New self-service feature at Woolies makes shopping simpler and faster – but is it spying on us?
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Last year, Woolworths installed overhead cameras at some of their self-serve checkouts as a security measure as well as to help lessen the possibility of scanning errors.
However, did you know that more than one camera is keeping an eye on you as you check out?
Along with the overhead cameras, a hidden "second" camera was also installed inside self-serve scanners as part of a significant change to Woolworths' assisted checkouts last year.
And according to a spokesperson for the supermarket giant, this camera has two purposes.
Woolworths has added a second camera to self-serve scanners to identify products. Credit: Woolworths.
The camera is part of a "pick list" system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up checkouts by figuring out what kind of fruit or vegetable is being weighed.
"As we progressively upgrade our assisted checkouts, we have access to new technology, which helps customers find loose fruit and veg items in the system faster," a Woolies representative told Yahoo News.
Woolworths' cutting-edge technology automatically identifies the fruit or vegetable being scanned based on its colour, shape, or size and displays it on the screen so that the customer only needs to confirm the item before bagging it.
"So if a customer places a loose tomato on the scanner, the system will show a range of tomato varieties rather than the full list of fruit and veg items," the spokesperson explained.
"This makes our self-serve that little bit faster and improves the accuracy of product selection for customers."
The second camera not only helps speed up the process of scanning produce but also helps avoid theft by preventing customers from entering a cheaper product when they are weighing produce at the supermarket checkout.
However, because no technology is foolproof, the camera keeps track of what the shopper puts in their grocery bag. When the AI can't figure out what an item is, the checkout will let a Woolies employee know so they can check, showing them a picture of what's in the customer's bag.
According to Woolworths, the photos taken of the shopping bags are "not recorded or stored," just like the video recordings of customers' faces at self-service checkouts.
When Woolworths first put video surveillance cameras on the self-serve checkouts in May 2021, customers were "shocked," and some said it made them worry about their privacy.
But a spokesperson claimed that in an effort to reduce theft, the supermarket had added these cameras as another layer of security.
"We know the vast majority of our customers do the right thing at our self-serve check-outs. This is a new security measure we're trialling for those that don't."
Since then, the technology has been put in 685 of the supermarket's 1,000 stores in Australia, and the company plans to put it in every location over the next few years.
What are your thoughts, folks? Do you believe adding a second camera to the checkout process will improve security? Or is this an additional concern regarding the customers' privacy? Comment below and let us know what you think.
However, did you know that more than one camera is keeping an eye on you as you check out?
Along with the overhead cameras, a hidden "second" camera was also installed inside self-serve scanners as part of a significant change to Woolworths' assisted checkouts last year.
And according to a spokesperson for the supermarket giant, this camera has two purposes.
Woolworths has added a second camera to self-serve scanners to identify products. Credit: Woolworths.
The camera is part of a "pick list" system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up checkouts by figuring out what kind of fruit or vegetable is being weighed.
"As we progressively upgrade our assisted checkouts, we have access to new technology, which helps customers find loose fruit and veg items in the system faster," a Woolies representative told Yahoo News.
Woolworths' cutting-edge technology automatically identifies the fruit or vegetable being scanned based on its colour, shape, or size and displays it on the screen so that the customer only needs to confirm the item before bagging it.
"So if a customer places a loose tomato on the scanner, the system will show a range of tomato varieties rather than the full list of fruit and veg items," the spokesperson explained.
"This makes our self-serve that little bit faster and improves the accuracy of product selection for customers."
The second camera not only helps speed up the process of scanning produce but also helps avoid theft by preventing customers from entering a cheaper product when they are weighing produce at the supermarket checkout.
However, because no technology is foolproof, the camera keeps track of what the shopper puts in their grocery bag. When the AI can't figure out what an item is, the checkout will let a Woolies employee know so they can check, showing them a picture of what's in the customer's bag.
According to Woolworths, the photos taken of the shopping bags are "not recorded or stored," just like the video recordings of customers' faces at self-service checkouts.
When Woolworths first put video surveillance cameras on the self-serve checkouts in May 2021, customers were "shocked," and some said it made them worry about their privacy.
But a spokesperson claimed that in an effort to reduce theft, the supermarket had added these cameras as another layer of security.
"We know the vast majority of our customers do the right thing at our self-serve check-outs. This is a new security measure we're trialling for those that don't."
Since then, the technology has been put in 685 of the supermarket's 1,000 stores in Australia, and the company plans to put it in every location over the next few years.
What are your thoughts, folks? Do you believe adding a second camera to the checkout process will improve security? Or is this an additional concern regarding the customers' privacy? Comment below and let us know what you think.
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