‘New’ Woolies trolley feature divides Aussies

Shoppers have been left shocked after spotting a futuristic feature in a Woolworths store, with some worried it will take Aussie jobs.

Woolworths has responded after a shopper was left stunned by a futuristic addition in a Queensland store – a robot collecting discarded shopping trolleys.

A video shared on social media shows the robot, nicknamed ‘R2-D2’ by the user, pushing a row of stray carts into a trolley bay in the car park of the Richlands Woolworths in Brisbane’s southwest last week.

But while the TikTok user suggested trolley collectors might be out of a job due to robots, Woolies has clarified that the devices are human-operated, and simply help staff by handling the heavy lifting.

“Our little Green Machines have been in use for a number of years and better support our team with managing trolley collection,” a Woolworths spokesperson told news.com.au.

“These innovative aids make navigating challenging carparks smoother for our team members, particularly in areas with inclines or ramps. And they ensure we have trolleys ready for our customers when they need them.

“Customers might spot them across our store network and we’ve rolled out another 10 to supermarkets across Brisbane.”

The video, which has been viewed almost 430,000 times since it was shared on Friday, had a tongue-in-cheek caption about putting some Woolies staff out of their jobs.

“RIP to the trolley boys … Woolies just hired R2-D2,” it read.

But news.com.au understands The Green Machines operate like a toy car and after being powered up, can be manoeuvred by a remote control.

Once the machine has been hitched to the trolleys, the operator leads the front trolley in the direction required.

A Woolworths shopper has spotted a robot collecting trolleys. Picture: TikTok/Indians_in_brisbane_est

In the comments, people were divided by the robot, especially supermarket workers.

“We are going to have so many problems with these,” said one.

“Bruh, I hate those machines. I still push them manually. That machine is time-consuming to use,” another claimed.

“Taking Australia’s jobs,” wrote someone else. “Unemployment is about skyrocket in the next three-four years,” theorised a different commenter.

The machine was spotted in 2022 as well. Picture: MediaSpy/SupermarketsandRetail

But others supported the addition, stating that it helps ease an otherwise physically demanding job.

“You guys realise we’re just making robots to replace jobs no one wants to do,” one person wrote.

“It’s a tough job, I really think that robots should take over it. I have worked as this before for a day but I usually work at checkout. It’s so tiring,” agreed another.

“Imagine all the back, neck and shoulder claims this will prevent,” a third pointed out.

In another online forum, a user posted a photo in 2022 showing the exact same machine.

“Has anybody seen this machine collecting the trolleys at local Woolworths supermarkets?” they asked.

Some said they spotted them in a few stores across the country at that time, while others claimed they had never seen them.

Originally published as ‘New’ Woolies trolley feature divides Aussies