Complacent Geraldton residents are not using the SafeWA app every time they shop

More than half of Geraldton supermarket shoppers are still not using the SafeWA app, despite checking in being a condition of entry at most local businesses and venues. The Geraldton Guardian spent about an hour on a weekday watching customers enter three supermarkets, with 75 out of 145 people failing to scan clearly visible QR codes or complete paper registers before they started shopping. In all, 35 people did not check in to Woolworths Seacrest, while 27 customers provided their contact details. Male customers made up the majority of people who did not check-in, and children were seen reminding parents to scan one of several QR codes provided near the store entrance. Many customers used the hand sanitiser station provided, but people who accessed the Woolworths service desk did not sign in. At Coles, 32 customers signed in while 28 people entered without scanning the QR code or using the paper register. Contact registers outside Queens Supa IGA were used by 11 people on the same afternoon, with 12 people not signing in. The Geraldton Guardian watched one person come back out of the shop to sign in after initially walking past the QR code and paper register. Rigters and Queens IGA operations manager Stuart Bain thought the figure was a “shocker” and said customers had grown complacent since the rollout of mandatory contact registers in supermarkets last month. “When we started putting (contact registers) in, we did notice a lot higher amount of people registering as they went into the stores but that has probably dropped off a little bit as people got more blasé,” he said. “We have been extremely lucky in Geraldton and maybe people do think (the coronavirus pandemic) has passed and they don’t need to worry about it so much anymore.” Mr Bain said QR codes were located at local IGA store entrances and checkouts, with many people still using paper forms. “We definitely seem to be getting a fair few pages each day, which we thought would have dropped off as more and more people get the app,” he said. “It seems to be used a bit more by the older customers who maybe aren’t as tech-savvy.” Two Foreshore manager Val Spreafico said the cafe had not experienced the same problem supermarkets were having of customers not checking in. Ms Spreafico said this was likely due to people spending more time at cafes and other small businesses than supermarkets. “I think probably for Woolies and Coles, people just want to go in and out,” she said “For us, because they know they are just here sitting down, they are just happy to do the right thing.” Ms Spreafico said many customers who had previously preferred using the paper forms had since downloaded the SafeWA app. “The paper form is not very full,” she said. “In the beginning they used to use the paper form a bit more because they didn’t have the app so it was easier to just go there… but now they are all up to date.” Ms Spreafico said some customers still required prompting to check-in, but the café had not yet encountered anyone who refused to provide their contact details. “We do have to remind people sometimes because it is not yet in people’s minds to check in,” she said. “Once you remind them, they have no problems checking in.”