Achi news desk-
Every day, Esposito Market Manager Norman Shannon and his staff go through a “most wanted” list, including screenshots of shoplifters taken from the store’s surveillance cameras.
“You have the person who steals because they are in need and have no money,” Shannon said. “You have the person who has no money and he comes here and steals food, and you have the third type of people who come in here and steal a lot.”
Grocery shoplifting is on the rise, and stores are looking for new ways to stop it.
Big ticket items like wine, cheese and meat are the most popular items to pick up.
“A lot of people just sneak in or rush out,” said cashier Mary Barrett. “Once, I said, like, ‘Hey!’ And tried to stop him, and he just pushed past me.”
Dealing with thieves can be dangerous and is not recommended, so some grocery chains have taken action by installing additional security measures in self-checkout lines or adding anti-theft stickers on meat.
“You see barriers at the exits and anti-theft devices in products,” said Dalhousie University professor Sylvain Charlebois. “I think we need to have a broader conversation about what’s actually happening right now.”
Charlebois said grocery chains and the Retail Council of Canada should release data on the number of thefts that occur so consumers understand why they are seeing such measures.
While Shannon understands that consumers are struggling with inflation, he will continue to keep an eye out and hope that eventually prices and thefts will come down.
