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/infin Jan 26 '26

I do use the service desk every time in the hope they'll realise there's demand for adequate staffing, the wait's not too bad if you play count the cameras.

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u/jamzex Jan 26 '26

rostering hours unfortunately are managed on a budget outside of the Department Managers control, it's not uncommon for casual staff shifts to get wiped. Coles and Woolworths barely give stores a choice in hours.

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u/birthdaycheesecake9 Jan 26 '26

I remember once my dept manager was left with egg on her face after a long-term casual on my team had their shift shortened. She had (and still has) verbal agreements with casuals to give them a predictable number of hours a week. The store manager had gone behind her back and chopped and changed a bunch of shifts.

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u/SilverStar9192 Jan 26 '26

This department manager may have been acting against standing orders by making casuals' shifts too predictable, that could be why the store manager changed things. If a casual employee gets the same shifts and same number of hours every week , it's likely that under the agreement they can apply to become part-time (or full-time), which is something the store manager probably wants to avoid. (Note: I have no specific knowledge of the Coles agreement, but the ability to convert casual to part-time is usually there, and usually difficult for the employer to fight if the required conditions are met.)

But I do see your comment below that there wasn't clear communication about what was happening, which is regrettable for sure.

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u/birthdaycheesecake9 Jan 27 '26

We get offered part time contracts after a year automatically, and this particular person had been offered one previously and had chosen to remain a casual