Woolworths beefs up security camera checkout surveillance

Changes to Woolworths’ tills to ‘reduce miscans’ will also catch Australian shoppers ‘fake swiping’ to get groceries without paying.

The supermarket said it would try to prevent errors and theft by installing powerful new monitoring systems that register customers at each checkout.

Shoppers were concerned about in-store signs indicating they could be filmed, especially the use of cameras in self-service lanes.

Woolworths deploys surveillance cameras at self-service and operator-assisted checkouts to reduce fake swiping incidents

Woolworths said the trial of new camera technology was to see if it could help reduce the number of miss scans and improve speed for customers at checkout.”

“If a misscan occurs, the affected product will be highlighted in a short video and customers will be given the option to rescan it,” it said.

“While most customers do the right thing at our cashier checkouts, we’re all busy and mistakes can be made quickly.”

Woolworths said the technology is being used internationally and “should make the self-service scanning process more accurate.”

However, most shoppers and retail observers expect that the supermarket’s real motivation is to catch more theft at self-service checkouts.

Shoppers fake swiping at cash registers costs Australian stores up to $9 billion a year, the Australian Retailers Association claimed.

Retail analysts have claimed that Australian shoppers don’t feel bad about fake swiping – also known as ‘micro-thefts’ – because it’s seen as stealing from a ‘robot’.

Woolworths’ new camera technology detects when something has bypassed your scanner by filming the area where the customer is, then halts the checkout process and lights up a red light above it.

The technology stops the checkout process to replay a video on the checkout screen for you if it feels like an item is put in a bag without being scanned

On social media, Australians reacted to in-store signs warning customers they could be filmed with a mixture of anger and concern

Then a video of the problem will replay on the checkout screen for you.

The footage, which blurs faces and the payment keyboard, is kept by Woolworths in case the police ask for it later.

The system covers all checkout lines in stores testing the new cameras, including those with operators scanning your groceries.

That means the cameras can pick up customers who “forget” to pay for bulk or heavy items in their carts — like 24 packs of drinks or a tray of canned dog food.

As soon as a shopper accidentally or intentionally pushes their cart past the scanner or cashier, if it contains products, the red light above it goes out and the operator shows a video of the problem.

The new anti-theft camera systems were first tested in Woolworths Seven Hills in Sydney’s west, followed by Hornsby, Neutral Bay, Chullora and Carnes Hill.

The trial will be extended to hundreds of stores in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with other states and territories to follow.

Woolworths has 1,086 stores across Australia.

“Ultimately you don’t have to worry about anything if you do the right thing,” a retail source told Daily Mail Australia.

As soon as a shopper accidentally or intentionally pushes their cart past the scanner or the checkout operator, if it contains products, the red light above it goes out and the operator shows a video of the problem

Woolworths said it would “listen closely to feedback from both customers and teams on the trial over the coming months.”

But no matter what opposition shoppers have to the cameras, the supermarket leader is unlikely to back down from the new anti-theft camera.

Shoppers advised each other online to instruct the supermarket not to consent to filming.

But the technology is legal in Australia, so the store source said refusing to agree to it would only lead to the advice to shop elsewhere.

“Every time you go somewhere, you pass CCTV, so it’s hardly new,” said one.