I'm not sure if Coles is rolling out their new loss prevention technology Australia wide or just in some areas profiled as being dodgy.
In our local stores, if I enter to browse and/or do price comparisons and try to leave without purchasing anything, I have to ask permission to be allowed out which I find demeaning and embarrassing. This is a first for me, not being free to leave a market empty handed without having to explain myself. What's next, being frisked, or detained?
@jv: No self serve in the stores Ive been to. Many customers have trolleys, or are large, combined with a narrow checkout, makes it hard to leave at busy times.
Was I detained without knowing??
It’s the fact that we are all treated with suspicion now , maybe they need to do real loss prevention by employing someone to watch the monitors and catch the actual shoplifters .
They did that, hence all the cameras in the self serve checkouts to stop people scanning everything as brown onions.
Not a fan of these gates. It’s very uncomfortable feeling like you can’t freely and easily leave a space. Given supermarkets control our ability to access essential goods, especially food, there should be restrictions on how they operate.
Businesses that have control over the supply chain of food have greater accountability and responsibility to the public than being able to use that cheap throw away line.
Loo
You find having to ask to leave demeaning and embarrassing?
You didn’t have to enter.
To avoid your hurt feelings shop elsewhere.
(They are already detaining you btw).
They have no legal right to detain you.
OP isn't detained, they can ask for the gate to be open and they will open it.
IF there is a staff member free. I’ve had to wait a few times, even after I’ve paid. If you do something else after paying, eg look at a notice board, try and find the catalogues, the gates seem to forget you.
You shouldn’t need to ask.
If they want gates, they should put a staff member to be there all the time.
As a 1L law student, I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the tort of false imprisonment. It’s objectively reasonable to jump over the barrier or forcibly open it providing for a reasonable means of escape.
Assuming you aren’t committing the criminal act of larceny.
False imprisonment in some states and deprivation of liberty in others. There was a big discussion on Reddit months ago when these were introduced and it would only take someone to challenge it. There was a story of someone in a wheelchair getting stuck by one.
So push em open.
Many of them are now motorised sliders that you can’t push
You can still push them as part of the panic functionality.
So how many cases have you run and at what level of court?
Could the store ban you for doing that? Since it’s private property they can refuse entry to whoever they want?
Supermarkets are happy to try and stop you, but only if you are not of a certain recently introduced racial group that is thought to be sometimes dangerous and prone to violence (group not named, as I'm sure it's not every one of them, just the bad eggs. I live in the western suburbs of Melbourne).
I did my shopping at Aldi the other day, walked into a nearby Woolworths with the Aldi trolley and groceries in bags to grab three more items. On the way out, the self-checkout attendant questioned me about the Aldi groceries and then insisted on trying to pull each and every item out of the bags (there were five full bags).
Halfway through bag one, I let her know that I was leaving and that I had swiped my rewards card, so I would be easily identified if I did steal the five bags of groceries full of brands that Woolworths doesn't stock. She still insisted on rummaging through the bags, so I just pushed the trolley past her and left.
The same store regularly has these aforementioned bad eggs who will push whole trolleys out the door without paying and aren't even harassed because the store has a policy not to approach them due to safety concerns.
A rewards card is not an ID
It does link the transaction to a person, who has supplied contact info.
What if the self checkout cameras start using facial recognition?
Get expensive facial reconstruction surgery so you can still checkout wagyu as onions.
Im aware of that, but more to the point I very much doubt someone who is attempting go steal a trolley full of groceries is stopping to get rewards points on the 3-4 items theyve purchased at that store.
Ive never stolen anything but the supermarket i dont have to but only just. The supermarket duopoly only have themselves to blame for an uptrend in theft anyway.
You can thank the thieving scum for drastic measures such as this and I don't blame retailers in some areas implementing draconian measures, especially when our courts are so absolutely derelict in their duties to protect the public in delivering any kind of punishment/deterrent for such vulgar behaviour which only validates/incentivises these vile thieves to continue to commit crime. You can also thank them for their contribution to rising ticket prices; supermarkets and other retailers need to make up for their losses by raising prices and guess who pays for that?
and I don't blame retailers in some areas implementing draconian measures
I do, this wouldn't even be an issue if we didn't have 'self checkouts'.
You can also thank them for their contribution to rising ticket prices
Thats inflation for you at the moment, sure a small bit is from theft, but 99% is inflation
sure a small bit is from theft
I don't think you appreciate what impact it has on prices and by the same extension, inflation. It's an unfortunate fact that honest people pay for grubby thieves.
And you can blame the supermarkets for a rise in theft and pushing many people below the poverty line. Good example i saw today was $24.10 for 10 cans of coke zero, pre-covid the regular non sale price was $12-13.
when items are "half price" / "on special" the supermarkets are not making a lose. they are just not making as much profit from those items.
more often than not, when I check out the "clearance" section of my local coles or woolworths, the items on "clearance" are still priced more expensively than when they have been "on sale" previously.
