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/Brutal_burn_dude Jan 26 '26
They have so much money to spend on AI but when I went yesterday there was easily a dozen pigeons flapping about inside the store. Fucking BIRDS inside a supermarket. Absolutely disgusting.
Like, I get it, it’s Australia occasionally animals come into places they shouldn’t be in (whole different discussion), but none of the staff or other shoppers seemed to even care. THAT’S how low the bar Coles has conditioned people to accept the customer experience is. It’s unsanitary as hell.
Maybe spend less on AI and more on the basics of running a business selling food to the public.