Coles is called out over new surveillance features

Two women have been arrested for targeting a Coles manager and disturbing customers because of the supermarket’s new surveillance measures.

They particularly took issue with the barriers to exiting self-service checkouts that the supermarket giant recently put in place to combat shoplifting.

The doors are connected to a monitoring system that determines whether a customer has purchased all of the items they picked up from the store, and remain closed if it is believed that a customer has not purchased everything.

Footage taken by the women shows them at the checkout side, laughing as they open for customers before a manager arrives to question them.

The duo argued with the manager and questioned him about how the doors work and why they are not allowed to film when Coles’ surveillance cameras are allowed to film them.

Approaching the couple, the manager asked the women if they had permission to film in the store, one of the women replied: “No, but you film us all the time.”

“Did you get permission to film us?” » one of the women asked the director.

The manager responded that there were signs at the entrance to the store stating Coles’ right to film customers. However, the manager refused to answer any further questions from the women, before asking them to leave the store.

“Are you gagged?” They are gagged,” the women can be heard saying.

After passing through the doors without problem, the women positioned themselves on the other side and continued to film the customers.

They joked with customers, saying, “You escaped” as they walked through the doors.

One of the women claimed that the doors made customers feel like “caged animals” and no one liked that, everyone who came out said “what is that?”

However, when a customer was asked for his opinion, he simply replied: “I don’t really mind the gates.”

One of the women said she “couldn’t believe” someone wouldn’t be bothered by the doors, while the other said “it’s always the young people” who don’t care.

The woman behind the camera can be heard telling viewers to “dig into your care (and) push back.”

Although Coles and Woolworths have been criticized for introducing new safety measures, Australians have called out the women for harassing staff.

“Those poor employees and the shit they have to put up with. The staff you are harassing didn’t install them,” one Australian said.

“There would be more than enough information on how these systems work if these influence hunters (online respect) cared enough to do their research,” wrote a second.

“A private company is doing things in their store and these people think it’s a public place to complain about,” a third wrote.

Another person, who shops at the same Coles store where the women were filming, mentioned that “the amount of thefts that happen here is insane” and that the doors were necessary to stop thieves.

“A couple weeks ago a couple left with a full cart – not anymore after coming through these doors. It’s not rocket science!”

A fifth added: “They probably have better things to do.”

A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: “We know retail crime is increasing across all retailers.”

“We have implemented a range of security measures to reduce theft in our stores, including CCTV, electronic article surveillance (EAS) and, in some stores, new smart gate technology which opens automatically when customers make payment for their products.”