LOL ten cans of coke for $24. You are ridiculous.
Not sure why I am rediculous i didnt set the price, wouldnt pay it either. Currently $19 at coles so thats a step in the right direction.
I often go in just to browse for discounted stock and end up not buying anything. At those times, in any store I am in, I happily show my bags on the way out. People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
In these times of high theft rates I think businesses have to take measures to prevent it or deter it as ultimately it is the rest of us consumers who will end up paying for it somehow, someway in higher prices and/or margins to cover their losses.
What loses? They literally made a BILLION dollars profit last year. Doesn't sound like they're losing much. Wake up
I got stopped by those auto gates at coles once, I just flung it open with both hands (I didn't buy anything either), and walked out with the stupid thing screeching behind me.
Detaining someone without legal cause is illegal in Australia.
Perhaps we should start a class action, anyone?
Australians are too lazy to do that.
You agree to their rules when you enter the store. Nobody is being illegally detained.
Only a cooker would start a class action. You don’t want to labeled a cooker, do you?
It is hilarious isn’t it. Imagine working with someone who has this sort of attitude. You really wouldn’t expect them to pitch in and help would you?
I've done the same. They won't ever do anything
The one time I was leaving Coles but the gate was closed I just pushed the trolley into it. Gate magically opened and I kept walking
The automatic gate at the self checkout will open if you give them a little push.
I had the same thing happen to me. I pushed through them, they did beep and flash red but I ignored it and kept going. They have no right to detain you - they can refuse to allow you to enter the store in future or refuse to serve you, but that's practically impossible to enforce.
What's your point?
People steal shit. They close the doors so people don't walk out with trolley loads of stuff, which they do constantly. So locked gates prevent that.
If you're too awkward to ask someone to open a gate politely, this seems like a you problem.
Strong disagree. How dare any shop try to detqin anyone who hasn't done anything wrong.
If the shop can't tell if someone has committed a crime or not, that's their problem. They don't get to punish the innocent just because they are unsure of something they may have done. If it's eating into their profit margins to do proper security, they don't get to put the burden back on consumers.
You're the reason our society is the way it is 🤦🏼♀️🤮
I'm the reason people are afraid to ask someone to open a door?
Why should I — someone who has never scanned avocados as brown onions let alone stolen from a supermarket before — be blocked from leaving the store after I’ve actually been honest and paid for all my stuff?
People are saying you can just kick these gates and they’ll open anyway, doesn’t that mean these gates are also badly designed and not fit for their intended purpose?
If the issue is people stealing trolley loads of goods they should make the exit narrow enough so people can walk through with bags of goods but not wide enough so people can push an trolley through. If that doesn’t work figure out an elegant solution that doesn’t punish the 99% because of the 1%.
Why should I — someone who has never scanned avocados as brown onions let alone stolen from a supermarket before — be blocked from leaving the store after I’ve actually been honest and paid for all my stuff?
I am not on the supermarket’s side here but I am playing the devil’s advocate - what would your response be if the opposing argument is - “Supermarket’s can’t outright tell who’s honest and who’s not, so it’s their business and they get to make the rules, you can chose to shop elsewhere if you want”
What would you say to that?
It’s a completely fair statement.
In that case I would tell the people who designed this solution to tackle it from the perspective of not “How can we prevent trolley loads of goods being stolen?” and instead “How can we prevent trolley loads of goods being stolen, without inconveniencing or annoying the majority of shoppers who actually do the right thing?” It’s like they didn’t even consider all the honest customers they have.
I’m sure there’s an elegant solution besides just plonking down a gate forcing everyone (even those who are only buying one or two items) to wait for the gates to open or to get the attendant to open it for them. If you can just kick or push the gates open then they aren’t even doing the job they were intended to do, which makes me wonder if Coles knew they can’t detain people against their will and so made them flimsy to work around that?
How can we prevent trolley loads of goods being stolen?” and instead “How can we prevent trolley loads of goods being stolen, without inconveniencing or annoying the majority of shoppers who actually do the right thing?”
I am sure they thought about all this more than you and I could in this moment, maybe they think that having that barricade is also partly symbolic, acts as a mental deterrent for would be thieves?
if Coles knew they can’t detain people against their will and so made them flimsy to work around that?
Good point
@Gervais fanboy: Yeah, these gates seem like more of a mental deterrent if anything. The problem is that they’re an annoyance to the people who are honest (which I would say is the majority of people).
Coles went the “cheap and fast” route with these gates.
The problem is that they’re an annoyance to the people who are honest (which I would say is the majority of people).
There’s a lot of things with the supermarkets that shows a complete lack of respect towards us customers, they treat us like suckers actually.
