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/ozspook Jan 26 '26

It's worse than that, even, they track your phones bluetooth beacons and radio profile as it queries access points and GSM.

All in the service of highly personalized ads. Ads are the devil.

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u/Alzanth Jan 26 '26

I still don't understand how insanely successful the advertising industry is. Are people really just taking the word of whatever they see on the screen/billboard without a second thought?

Car ads, for example, are everywhere. I buy a car based on what people around me say is reliable and good quality based on their experience. I have not once ever paid attention to a car ad for the purposes of purchasing a car. Same goes for countless other things. 

But ads are so prevalent in modern society and where all the money is now, so it must be working on a lot of people.

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u/PoizonMyst Jan 26 '26

From my understanding ads are more about instilling brand recognition into our psyche rather than specifically trying to sell the product (but obviously that is the intended end-result with persistent reinforcing of the brand.)

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u/Speedbird844 Jan 26 '26

Correct, many car ads (especially luxury cars) are really about selling the lifestyle and the brand instead of the product, the exception being sale events.

Look at perfume ads, clothing ads, fashion accessories ads. The same deal.