

Computer glitch leads to supermarket free-for-all  - jdrucker
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/computer-glitch-leads-to-supermarket-freeforall-20110425-1dtah.html

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jrockway
_"This [Pak 'n Save incident] is like some mad experiment, because you've sent
off to church the religious and it's the secular who have gone shopping on
Good Friday ... and you've put them to the test._

Citation needed.

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magicalist
I don't know why you're getting voted down. It's a pretty central quote in the
article, and it is of course ridiculous to assume that all religious people
were at church between 8am and 9:20am on good friday.

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idonthack
Yeah, it _is_ pretty farfetched to assume that a significant portion of a
religion's adherents would bother to observe one of that religion's major
holidays.

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cookiecaper
Good Friday is not formally marked by many non-Catholic denominations. There
would be many religious people shopping on Good Friday who observe Easter but
don't spend all day in church or at home on Good Friday. In fact, it is not
even common practice in the United States for the general population to take
Good Friday as a holiday.

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JunkDNA
I will add to that that Catholics in particular are highly unlikely to be at
church in the morning on Good Friday since the Mass is not celebrated that day
and none of the sacraments are celebrated. The only religious service churches
have is around 3:00 in the afternoon.

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Ratfish
What a rubbish headline. And to think the owner is quoted in the same article
saying ""They weren't in for a free-for-all". Bad reporting.

And I have no idea how this came to be a religious debate. New Zealand is
pretty much secular and religion has almost no bearing on the lives of the
majority and is pretty much absent from politics. Especially in Hamilton. Go
there on a Friday when there is a holiday and petty theft will seem tame!

Edit: a slighty better version of story. Wow they open early.
[http://www.3news.co.nz/Computer-glitch-opens-Hamilton-
Pak-n-...](http://www.3news.co.nz/Computer-glitch-opens-Hamilton-Pak-n-
Save/tabid/423/articleID/208199/Default.aspx)

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extension
_Professor Morris said the footage revealed nearly all would have paid had
alcohol purchases not blocked the self-scanners._

So the choice was: leave without paying VS put all the groceries back on the
shelf and leave empty handed, wasting an enormous amount of your own time due
to the store's screw-up. Not really a fair "moral test".

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tzs
Sounds like idiotic design, not a computer glitch. The doors should be opened
by an employee, not by an automated system.

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whimsy
_"They weren't in for a free-for-all. They were doing their normal shopping
and then got to the checkout. Half of them paid and the other half thought,
`this is a good deal' and walked out."_

This is poorly titled.

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RK
I think this shows the promise of fully automated shops (the honor system +
technology?).

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Joakal
The Japanese have vending machines for nearly everything related to shopping.

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bemmu
You're right in that blogs like to claim this a lot, but sadly the reality
doesn't quite match the image. Around my area I can get about 100 different
drinks from vending machines, but apart from that I can only think of machines
that sell condoms / dating club membership cards and one that sells diet candy
bars.

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baddox
That's got to be one of the easiest ethical tests those potential shoppers
ever faced.

~~~
sliverstorm
... Why do you imagine it was so easy? If you feel the "correct" answer is
"obvious", you simply have a strong moral predisposition in one direction
already. Many people teeter on the fence.

~~~
baddox
I imagine it would be easy, because it's a clear cut case of good old fashion
theft. Doesn't everyone (even thieves) know that theft is unethical?

Perhaps is the shoppers were having trouble taking financial care of
themselves or their family, it might be worth calling an ethical dilemma, but
the article mentions nothing about that.

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CallMeV
What began as a simple glitch and a footnote in the history of howlers and
error turned into an interesting tale of morality, honour and ethics.
Fascinating.