And they knowingly do that because they are in an obvious monopoly, they know that the majority of us have no option but to keep returning to their stores.
Also, I am 100% certain that Coles and Woolworths are colluding, atleast when it comes to pricing their products and maybe more..
At 2 of the 3 coles in my local area ive seen the gates broken on more than one occasion.
These gates arent stopping the type of people that steal a trolley of groceries.
The same shopping centres reguarly have people push trolleys full of alcohol out of liquorland etc.
No. It won't stop the brazen, experienced ones.
But there's many "opportunistic" thrives who were planning on paying but will walk out if they see an open opportunity, such as no one at the register or an open door and no one paying attention.
Id be suprised if its made a difference. Its really not hard to time your run to exit directly behind someone else, which triggers a pretty low volume alarm and the staff arent allowed/wont pursue anyone out side the boundary of the store.
But youre right it may have stopped those shoplifters who are actually concerned about getting caught, because i dont think many are, given the penalties are so miniscule.
I'd love to see how much loss Coles has suffered due to theft since the implementation of these barriers.
They have these at Penrith Nepean square and it's a place I regularly shop at.
Many false positives with the gate not opening so it's gotten to the point where I make sure that any shopping from other stores I ensure I have a physical receipt and bag Coles shopping distinctly from other stores.
Ultimately if they reduce ullage from their store network and that translates to sharper prices. I don't really care about prompting the staff member to open the gate.
You don't want to break the gate and be charged with malicious damage either.
Annoying yes, but Colesworth are significantly cheaper than my local IGA and speciality retailer such as the butcher and I buy many markdowns from meat and dairy.
I just budget the extra minute to go through the gate and wait for Gandalf. I shop with a small toddler and he likes the beeping anyway.
They have full time security posted at another store. Ww Caddens milling out the front like JB Hifi
I do wonder how some of you guys manage in life with your sense of grievance and entitlement. If you sweat the small stuff like this how do you deal with the bigger issues? I just wonder how many of the people who ticked “1984” have even read the book.
With people like Cossack and other youtubers like the sovereign citizens club people want to get offended about something rather than adjust their habits.
My young child used to get flagged as an unexpected item in the trolley when I was going through self serve. I don't think Coles sell 4 year Olds.
Absolutely. With the Sovereign citizens mob someone has found a way to monetise selfishness and stupidity. Somebody is making good coin out of this mob. Look at Murdoch’s current court case against his children. His argument is the best way to make coin is to stay hard right.
I just wonder how many of the people who ticked “1984” have even read the book.
Look up next time you're in the self check out area at the sea of cameras watching you.
I would say the majority of people do the right thing and are honest about their shopping. They don’t scan cheaper produce and they pay for everything. Probably 90% of people at least.
Why should the majority be punished by being forced to wait at these gates, step back and forth at them hoping they’ll open and/or hope to get the attendant’s attention because there are a few bad eggs out there who have stolen goods in the past, especially when supermarkets are making billions of dollars of profit lately?
I would have no issue if these gates just worked (i.e. actually opened) 100% of the time when I approach them (like how the entrance gates work) but at least half the time they don’t open and I have to stand there and move back and forth or get the attendant’s attention. People are saying you can just kick/push them and they’ll open, so what’s the point if you can just ram a trolley into them and they’ll open? So not only are they annoying to walk through but they’re also poorly engineered pieces of junk IMO, that should be reason enough to warrant disparagement of them.
I just wonder how many of the people who ticked “1984” have even read the book.
i thought it meant "owned or listened to the Eurythmics album"
I’d say most people have read 1984, pretty sure it was in the high school curriculum for many years.
Not necessarily sweating the small stuff but if we don’t speak up about things we don’t like in society it just goes ahead and changes society and it’s hard to get back from there. Gates to leave a shop is antisocial engineering and not a positive environment that promotes wellbeing.
It is annoying, but most times I just ask staff politely and just show bag if they want. Most times they just open the gates, I think some staff are equally annoyed with the new setup 🤷♀️
You ask? I just walk to the closest open register that is staffed by a human and just walk right on out.
Shhh, you can’t talk common sense. Some of these people think they are political prisoners. Just waiting for them to hold a hunger strike whilst waiting the minute for the doors to open.
Doesn't work at the two Coles stores I visit in Adelaide. There's a gate at the self service checkout, and a gate that every normal checkout customer must exit through.
I was at Cole’s and this guy with his hoody on was in the meat section putting heaps in a basket.
Thought it seemed sus, and at check out I saw him holding the basket balanced on his head with a hand, and walked straight out. All the staff could do was say, Mr Mr, do you need help?
This was last year before the gates, so I see what they’re trying to do.
These gates aren’t anything more than putting security cameras to deter theft, seen to be doing something helps. If you have done nothing wrong you’ll be fine.
I just stood there at the gate without asking to get out. Staff opened for me using their remote.
