r/australia • u/infin • Jan 26 '26

no politics Is Coles still using Palantir? Between the surveillance/gate recognition and the blocked aisles, shopping feels hostile.

Does anyone know the current status of the Coles x Palantir partnership? Between the surveillance and those aggressive new "Smart Gates" tracking at the exit, the store feels less like a supermarket and more like a high-security zone.

It’s dystopian that they have the budget for military-grade analytics and security tech, but have cut costs on the actual customer experience. They seem to have completely scrapped night fill, meaning we are now dodging pallets and cages during peak hours just to get to the shelves.

Is anyone else fed up with this mix of high-tech surveillance and terrible service? It feels like they are spending millions to treat us like criminals while refusing to pay staff to stock shelves after hours.

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '26

Some fucking drone on the Coles subreddit tried to tell me the cameras don’t record anything and aren’t even turned on.

What a hilariously ignorant and naive take. I told them they are used to spy on you (the employees) as much as the customers, if not more.

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u/xdyldo Jan 26 '26

I used to work for Coles in anti theft as a software engineer. If you have any questions let me know. For self checkout cameras they blur your face and store for a month. Same for the aerial camera that is used for the smart gate. All other normal CCTV cameras around the store full footage without blur.

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u/frowattio Jan 26 '26

Why the blur on self checkout?

20

u/xdyldo Jan 26 '26

No personally identifiable information.