Coles explains reason for scanning rule after mum lashes out on TikTok

A major Aussie supermarket has revealed its reason for scanning items in a particular order after a shopper lashed out when asked to do so.

A major supermarket has explained its reason for scanning items in a particular order after an Aussie mum shared her reaction to being asked to do so while shopping.

Melbourne woman Shani Chantel took to TikTok to share her experience after she said she was approached by Coles staff members at a self-checkout and asked to scan her toilet paper first, claiming a worker said it was “illegal” not to do so.

While Coles was not able to comment on the specific incident, a spokesperson for the supermarket shared with news.com.au the reason staff members are advised to scan bulky items first, revealing larger items like toilet paper packs were frequently forgotten and left unscanned.

A Melbourne mum took to TikTok to share her reaction after a surprising experience while doing her grocery shopping. Picture: TikTok/Shanichantel

The woman said she was told a simple act the checkout was ‘illegal’. Picture: TikTok/Shanichantel

“We know that helping our customers with bulky or heavy items can be a big help – this is all about providing great service to our customers and helping them get through the check-outs quickly,” the spokesperson said.

“Further, the focus on having our team members scan the bulkier items first also helps to avoid situations where bulkier items are accidentally left in the trolley and not scanned.”

In the clip, which has been viewed more than 400,000 times, the shopper complained of being instructed by staff “how to pack your bags”, however news.com.au understands Coles staff are encouraged to help customers with bulk items.

Coles has explained the reason it advises staff to pack customers’ large items first. Picture: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

The clip drew some backlash from unimpressed shoppers.

“Where’s the sign telling us that?” questioned one viewer.

Current and former employees of the supermarket contributed to the comments, with one pointing out that while workers were expected to follow the bulk-first rule, they hadn’t heard of customers being asked to do the same.

Commenters saying they had worked at Coles weighed in, but didn’t think customers were expected to follow the expectations set for checkout workers. Picture: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Others revealed they were encouraged to help customers by scanning their larger items.

“I used to work there and this is what they made us do at the registers, it’s insane to expect customers to do bulk items first,” said one.

“As someone who works at Coles it’s not illegal but we’re enforced by our managers into hitting KPI’s and are told we have to either get customers to do their bulk items first or we have to do it for them first,” revealed another.

“Management is making us do it, we get tracked and get told off if we don’t do it first for customers,” said a third.

Originally published as Coles explains reason for scanning rule after mum lashes out on TikTok