Are People Taking Revenge On Coles And Woolies At Self-Serve Checkouts?

Coles and Woolworths are witnessing a surge in theft, which is being put down to the cost-of-living crisis.

A recent Australian study found more than half of 18-to-34-year-olds believe taking something without paying for it is justifiable.

And it seems anecdotally, stealing items through self-serve checkouts is becoming something of a national sport.

Listen to the episode of The Briefing here:

But despite the increase in theft, the two big supermarkets are raking in profits and facing an inquiry into alleged price gouging.

In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert asks Fleur Brown from the Australian Retailers Association whether this spike in theft could be shoppers trying to get revenge against Coles and Woolies.

“There’s a range of things that you could speculate about when it comes to this sort of theft,” she said.

“To emphasise it is a very small percentage of customers. I think the idea of revenge theft is probably unlikely.

“I think people who might be being opportunistic, whether from an organised crime perspective or whether because they have some challenges with cost of living pressures would be more likely than a sort of a revenge type escalation.”

In this chat, Ms Brown also weighs in on what she thinks about self-serve checkouts as well as explaining what supermarkets are doing to protect the safety of their employees.

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