Woolworths confirms trial video surveillance on self-serve checkouts
Woolworths have confirmed they are trialling video surveillance at its self-serve check-outs in hopes of officially stamping out theft for good.
Melbourne shopper Branwell Travers was the one who first called out the change when he took to Twitter to explain how he had seen a video of himself appearing on the screen of a self-serve checkout.
"For how long has Woolworths been filming me while using self-check-outs?" he captioned the photo.
Mr Travers told Pedestrian TV he first thought the checkout must have been glitching to have recorded him.
“I was kinds confused and thought maybe it was a malfunction or something,” he said.
“But I looked over my shoulder and saw the person next to me had the same thing.”
Another customer also shared they were “shocked” to discover they were also being filmed at another Woolies self-service checkout kiosk.
A Woolworths spokesman told news.com.au: “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.
“Our stores have staffed checkout lanes for customers who would prefer not to take part in the trial.”
Video taken by Woolworths at the self-service kiosk is not recorded or stored and the cameras cannot see the card PIN pad section.
Image: Branwell Travers viaTwitter