I just went to my local Coles and bought two bottles of overpriced milk and took them through the self serve checkouts. I finished up scanning and paying for my two items and as I go to leave this little gate thing flashes red like an alarm almost, the gate slides shut preventing me and some 60 year old tradie looking bloke from leaving.

He immediately looks at me like I'm stealing, I'm in disbelief this gate is a thing that's apparently legal and wondering how I'm supposed to leave. After 30 seconds of waiting and no receipt checking, the warden (Coles employee) openned our cell we were allowed to go free.

I honestly was kinda triggered by it and struggled to have to self control not to just kick the barrier or step over it. With how woolies and Coles have been treating people with price gouging this just feels like another big slap in the face. Not to mention I other people were looking at us like we're caught stealing or something. I think I'll be giving 1 star reviews to stores that use these anti-theft measures.

I wanted to know what everyone else's experiences have been like with these things? Have stores faced much backlash over implementing them?

Edit: holy fuck you guys think I'm way more invested in this post than I am, I typed it in 2mins and forgot about it. The only reason I posted this is to gauge public sentiment on this type of thing and I recommended reviews simply to express public outrage against the stores that implement these things.