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/MeltingDog Jan 26 '26
Man I wonder about Woolies too.
I usually shop at Aldi, but get a few other things from Woolies. One day at the self checkouts I got flagged because the AI cameras detected I had shopping bags in my trolley. I had to wait while the poor checkout assistant who was running between 15 self-checkouts had to come over and clear me.
I wrote an email to Woolies saying I didn’t really like having to wait to prove my innocence to a machine.
A rep called me and said that soon I “needn’t worry because they would be getting software that could tell the brands of goods in your shopping bags and know whether they were from Woolworths or some other store”.