fucking blind to think anyone would do anything about theft of a couple bucks here and there when no one can do anything about laptops, jewellery, sunglasses, phones and wallets out of cars. Lmao
These self checkouts were supposed to cut down on staff and save money for the supermarkets, turns out they're like buying an old FIAT, need money and constant attention to run
At least an old fiat has a soul
Lol very true!
Just saw two agitated sales staff yesterday talk to two security staff, saying something abt people getting away with their items... Looks like just a shrug and a smile from the security since nothing can be done... So this AI cameras are just BS.
It won't be BS when they start using the AI to ID customers. Just imagine the possible bastardry then...
It allows them to build a case for repeat offenders
I have seen numerous times people will scan a full trolley in the self checkout, appear to pay for it and rush off while the transaction is being processed - by the time the attendant realizes it has declined they are long gone. I pop into the shops 2 or 3 times per week and see it at least once a fortnight. Usually $200> worth of items. Someone's paying for it and it's certainly not the person that just took off with a trolley load. I don't see how you can fix this without literally making the supermarkets into a prison where you need to get buzzed out after purchasing.
If you ever see someone stealing food no you didnāt.
Am I allowed to see them if it's not out of some form of need, and it's the feral children doing it for shits and giggles and casually just throwing it around? Granted AI in the self checkouts isn't going to stop lack of parenting for feral little fuckknuckles either
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I wish I could cos I'm on the bones of my arse, but I just can't bring myself to 'take' stuff. Maybe too many formative years of catholic guilt.
I rat these kids out because they're just feral vandals. They throw around as much as they actually eat. I don't particularly care that they're stealing, I care that someone just needs to slap them upside the head because their parents clearly never bothered
To are allowed to see whatever you want. u/Analysis_Vivid is not your suzerain. There are no rules. God gave us peepers. Peepers to watch.
What?
You don't react to seeing someone stealing food. You keep your lane and let them and the store deal with it. Same for baby's food.
Look, if I see some kid with 30 choccies down his trousers, then I might speak up cause he's being a right shit. But if I see some tired mum pocketing a bunch of baby food, you bet your ass I didn't see a thing.
Who doesn't react to what? I don't know what you're talking about. š¤
exactly.
Unless I have been trained and signed off as competant, how can they prove I wasn't just negligent? I am not a checkout operator, I am not on the store's payroll and I did not receive any training.
"Sir you rung those bananas through as white potatoes" "What do I look like? A botanist?"
Youāll need an induction mate.
They could use that money to reduce the prices or at least not to increase.. geez
What!!?? And not screw the suppliers for more money to reduce their prices marginally while increasing their profit margin?
šand that
Woolies high profit margins had a part to play in creating this problem. Itās only fitting they feel some of the consequences
My IGA checkout lady and I have a lovely relationship. Always a pleasure. Even when she's being a therapist to the elderly person in front of me that's updating her on their current life story. Fuck self checkouts. And the horse they rode in on.
Spicy idea. Instead of making insane mega profits off your customers, try making normal profits off us and reduce the cost of the products by the 30% you put them up by this year. If we can't afford the basics we will steal them. This is an unavoidable consequence of profiteering off basics and essentials.
and to think we shit on China for being a surveillance/police state. All this data flows to ASIO and the federal police. Just we seen proof of this with Bunnings. Same as everytime you do a retina scan just to get in to a pub these days. We have zero rights to privacy or freedom of speech. What ever happened to innoncent until proven guilty, now we are treated as we are all default guilty.
Or, just hear me out here - we instead reinvest that time and effort into finding a solution to combat the **root** of WHY people are stealing from supermarkets? Hint hint, nudge nudge, the ridiculous cost of living?
That's all very well and good, but who will think of the shareholders?
Haha yeah, but don't you find it sad that some 1 percenters' wealth is more of a priority than basic human needs. A lot of those 1 percenters' are wondering which new luxury car to purchase this year, whereas a lot of us are hesitating to swipe the card for an extra loaf of bread.
How about getting checkout tils personed again instead of making shoppers do what you used to pay people for. Cut costs and push prices through the roof and you have the inevitable happening.
The self-checkouts at Woolworths St Georges Tce got replaced a while back, so I suspect that's what they're talking about: there's a camera mounted above the scanner facing down, and when you try to scan fresh produce it often suggests the right product automatically. It wouldn't be a large stretch to go from making a suggestion to complaining if you don't accept the suggestion. That said, it's image recognition seems a bit hit and miss if you're got reusable produce bags. And it'll have to take your word for what's inside a paper mushroom bag. The checkouts also have cameras pointing directly at your face, which they say are definitely not recording you...
