2023-10-15 05:34:11
According to H&M, thefts from its stores have never reached such levels in several of its markets. Thefts of essential food products are also on the rise, prompting supermarkets to place locks on food. In the United Kingdom, entire shelves are robbed by organized gangs who resell the goods online.
Customers of Swedish clothing giant H&M aren’t the only ones passing items under the radar. In supermarkets too, or even in pharmacies, several chains are reporting a marked increase in shoplifting, including of foodstuffs and basic necessities which have seen their prices jump with inflation.
In France, for example, they increased by 9.6% in September 2023 compared to September 2022, an addition that is too steep for certain French households and which has “never been so high in France for 60 years”, said Wednesday in the RTS show Tout un monde, economist and professor at the University of Lille Florence Jany-Catrice.
If you don’t want to go into debt, have already applied low cost strategies and removed the superfluous, what else do you have left other than a survival strategy?
Florence Jany-Catrice, economist and professor at the University of Lille
“When you are a poor household and you spend a fifth of your budget on food, it really degrades your ability to act. I understand that there can be panic. If we don’t want to put you in debt, if you have already been in low-cost strategies and if you have already eliminated the superfluous, what else do you have left other than a survival strategy?” asks the economist.
Fresh food out of reach of vulnerable households
For Florence Jany-Catrice, this survival strategy involves, among other things, the practice of shoplifting. On the Swiss side, SonntagsBlick noted a 20% increase in store thefts this spring in annual comparison. In France, in one year, they increased by 14%.
The current inflationary context explains the use of this last resort solution, and the appearance of anti-theft devices on food in certain supermarkets is indicative of the increase in fraudulent behavior, notes the specialist, who notes that certain food products “are almost becoming luxury products.
For a growing number of people, it is now difficult to afford certain fresh foods. Meat and fish are the most stolen foods, the president of the French group “Les Mousquetaires” Thierry Cotillard, which notably owns the Intermarché chain of stores, told RTL on Monday.
Distress of traders
Another type of theft is increasing in the United Kingdom: organized theft. The country has one of the highest inflations in Western Europe. All sectors are affected, including food, with +13.6% in August.
Faced with the general increase in prices, the resale of stolen food products has increased considerably, leaving small traders in great distress. “Since 2021 and the first consequences of the pandemic, shoplifting has only increased, and today it has reached its highest rate”, testifies Chris Noice, head of communications within the British Convenience Store Association ACS.
People break in and steal valuable items like cheese, coffee or alcohol. They then resell them on social networks or other online resale platforms
Chris Noice, spokesperson for the British Convenience Stores Association ACS
“It is becoming common for thieves to tell shopkeepers that they will come back the next day. And shopkeepers are fed up with the insufficient response from the police. They have stopped filing complaints and say that shoplifting is now part of their work…” laments Chris Noice.
Several videos of these organized thefts are circulating on the internet. We see groups of people with hidden faces entering stores and filling bags with food products, all in record time. “People come in and steal valuable items like cheese, coffee or alcohol. They then resell them on social media or other online resale platforms. It’s becoming a big market, especially with the evolution of the cost of living in the United Kingdom”, he explains again.
Coffees offered to the police
This summer, the ACS released a list of recommendations for the British government. Among them, the generalization of lists on which the profiles of the most wanted shoplifters appear, but also the introduction of an aggravating circumstance for attacks committed against staff.
But while waiting for certain measures to see the light of day, certain brands are taking the lead. The British chain John Lewis, for example, offers coffee to police officers on duty. A way to repel thieves thanks to the presence of police cars.
Radio subject: Salomé Laurent
Adaptation web: Vincent Cherpillod
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