Warning issued over trying a popular Woolworths checkout hack as retailer says it could damage their machines
- Woolworths have warned against people trying the new ‘checkout hack’
- The TikTok hack reveals a cover on the coin slot which can be removed easily
- Once removed customers can dump a handful of coins into the slot at once
Supermarkets have issued an urgent warning against shoppers who plan on testing a popular ‘time saving hack’ on their self-service checkouts.
The hack, which has gone viral over TikTok, tells shoppers to lift the cover off the coin slot to fit more into the machine at once.
But Woolworths told Femail they don’t advise their shoppers follow the instructions in the viral video as the coin guard is not meant for customers’ use.
Supermarkets have issued an urgent warning against shoppers who plan on testing a popular ‘time saving hack’ on their self-service checkouts
Lifting the cap off the coin deposit section can jam the machine, according to a company insider.
The viral video which was uploaded by a woman called Cassandra last month has been viewed more than 700k times and attracted 22k likes.
With dozens of people commenting to say they wanted to try out the ‘useful’ hack.
This prompted staff from Woolworths and Coles who have similar machines to plead for them not to.
‘Please don’t do that, it jams the machines and then we have to fix them,’ one staff member said.
‘Honestly, it is a pain for us and customers,’ another added.
‘Can confirm it jams the machine and doesn’t always count your money right so you might pay too much,’ one woman said.
Staff from Woolworths and Coles have revealed the ‘hack’ can damage and block the machines
The oriinal hack video has been seen over 700,000 times but divided viewers
Other staff said the purpose of the coin cap cover is to give staff access to the slot if they need to clean it.
‘That’s incase bits of paper and dust get in there, not for people to use to jam too many coins in our machines,’ one said.
One man said the ‘hack’ wouldn’t make a difference in speed because the coins are still fed into the machine to be counted one-by-one.
‘This doesn’t make any difference because they all still have to go into the thin coin slot,’ one man wrote.
The cap over the coin slot is not designed to be used by customers, according to the retailers
But the video creator said she was helped by a woman on the checkouts when she filmed the video.
‘She said the green light goes out when it is full,’ she said.
A current staff member argued the green light is to call the attendant over to the machine when people touch the cap.
A coles spokesperson has also asked people to refrain from lifting the caps and trying the hack out in the retail chain.