Aussie shopper discovers ‘big issue’ with self service checkout

In a surprising revelation, an Australian shopper recently uncovered a significant discrepancy in the charges at a Woolworths self-checkout, raising concerns about the accuracy of the popular supermarket’s automated payment systems.

During a routine weekly grocery shopping trip, Redditor u/CleanDivide690 discovered that the self-checkout had allegedly miscalculated the total cost of their items, tacking on an extra charge. The discrepancy became apparent when the vigilant shopper cross-checked the individual prices of their purchased items against the total displayed on the screen.

“Was annoyed that the amount due on my Woolies purchase did not equate to the individual items I purchased (1.60 + 4.20 + 5.26 + 4.65 = $15.70),” the shopper explained.

“Hoping that you all don’t get taken advantage by colesworth even further amidst all the already inflated prices.”

Fellow Reddit users quickly joined the conversation, expressing their understandable concern over the issue. One user emphasised, “That’s a big issue,” while another questioned the frequency of such occurrences, stating, “Yeah, how much has this happened and no one’s noticed it?”

The community also expressed worry about the potential scale of the problem, with one user highlighting, “The big issue to me isn’t that OP has been so clearly ripped off, it’s that if this is a glitch, how many other people have been ripped off without realizing?”

Some users shared personal experiences of similar discrepancies, with one commenting, “Great, now in addition to doing all the work of scanning and packing myself, I have to check their maths too.”

Another user narrated a peculiar incident, saying, “This happened to me today too! Something scanned up as cheaper than I thought, so I sent my kid to get another while I paid for my main purchases. The single item came up as the low price in the line item, then the subtotal was 79c more.”

The consensus among the community was that such glitches were not only an inconvenience but also raised questions about the reliability of the self-checkout systems.

Many expressed gratitude to the original poster, labeling it a “public service” for bringing attention to the issue and urging others to remain vigilant during their self-checkout experiences.

While many voiced their concern over the mishap, Woolworths has since confirmed to news.com.au that the original displayed $17.90 indeed was correct and that a “technical issue” caused the mangoes to display incorrectly on the screen.

“We’ve looked into this transaction and can confirm that the total of $17.90 was correct, however the mango price of 80 cents each that appeared on the screen was incorrect due to a technical error – they were on clearance for $1.90 each,” a spokesperson said told the publication.

“We understand why this customer was concerned and we apologise for the confusion caused. Our team resolved this with the customer in-store, providing the mangoes free of charge,” the spokesperson said.

“This appears to be an isolated incident at our Macarthur Metro store, involving the clearance price of a batch of our Calypso Mangoes.”

However, the latest hiccup in the self-service systems did stir up more debate among shoppers, adding to the existing disagreements about convenience versus a personal touch in retail. Our Starts at 60 readers are no exception, with diverse opinions on this hot topic.