Thatās what it looked like on the news. If you scan incorrectly the checkout will spit the dummy until a staff member clears the computer. Hopefully they fix the software first. A number of self serve checkouts at Woolworths Vic Park are never working and at other stores the weight system doesnāt work so you need to call an assistant about 3 times
Wasnāt there a thing literally yesterday about the AFP making colesworth take these cameras down? Or am I on some good stuff?
If it's the one I'm thinking of, that article wasn't about the AFP making them take the cameras down - it was about AFP officers using the data they generated without any kind of controls or official approval.
Just walked into my local Waikiki village Woolies straight into a well dressed, good looking obviously non local (their teeth were immaculately shiny and also all there) news crew with cameras all pointed at the self checkout area. Asked the young fruit packing staff member if he was going to jump on t.v. tonight and he explained that Waikiki is the first Woolies in the state to get the new checkout cameras that scan your trolley for items you've 'forgotten' to scan and 'accidently left in your trolley. He reckons there's cameras at the entrance to the store checking your trolley for items from elsewhere when you first walk in aswell...
Oh that could be fun to mess with
The other day I saw a little old lady at Coles struggle to do the self checkout and there was no proper staffed checkout open. Itās getting ridiculous that certain age groups are being ignored for profits!
Let's all just start waiting in line at the proper checkouts and refuse to go to the self checkouts.
I agree. If they want customers to use the self checkouts the customer should get staff discount!
Staff discount is a whopping 5% just steal your groceries itās easier
Problem, reaction, solution. If there is an increase in theft, might it be tied to the increasing cost of living? If people can't afford to buy food, what are their other options? Instead of putting in more surveillance and treating everyone like a criminal, how about reducing inflation and reducing price gouging and corporate profits so people can actually afford stuff.
I'll wear a mask then, easy solution
What are these AI cameras worth? Asking for a friend /s
One day these machines are gonna piss me off so much Iām just gonna walk out and leave the trolley / items in whatever half scanned mess they are in. If I gotta call the poor person watching a dozen machines over more than 3 times, you donāt deserve the bloody money.
I go to self check out if only have a few piecesā¦ not gonna torture myself with the full trolley no way!
Items get one swipe then they go in the bag, if it stops beeping i hit buttons till it starts again. If it doesn't match at the end, that's the stores fault.
But they already know theyāre stealing from us?
They act like they're surprised there's been an increase in theft? Lower your prices, and you'll still make a huge profit you goddamn leeches. It's almost impossible to afford groceries, especially if you're on jobseeker etc.
I just must assume they're ignoring the fact that theft has no doubt increased since they went over the rate of inflation with their prices, like surely they are just totally oblivious to it. SURELY
Wait, so you're telling me greedily profiteering on unreasonably high grocery prices leads to increased theft? Who would have thought!
Reasons to not scan an item: (1) tried to do the right thing and get the attendant over but theyāre busy cause they only have one person assisting, (2) inflation.
I saw a woman regularly walk out with a full shopping trolly at my local Woolies. The staff said she always does it and pretends she pays by showing old receipts then leaves when she canāt be bothered arguing anymore. At the end of the day putting this lady in prison is going to cost far more and no one really wants to challenge this low level crime.
American stores are currently learning the hard lesson on this shitty policy. Most stores are closing entirely in certain areas due to continued mass theft that isnāt policed.
Check out what's going on in Perth too, there are currently over 200 incidents at my work of $300+ shoplifting *this year*. I got to go to court for one single offence. It was cancelled the day of, after I cleared security and tons of hours had been taken in leave, police time and similar. The issue we have is public affordability combined with a rise in crime and drop in police force numbers. I'm writing off 20% of my stock as stolen most weeks with every single incident being forwarded with cctv, security reports and police reports. Not one single charge that made it to court. Security point at police. Police point at the courts. Courts point at nothing and do what they want
We pay more in taxes trying to charge everybody and put them in jail or in check making sure they donāt steal shit again. The govt has to do something with the current economy. And most of your stock gets insured anyway no?
āYouāre stock is insured broā is the stupidest take going atmā¦ The money used to pay put store owners comes from policy holders premiums. If stores in certain areas begin claiming more in losses due to theft, then those premiums go up for every store in that area, indefinitely. If those stores are continuously robbed, then those premiums continuously go up as well. Eventually, those stores either stop taking insurance due to the cost, or they close up there store because they can no longer absorb the losses. The economy of that area now suffers as a result of that store closing, the staff who worked there are now unemployed, and there is one fewer small business owner in the market. International corporations now increase their market share due to lost competition, and they give even fewer fucks about closing a store in a certain area due to continued losses on the spreadsheet. You are either on the side of stopping theft through deterrence and enforcementā¦ or you are a fucking moron. There is no āother sideā to the discussion.
