The Naked City: FEAR AND SHOPLIFTING IN KINGS CROSS!
A scruffy looking man enters the Coles supermarket in King Cross with a small compact backpack. He disappears into the lower level only to resurface ten minutes later, apparently not having selected anything to buy. He bypasses both the traditional and self service checkouts and heads towards the security guard stationed at the exit. As he does, he breaks into a urgent sprint as if he needs to catch the next bus to Watsons Bay. The security guard does nothing as the escalator whisks him away from any immediate suspicion.
The scenario is repeated a few days later and on a regular basis over ensuing weeks. Shoplifting? We’ll never know unless the surveillance cameras prove conclusive or the security guard is prepared to chase him all the way to the Gap. What we do know is that both Coles and Woolworths in the Cross are feeling the effects of a pilfering epidemic and have called in the police to fight back.
‘Operation Light Fingers’ is an initiative of Kings Cross LAC and to date has laid numerous shoplifting charges against itinerants, tourists, backpackers and local residents. As anybody who has regularly shopped at the Cross’s supermarkets knows, visible security seems relatively lax. What is witnessed through the myriad of surveillance cameras is another story and the big supermarket chains are reluctant to discuss the extent of this scrutiny.
Obviously the installation of self service check outs has opened a Pandora’s box of shoplifting opportunities and perhaps a philosophical shift as to what constitutes a crime on behalf of consumers. Wherever self service facilities have been installed throughout the world, the chains admit that stealing takes place; whether it’s deliberately not scanning a particular item or passing avocadoes through as spuds.
On a yearly basis, this check out slight of hand can cost the big supermarkets millions but is offset by the considerable savings achieved in replacing check out staff, i.e. real human beings. A UK survey in 2014 revealed that more than $3 billion worth of items are stolen from supermarkets every year, with one in five shoppers taking advantage of the opportunities for theft offered by do-it-yourself checkouts. Not surprisingly in Australia, as the SMH reported, “retail experts say that pilfering eats away between 1 and 3 per cent of the turnover of the grocery duopoly…costing the big supermarkets as much as $2.9 billion annually.”
Forget to scan an item at Woolies or Coles in the Cross and you may well be nabbed for shoplifting if the check out Big Brother is watching. Both chains claim that the majority of their shoppers are good honest citizens, but what happens when an item fails to scan and in sheer frustration you push it across into your bag? We are all aware of the indecent profits that the duoploly accrue and it’s not really stealing when you consider the overall prices we are slugged.
It seems the introduction of the self service robots have brought with them a new philosophical paradigm when it comes to shoplifting. You’re not stuffing a quarter house steak down the back of your trousers or filling a secret pocket in your backpack with deodrants – you’re simply outsmarting a machine that after all has the capacity to rip you off as well, if you accidentally scan the same item twice.
There are some diehards, like ourselves, who steadfastly refuse to use the horrendous self service checkout and would rather stand in a queue for five or more minutes to be greeted by a real flesh and blood person. Coles and Woolies are discouraging this more and more everyday, but in the meantime you can safely bet the shrinkage costs at the auto check out are already being passed on in the form of higher all round prices.
Coffin Ed, Jay Katz and Miss Death