Amazing coincidence op put 1984 in the poll. I watched the movie for the first time a week ago and I'm part way through the book. Astonishing how far we are into that dystopia already and how many parallels can be drawn with the story.
As someone said… It was meant to be a warning not a guide book
'Brave New World' is the original book, written by Aldous Huxley. Definitely worth reading.
1984 is another side to the plan, written by his student many years later in response.
I'm intrigued now- will look it up!
Going to all the effort of driving to a supermarket just to look at the price of something and then leave completely empty handed is a thing? Lol good job ozbargain
There’s been times I have had to return empty handed because the specific product I was after happened to be out of stock..
Prices are online
You just need to wait for a family who have paid for their groceries then tail gate them out with your trolley full of meat
Imagine some of you guys dealing with the sacrifices and deprivations during WW2. It makes me despair looking at what society seems to have devolved into. People who are do fixated on the small stuff they miss the big stuff. Well I’ve tried to bring sanity into the conversation but it is pointless. I will leave you guys to this. No wonder you are being monetised and played like a fiddle by people who would take away your real freedoms and rights. It will be too late by the time you guys twig to it.
Funny you say that on a website dedicated to people actively avoiding being monetised. 😜
People who are do fixated on the small stuff they miss the big stuff.
What is the big stuff? Increasing inequality? Further destruction of the middle class? Climate change? CO2 emissions? Late stage capitalism (of which this is a symptom as businesses work to preserve their already-abundant profits)? The fact that our entire civilisation is based upon a cornerstone of cheap energy and that our current world only works the way it does because we happened upon a finite reserve of fossil fuels that took millions of years to form in very specific conditions (i.e. lack of microbes) which we are quickly burning through and that the demand for fossil fuels is only increasing and we only have about 50 years of oil left and that babies born today will be living in a very different world in the coming decades? Microplastics? Biodiversity loss? The loss of pollinators and insects which could affect entire food webs? Ocean acidification? Melting glaciers in the Antarctic? 30+ degree weather in some parts of the country in August? Antibiotic resistance? An increase in extreme weather events across the globe and domestically? The fact that agriculture makes up a huge chunk of emissions yet everyone won’t give up red meat to save the planet?
I don’t think focussing on an issue like these crappily-engineered gates precludes one from being able to focus on the larger issues. Questioning the introduction of these gates might mean one is more aware of what’s going on actually.
These issues suck energy out of the big things. People be some fixated on crappy shit and ignore the big issues.
Possibly. I think most people’s lives in general (e.g. working 9-5, raising kids etc.) does that to a way larger extent.
After 15 previous posts on this thread, it seems to me you are the one who is
fixated on the small stuff…….
The fact you are counting my posts says more about you than me.
What does the fact that you posted twice more after saying this
I will leave you guys to this.
say?
Screams "fixated" to me. 😊
@jackspratt: I’m not fixated on the gates. I’m wondering why people are letting themselves get fixated on trivial rubbish when there are much bigger issues to deal with. We keep getting this ludicrous posts and people get themselves in a lather. If people stop looking at the big picture then important stuff gets lost in the general buzz of outrage.
We keep getting this ludicrous posts
I posted about collapse once and people didn’t take it seriously. People are too selfish, how many would stop eating red meat or eat less of it to save the planet? Not enough to change the course of the future IMO.
@Ghost47: The earth will, eventually, shrug us off and start again. I wonder what the next dominant life form will be like? Humans just can’t get out of their own way.
How old are you?
I just push them open, they move very easily. The alarm goes off but no one cares. They are a shop, not a prison
Unless you are a staffmember.
Maybe this is future or have no supermarket at all. Look what happening in the us with heaps of stores closing.
Yeah but isn’t that down to the glorious 13% of doctors and engineers, organised in flash mobs looting stores?
Fortunately we don’t have any such problems here, yet.
I have to ask permission to be allowed out
How do they approach you?
When leaving?
Who approached you?
Exactly what do they say …
Got in and out since always and never an issue. Sometimes, since lately, the new "theft prevention gate" doesn't open immediately on approach but it has also happened after buying stuff.
Very strange.
Entering a store with no intentions of purchasing anything sounds annoying or suspicious to me. When I enter a supermarket my mission is to purchase at least one or two items. I don't like the loss prevention gates either, as a bit claustrophobic, but so far I just give them a look and they always open for me. I spend a substantial amount at supermarkets so if they started annoying me I would simply go elsewhere.
Am starting to prefer self checkouts so my bags are not loaded so heavily, but if I am tired I will seek out the regular manned ones.
Suspicious? I sometimes visit Coles to see if they have any lunch meals on special. No? Okay then, I exit the store and buy something from the next store. What exactly is suspicious about that?
@Ughhh:
You must have a weird shaped store. I just walk past the other customers, or walk through the self serve area. That's always empty.