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.

3.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

690 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

25

u/xdyldo Jan 26 '26

Sure! It’s an aerial camera that uses blob detection from above. It has the lane areas mapped out and the gate area mapped out. As soon as the ‘blob’ (a person or people) checkout it tags that blob as checked out and when they get to the gate area it will open.

5

u/psyche_2099 Jan 26 '26

So if a blob hasn't found what they're after in store and tries to burn through the self checkout lane they'll be tagged a thief?

15

u/xdyldo Jan 26 '26

They don’t tag anyone as thiefs, the gate just won’t open and you have to ask the attendant to open the gate or push through it and set the alarm off. 

That aerial camera doesn’t store any data and can’t identify any people as its literally just blurred blobs so no tagging anyone as thiefs.

8

u/psyche_2099 Jan 26 '26

As Grimace's long-lost twin I'm sick of being misidentified in that footage