Coles is trialling a 12-item limit at self-serve checkouts at some smaller stores to reduce queuing and prevent theft. Is there a trial at your local store?
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No but this is a very welcome development.
The self-check machines replaced the old express lanes and the vast majority were simply not designed to handle trolleys. Hopefully this rolls out everywhere in time, or at least they have express self-check for baskets only and a separate, larger area for trolley-users.
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Canāt say Iām surprised by this development. Iāve heard of quite a few scams where people are getting away with lifting items or paying much less than the ticketed price. Kind of glad this bit the greedy bastards in the backside. They might have to actually employ more human beings to serve their customers now.
The Coles self service checkouts donāt offer much room to pack and stow more than a couple of bags of groceries. I find I need to use a trolley, when Iād rather use a basket, for even a half dozen items and they get in the way of other shoppers. I hate placing bags on the ground but if you try to place too many bags in the checked items area you get that annoying āunexpected item in bagging areaā message. Woolworths seem to have a little more space around the terminals and more that accept cash.
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Iāll only go to a human check out operator at the supermarkets. It might take longer but Iām not interested in doing their job for them or if they really want me to do the job of their checkouts they can discount my groceries 
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Hardly drink coffee at the best of times, but the last time I used those machines (2012, Roma Street station) there would have been as many ants as coffee granules in the cup.
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This should have always been the rule. The only reason I would do a bigger shop at self serve checkout would be if they donāt have enough registers open. Otherwise I donāt know why people would do it unless they plan on being dodgy. When you have a big shop itās so easy to even not reality you donāt scan stuff with moving bags into trolley whilst still have stuff in there.
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A lot of people at my work use self serve for full shops because they can pack it how they like it.
Thatās exactly why I use the self serve.
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JB Hi-Fi have posted record half-year sales/profits. They recently acquired The Good Guys. Positive signs there, after a number of retailers closed up shop in recent weeks.
I think this is a great idea, not so much for theft, but to discourage consumers from taking trollys through 
I only ever use self-serve for a handful of items. Use the manned checkouts for your weekly groceries (good for staff employment) too.
I was at my local Coles the other day, actually chatting to a random person about this (heard it on the radio that morning).
Which is also why Iām okay with Aldi - they operate the machine for me, but get me through quickly and thereās space and time for me to pack my bags right.
Coles enforcing this will mean instead of taking more than 12 items through their checkouts, Iāll buy 0.
And because itās not mentioned enough - years after the stuff about whether it was āfreshā or not - Coles still have horrible bread in their in store bakeries. Woolworths is miles ahead.
Funny you say that, here in Bathurst, the Coleās bakery is miles better then both of the Woolworths bakeries. I guess it varies across towns.
Oh my God no.
Supermarkets in Germany are an absolute nightmare for my delicate sensibilities. The cashier scans 100 items in 2 seconds and waits impatiently while I fumble for money and awkwardly try to pack my stuff into the bags. I go to either Penny or Rewe now, because the end of Aldiās checkouts have literally no room to put your items while you put them into your bag, meaning the items from the next customer start piling up as well and the old lady starts cussing you in German.
The most fucking stressful experience of my life.
Donāt get me started on Aldi and Penny not accepting MasterCard or Visa or the fact that they donāt sell plastic bags (handy for lining your bins), meaning if you forget to bring your bags with you, youāve gotta pay 50c for another.
AERGRERHGSAJHK boycotting Aldi upon my return downunder
How odd. Here in WA with exception to their newest fanciest concept stores, Woolies barely bakes any bread in store (I believe this is due to many legacy stores having had bakery equipment squished into a far corner of the Deli because they originally didnāt open or were re-fitted without an in store bakery in the 2000s) and most Coles locations have easily 2-3x the amount of in store baked bread, rolls, pastries, etc.
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The main problem Iāve got with Aldi is that with the extremely fast scanning, you damage things putting them back into your trolley. For example, if you put the fruit juice at the bottom of the trolley and the bread and eggs at the top, when you unload them onto the conveyor the bread will inevitably end up being the first thing scanned, and hence the fruit juice bottles absolutely smash the bread and eggs into a glutinous blob by the time youāve finished packing.
I think Colesā range has a lot to do with the fact that they deal with a lot of parbaked bread imported from overseas (see the Irish bread fiasco of 2014), hence the bakers just slap the bread in the oven and ta-da! Woolworths actually bakes most of their bread from scratch, whether itās from in store or at a distribution centre.
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Quantity at Coles Iāve shopped at here seem to vary quite a bit - some stores Iāve seen with massive sections, others with barely anything. It seems consistently bad from every one Iāve tried though.
Itās more the quality though - I find it tastes bad and goes stale far quicker than elsewhere. If Iām shopping there I usually just buy their prepackaged shelf bread, rather than their bakery stuff.
If Iām buying it to eat immediately, some of their savoury rolls and pastries are reasonable and about on par with their Woolworths equivalents - indeed their hawaiian pizza rolls were a staple lunch for me at uni - but Iāve never been happy with the quality of their plain loaves.
Iāll tell you one thing I love about my local Colesā¦
It always smells delicious when I walk in (open bakery ans modern) 
My local Woolworths is the highest grossing in Australia (believe it or not)ā¦ Itās still the same store from when it opened ~15 years ago (i.e.) āSafewayā. Needs urgent updating.
I donāt believe it. 
Hang on. Why would I even care? 
Actually. Why would you even know that? 
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Where is this Woolworths? I find it really hard to believe they havenāt changed the signage over at least.
You better believe it 
Because everyone in the community has mentioned it over the years (Iāve also spoken to employees and theyāve confirmed itās correct).
Mornington East, VIC
(They have updated the outside signage, but everything else inside is still pretty old, so I was meaning from when it first opened as as āSafewayā).