Retailers wise to checkout cheats

Waves of thefts from self-service checkouts overseas are less likely here, experts believe.

A British criminologist Adrian Beck told Australian media this week that shoppers were very good at ‘‘neutralising’’ their moral concerns, and could be tempted to steal from a self-serve counter where they would never steal from a shelf.

His thoughts concurred with a UK study in 2014, which found one in five people who bagged their own groceries stole something.

Retail NZ estimates that the retail sector loses about $1.3 billion a year – mostly through shoplifting – and acknowledges it is an issue.

‘‘Our retailers have told us that self-service areas are definitely on their radar as areas with high instances of theft, and must be very closely monitored,’’ spokeswoman Annika Chapman said.

Foodstuffs, which owns Pak’n Save, Four Square and New World supermarkets, said it had various strategies to ensure its self-serve counters were not abused.

They included CCTV cameras, a visible staff presence and customer alerts to contact staff for specific types of transactions.

Retail consultant Chris Wilkinson, of First Retail Group, said shoplifting was a big issue in New Zealand, particularly stealing to order. But he felt self-service theft was more prevalent in the UK, partly because the checkouts were more widely used there and partly because New Zealand retail assistants were more attentive.

‘‘Here . . . there’s a lot more attention paid to the self-service counters and I think part of it is driven by the alcohol regulations.’’