Coles are trialling new monitoring systems at their self service checkouts to combat theft
Oh dear. There goes the old "put everything through as carrots "scam.
Interestingly. I read an article in a US magazine around 20 years ago that that some US retailers were trialling RFID technology so that shoppers would not even need to take their items out of the trolley.
The RFID scanner would automatically pick up every item in the trolley and calculate the total amount payable.
I have never heard anything more regarding whatever happened to the technology.
The industry has been talking about RFID for years.
RFID won’t do much for fruit and veg (I hope). Those stupid little plastic stickers are bad enough.
The more fruit and veg you have, the less desirable it is to use self-service.
Perhaps the camera should be pointing at the scales and then the checkout can detect the fruit and veg automatically. That’s win-win i.e. less effort and faster for the customer and less theft for Coles.
LOL. Sign of the times. I was thinking 7", maybe 10". Oh, you mean that kind of tablet? Come to think of it, I don’t know what the article really means. Never mind.
One of the irritating things about self service checkout theft is that people think it’s a victimless crime, or that the only victim is a faceless mega-wealthy corporation. We all pay for this theft in the prices of the products we buy.
A few months ago when I got back to my car in the supermarket car park I found I had not paid for an item that had got hidden between bags in my trolley. I went back and paid for it. I don’t think that should be applauded any more than my wife should applaud me for doing the washing up.
The self service checkouts were installed as a cost saving measure, just like the ATMs were by banks. If they say anything to the contrary, they’re just blowing smoke!
I think that the irony of the situation is being overlooked. With the new security measures being installed the total cost of the self-service checkout process, including security measures, must be getting close to exceeding the cost of the old process of having staff processing the goods. If on the other hand, Coles and Woolworths are still ahead on costs, then why are they complaining?
Mayhaps it is time to move back to having staff working the checkouts??? I think that the customers would be happier.
I don’t think that that is entirely fair. There was a time when it was near impossible for someone who was in the workforce to get to a bank. ATMs extended the services offered by banks by making it possible to withdraw (and deposit) money 24 x 7, at minimal cost in effort for the customer. This was a massive convenience for the customer.
Likewise the introduction of electronic payment and internet banking and online payment could all be painted purely as a “cost saving measure”, whereas in reality for many customers it is a significant convenience, and even more so for customers who may be infirm or otherwise not readily able to go out. (However governments like this too because fewer cash payments mean greater financial surveillance.)
Who wants to go out and queue in a post office to pay a bill, even if it is giving someone a job?
You are right that once working they were convenient.
I believe that the banks worked out a cost reduction methodology, the ATMs, and then they found the justification by which they could market it to customers.
The banks could have just extended their hours and the customers would have been just as happy, if not happier.
Another article regarding development of anti-theft solutions for self-service checkouts.
Apart from theiving considerations, there definitely needs to be an attendant at the self-service checkouts at all times, if only to combat the company’s own stupidity.
A couple of days ago when I bought a tray of marked-down lamb cutlets at our local Coles, the checkout had an error message I have never seen before and the assistant had to do a lot of fiddling to complete the entry.
I assume it was because someone had somehow managed to discount the pack by 30% from $25.20 to $20.00. Go figure.
Today at the same store I got the usual stupidity error message “You have 4 own bags”.
They didn’t cover the whole of the original barcode. The reader will get confused when there are two visible barcodes (even if there is part thereof). The replacement barcode should have covered the whole of the original barcode, or they should have placed a sticker over the original barcode and placed the new reduced one elsewhere.
It only happens when the full line of the old barcode is visible as happens when they place the new sticker parallel to the old sticker but leave the top or bottom of the old sticker visible in which case it scans at the old price.
This appears to be a case of the terminal doing the maths as opposed to the barcode labeller.
Sadly those self serve checkouts just flat out are bad (from a UI/UX point of view).
They say the camera doesn’t see the pin pad … I wonder if they have considered reflective surfaces like glasses?
There’s enough camera’s in supermarkets atm that ones at checkout probably not an issue though hope its anonymous (like the overhead camera’s) and not going to do a Facebook and collect all that sweet sweet meta data.
Time to do your shopping as an Insane Clown Posse member?
In the COVID era I am preferring self-service. I would rather handle my own produce and other items than have the checkout operator do so. It also allows me to pack at my own pace.
How much does it even matter? Woolworths has access to the PIN pad. If they want to grab your PIN then they can do that with a compromised PIN pad.
However that won’t be an issue either way if you PayWave.
That too. Your PIN might be on one of the general cameras anyway.
PCI compliance, its not only software that gets covered by that but hardware, it’s location. Probably over a decade now since I’ve had anything direct to do with it but I don’t imagine its gotten thinner (It was like a phone book in size … well a ye olde phone book ) ; They’ve obviously thought about the pin-pad placement a little as they say the camera(s) won’t directly see it (them) but I was just wondering if they’d gone far enough.
The company they buy the pin-pad from (let alone woolies themselves) really doesn’t want to ■■■■off MC and Visa by pulling a swift one (or allowing their client to do so).
That happens they might end up with a rather large fraud bill that they get left with.
Many of these cameras could offer pan-tilt-zoom too. So it is difficult to guarantee, for a camera mounted in a specific location, what it can and cannot see. Next time I’m at the supermarket, I will check out the sight lines. Probably get ejected from the store for acting suspiciously. LOL.
All the cameras I see at the supermarkets and at most other locations are the ones with the dark circular domes so no one canj see where the cameras are focused.
I have always suspected that they have pan and tilt.
In my area, Coles does not have self-service but Woolworths does. That’s a choice that each retailer has made. At a superficial level there’s an obvious trade-off e.g. Woolworths saves on staff costs but may lose more from theft.
) ; They’ve obviously thought about the pin-pad placement a little as they say the camera(s) won’t directly see it (them) but I was just wondering if they’d gone far enough.