LOCAL supermarkets are losing thousands in stolen goods a week as light-fingered shoppers exploit self-service checkouts.
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A local supermarket manager, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity, said losses from his store had been on the rise since self-service checkouts were implemented.
“It’s an average of about $12,000 – just in a week,” he said.
The rate amounts to more than half a million stolen per year from this store alone.
The manager said it “used to be worse”, with around $17,000 shoplifted every week.
He said locals loved the convenience of self-service checkouts in an increasingly technological world, but the automated machines also gave people an “opportunity” to shoplift.
Ha had observed customers simply not scanning their higher-priced groceries and had also witnessed people scanning expensive items at a lower price – such as paying for an avocado at the price of an onion.
“That does happen,” he said.
He said some locals were “a bit upset” when they were caught out, but there were also plenty of honest mistakes.
“Some don’t know that they didn’t scan it,” he said.
The revelation comes after an Armidale mother-of-three was placed on a good behaviour bond last Friday for taking goods through a self-service checkout without paying for them.
The Armidale Express reported that Magistrate Shaughan McCosker warned the court stealing from self-service checkouts could impact the community if in-store prices were raised to cover the costs of stolen goods.
“I understand in 12 months an estimated $2 billion to $4 billion walks out of stores across Australia (without payment),” he said.
A spokesman for Woolworths said: “The vast majority of customers do the right thing. Our message to the small minority of would-be shoplifters is simple – don’t do it. We’re closely monitoring these checkouts, we adapt our systems to new shoplifting methods and we will catch you if you do the wrong thing.”
Marketing manager for the Cavallaro IGA group, Andy Pecora, said Carlo’s IGA in Tamworth did not use self-service checkouts because it was a small retailer.
“Our focus is on making sure that we have the right services in place in our stores – a big part is giving back to our community,” Mr Pecora said.
“Self-service checkouts take away the ability to do that, when we could be employing someone to do the job.”
