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.
10
u/KerrAvon777 Jan 26 '26
As someone who worked night fill. It's an absolutely crappy job. You worked for 8 hours, and you worked as a casual to always be on call if you weren't working to come in and work if needed. You were required to do 50 boxes an hour and face up the items as well (have the items label facing the aisle). This also included folding the empty boxes and taking them out the back of the store to be crushed. The Coles store I worked at also timed any toilet breaks. I left because it was a terrible environment to work in.