That would be illegal unless you’ve agreed to terms and conditions to my understanding. Apps with terms and conditions are the best way to do that.
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The tracking of people in shops already happens, they just follow the pings the smartphone sends to available networks, then just see which units and signal strength they have on each…triangulation and they have where you are. No app required for that, what the app will do is further link that user and their shopping habits even more closely…eg how long in and what particular section, what goods you perused, your name, possibly age, address, your payment method, possible menstrual cycle for women, whether you have pets and likely types (eg cat, dog, birds), whether you dye your hair, shave or use creams, the list is pretty large of what they can garner. Of course loyalty cards do this as well but this will also capture some of those who don’t use loyalty cards.
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A Surveillance State wet dream. How long before we see a bill to give spooks access to this data ‘for added security’. If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. Big Brother is watching you but don’t worry he is benign. And access is perfectly secured, only the good guys can track you.
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Here’s a reason to dislike checkouts in general, in a town where power failures are sadly a common occurrence, and Woolworths IT people are clearly ‘a little lacking’** in their staging of updates …
** more than a little lacking …
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Updates are done every night, or any time a machine is restarted. Major updates are done quite frequently. When It comes to self serve only 1 will receive a major update, to ensure it works smoothly. If there are no issues within 24 hours, the others will receive the update. They can also be manually updated if there is a price change or if a sale item is added into the system
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Apparently, “checkout free” is the way to go. Or should that be “a seamless shopping experience”?
https://www.channelnews.com.au/checkout-free-coles-in-ten-years/
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Oops, computers | sensors | power | […] are down. Please leave the store immediately without any merchandise. Since there are no staff excepting stockers no bag checks required 
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Who says we will be shopping like we do today. Introduce the virtual shopping cart with 3D technology. No more pushing a trolley down the isles. Our robotic product storage system will pick your products from your virtual shop and deliver them direct to your home.
Worth speculation in another topic?
Certainly no need ever to wait in line at any checkout. And zero scope for theft at the door?
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Battery powered robots and displays and accounting back ends, all with UPS when on the mains I presume? It will be so good I can hardly wait, or ?
There is affinity with the "Apparitions of a Cashless Society’ thread although it is a parallel but related topic.
PS. I hope they don’t get [non-]delivered by a contract with Auspost!
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Just our luck, we would likely see all three come up at the same time. 
Surprisingly, while we are back in Newcastle, it appears the older population in our area is still well served by staffed checkouts. Even the local Maccas still has a menu board above the counter and operator ready and willing to do orders the old fashioned way.
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With a possible loss of 150,000 jobs!
Do retailers realise this also takes 150,000 consumers out of the economy?
Perhaps a much greater challenge than the loss of service.
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I reckon I can scan items just as fast as an operator and I pack my bags exactly how I like them. No tins or bottles on top of the stone fruit, eggs, bread etc.
The attitude of MOST staff at the checkout today is garbage. It’s as if they’re doing you a favour serving you. I was 100% against self serve checkouts until I noticed this behaviour. Maybe the big supermarkets deliberately hire idiots to be checkout chicks / jerks just to push you toward self service. I would not be surprised at all.
I remember the same dooms day media about computer age in the 1980s. What often happens if the nature or type of job changes based on technological advances. In this case, it may be more security personnel in store (or monitoring cameras watching each customer) to ensure that potential payment bypasses don’t occur.
To think that such technologies are a utopia for supermarkets/retailers may be a misguided marketing belief. With any new technologies, there are many who identify and exploit its flaws.
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I’ve noticed this as well. I think it’s more training than anything. Why train staff when self serve is the only option half the time
I might live in a unique area but the checkout staff at Coles, Woolies, and Aldi are pleasant, friendly, and the former usually do a decent job of packing into my bags. If I have any gripe it is the standard scripts of ‘how are you today, what are you doing today, blah, blah?’ that seem in vogue.
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Equally a comment on
So we should all welcome unemployment because we will all be better off? There is no proof either way. Past performance as they say is no guide as to future performance.
Technology change has not caused mass unemployment in the past therefore it will never cause it in the future?
150,000 of them new security staff! Should “I feel better now”?
P.S.
Fact, jobs will go, and there is no plan to replace them. Our system is very ad hoc.
A second fact is the technology and jobs used to deliver it will mostly be overseas products. Someone will get new jobs, just not Australia. We stopped being that sort of clever country many decades ago. What chance a few thousand will be Australian? Small change for the tens of thousands lost.
Note: Continual expansion is not sustainable when the resource base is finite. Computer Nerds (endearingly) have been playing with “predator - prey - food source” models since the 1960’s. The answer is always the same. Apologies to those who do not see an analogy to the relationship between resources, consumers and enterprise ownership.
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The security is only one example. Others will include maintenance of equipment associated with checkout-less systems…instore customer service staff and thevlist goes on. Assuming checkout-less retailers are the panacea for the retailers and adopted by all, there will still be significant new employment opportunities for those currently employed as checkout personnel…through retraining.
This article also presents a similar view…
What I find annoying is that if I reply to them, there is usually no response.
Staff member “How are you?” Me “I’m fine, how are you?”
Like a robot stuck in autoplay mode
And reduced employment opportunities tend to suppress wage growth, so consumers have less to spend. Less secure employment discourages spending, so consumers are less inclined to spend. As has been observed elsewhere, Capitalism doesn’t do economics very well. Check out the ABS on wage growth and underemployment.
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It depends where one fits into capitalism as to the conclusion. Those in the 1% think capitalism works brilliantly.
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