Aussie rips into Woolworths over a very annoying new self-service checkout ... trends now
A frustrated shopper has taken aim at a new feature at Woolworth's self-service checkouts after being 'locked out' of the machine and forced to get assistance.
The supermarket giant reintroduced scales in the self-service bagging areas to identify incorrectly scanned items by weight and installed security camera screens above the checkouts, identifying unscanned items.
Woolworths said the camera technology, which has been in operation for well over 18 months, helps 'reduce misscans and improve speed for customers through the checkout'.
However, honest customers are frustrated by the process as the technology wrongly identifies the unscanned item and locks them out from completing their purchase.
In a Reddit post on Tuesday, one Sydney shopper asked if 'Anyone else [was] frustrated with the Woolies self-checkouts?'.
Frustrated shoppers are claiming the anti-theft technology is wrongly identifying items as 'unscanned' and locking them out of the self-service checkout (pictured)
'The last few times I've been to Woolies, my self-checkout has locked and required a staff member to come over and approve something I've entered because their AI algorithm has decided it doesn't look like it should,' she wrote.
'If this happened occasionally, I'd understand, but it seems to be at least once every time I shop, and I have to compete with a quarter of the other self-serve checkouts for the attention of the one busy staff member.'
The post has received over 250 comments in 18 hours, with many Aussies sharing the shoppers' frustrations.
'At Woolies, some of the self-serve checkouts have the camera above you so if you don't take scan every single item in your trolley, it will lock when you try to pay and ask for a staff member to verify you scanned everything,' one said.
'Really annoying when I'm doing shopping for different people and need separate transactions.'
Another user explained they were locked out of the self-checkout after the security camera identified an empty coffee cup and a pre-purchased loaf of bread as unscanned items.
'I've had it lock me out and make me wait for staff because I had the nerve to leave empty bags hanging off the back of my trolley,' a