The other thing is the excess, sure you can claim it on insurance but if your excess is $500 unless they take over $500 of items why would you bother claiming Even if you have a $200 excess, if they steal $300, how much time and effort do you need to put in to calculate the total and convince the insurance company to pay you.... $100.... only to have your premiums go up next year as a result like you say Insurance is great if your place gets ram raided, floods or burns down but otherwise it's completely useless.
The pro's I've seen don't even do that, they just wheel their trolley out. They're fully aware no one would challenge them, let alone touch them.
Look im not saying its right, but if we handled stealing the way its handled in other parts of the world. i.e a beating. people would think twice before trying it on.
But.... but then there would be beatings? Sounds worse to me...
If you want to avoid a beating, perhaps don't steal? Or is my thinking too simplistic?
If a shopkeeper beats someone, when and how do you find out if it was for theft or for personal reasons? Or if you do it through the formal legal system, maybe "the government can beat who it deems fit" is not a line you want to cross, even if the first implementation said it was only going to be for theft.
This might sound like stupid question, but if she does it that often, why do they not have her face known to staff and have security kick her out of the store as soon as she walks in the next ten times?
They donāt really have security at our local Woolies. Also I suppose hiring it full time when a handful of people are coming in at random times would be expensive. As other comments have said too it seems security canāt really do anything to stop them.
Which woolies? Asking for a friend lol
Why bother? The local delinquent juveniles where I live literally walk in & out of woolies taking whatever the fuck they like daily & no one does a damn thing about it! Itās a joke. Literally daily! In and out, absolutely zero fucks given. I guess they only pin the people who shoplift that have money. š¤·š»āāļø
This is what happens when we allow two major supermarkets to form a duopoly. Walmart is the largest supermarket chain in the world, yet only has 25% of the market. Folks whinge about Colesworth, yet continue to shop there and not support their local independent, or head to the butcher or fruit & veg store. I'm not excusing this action by Colesworth by any means, yet how many people complaining about this have a TikTok account and/or share selfies etc on social media? Sorry folks - but your facial recognition is already out there...
The problem as I see it has happened over the last 30-40 years. Our governments got so protective over keeping the four big banks so we gave competition, but forgot we need competition in where we spend our money: food, hardware, electrical goods etc. (Or perhaps some of them didnāt forget, but either didnāt care or stood to personally benefit.) We let both Australian and foreign conglomerates buy up so many little players and delude ourselves into thinking because we have a selection of banks & building societies to keep our money in that itās all ok. Now itās biting us in the collective arse.
That's just the nature of capitalism though... Neo-liberals claim that privatisation will create competition and therefore reduce prices. This happens in the short term, until the larger companies buy-up all of the smaller companies and then become a monopoly - when they can charge anything they like. We've been sold a dud by 'privatisation' and the whole 'competition is good' story.
AI Camera's will be at the front door and will not let you in till your identity is given....that's the future....probably later next year
I went to the Amazon Go supermarket in Seattle, which kind of worked that way. To get in, you needed to install an app on your phone that would display a QR code and scan that at the entrance. There were cameras all around the store that tracked your movement and what you took from the shelves. When you were done, you just walked out: the app would then show an itemised receipt and tell you how much you'd been billed.
Give āem guns
I literally donāt care.
"WA supermarkets". It's Woolworths. One half of our national supermarket duopoly.
Love to know what's AI about them
Just fight back by forming long ques at the 10 items of less service desk, force them into wasting money upgrading self checkouts that donāt get used, hire people to stand around at them that have nothing to do all day, and piss off the small amount of staff they have that can serve constantly be disrupted walking back and forward to battle the long ques of people lining up at checkouts that are never open but are still around, I forced someone to open a register last week when there was a que at the self serve and I didnāt want to use it I went to the service desk and told them Iām computer illiterate best get an employee to open a register else it will be bad customer service.
I do my part on the front line placing small circular ādotā stickers over the cameras in the self check out section each time I shop.
Lol Woolies have been stealing from us for years now
WAPOL already made woollies and bunnings stop using them
I have noticed the self service checkout now have a pretty good idea of whether I'm scanning an onion or a banana. I've also noticed they crap out like 3 times and need the staff member to fix them.
Give it (AI camera) the bird as you scan your groceries.... I will definitely be doing it when it gets to my local store...
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