The self-scanner is a cash register for shoplifters, according to Bert Andriessen and Beni Grabic from Midlaren. “We even manage to steal a full cart.” The duo also shows this in their training for supermarket staff.
“Look at those three girls standing at the self-checkouts,” says Andriessen immediately upon entering the Albert Heijn on Gedempte Zuiderdiep in Groningen on Saturday. “They are visibly there, but you immediately see that they pay no attention to what is happening. For them, control means waiting for a sample to arrive. Well, the shoplifter knows enough. Because with such a sample, the inspector has his back to the other customers. Ideal for the thief, who waits for that moment and seizes his opportunity.”
Grabic points to one of the exit gates that no longer closes. “Deadly, anyone can now walk away.” The two own it together Andriessen Crime Prevention in Midlaren. They teach shelf stockers to owners how and what they can do against shoplifting. And that is desperately needed. For example, supermarket chain Jumbo suffered more than 100 million euros in damage due to shoplifting last year. That is about 1 percent of turnover.
‘I always steal something’
For such training, the duo always first goes undercover as shoplifters through the supermarket that hired them. “I always steal something, from a few things to a full bag of groceries,” says Andriessen. “But I have never been caught once in eight years. The staff always tells us in advance that it really doesn’t happen to them. And later when we show them the video, they didn’t expect that Beni and I, those nice men, were the shoplifters.”
Anyone who takes a tour of the AH with Andriessen (40) and Grabic (36) will notice from the start how differently they view what happens in the supermarket. Or not happening, such as after passing the entrance gates. “Why isn’t someone standing here saying ‘welcome or good afternoon’. Then you have been seen. We’ve been walking around here for a while now and not a single staff member has greeted or spoken to us. Then you remain anonymous and that feeling gives the shoplifter wings,” says Bert.
Beni points out another risk of an unmanned entrance. “We know that shoplifters also work in pairs. Well, because no one from AH is here now, someone on the other side can open the gate, allowing the accomplice to leave the store unnoticed with a full bag or even cart.”
‘Does the scan work?’
Jumbo was the first to publicly admit how big the problem is. Andriessen calls it brave of Jumbo to be open about it, because it is a social problem that also plays a role at AH, hardware stores, electronics stores and drugstores. Experts and Jumbo point to the self-checkout. Since the introduction of this convenient payment method, the number of shoplifters in supermarkets has increased significantly. Because the self-scan also makes it a lot easier for shoplifters.
Beni: “During the scan you should not stand and wait, but walk past the customers. Questions like, ‘will the scan work?’ Give attention and the feeling that people are seen. And that can be done in a positive way, not accusingly. Because that is what supermarket employees are afraid of, that they will accuse someone and that they will become angry or aggressive.”
Bert: “Do you see someone with thirty packs of coffee in their bag? Speak to such a person and give the customer, who could also be a shoplifter, a tip. Do you often need that much coffee at once, so we can place an order for you next time? Such a person has not been accused but has been seen and that alone reduces the chance of theft.”
Full bag and bottle of drink in hand
Andriessen sees someone walking through the AH with a full bag and a bottle of drink in their hand. The full bag from another supermarket, the shoplifter’s proven method. “Offer such a person a cart or basket. Then he has also been seen and he may not dare anymore.”
According to him, it is not only the convenience of the self-checkout that is a problem. “Staff no longer know what shoplifting is. If someone is caught with all kinds of products that they have not paid for when scanning, they are told: ‘Oh, that can happen’ and the employee will still scan them. But if the same person were to walk out of the store with the same items, they would consider it theft.”
“Are those items from the AH?”
Andriessen and Gabric talk about what they experience as undercover shoplifters. “I am standing in another supermarket with a full AH bag. I pay for two beers at the self-checkout. The employee asks, ‘are those items from the AH?’ Then of course I say yes. “Okay,” you hear, but she doesn’t ask further. Because they don’t want to accuse anyone. We understand that, because then someone can become aggressive. But if you do a spot check, check from the bottom of the bag to the top.”
‘You know the owner and he knows you’
Of course their training goes much deeper, but according to Andriessen and Gabric, ‘attention’ is very important. From everyone and for everyone. Gabric: “Stock fillers just look around you left and right every now and then. Is someone standing very close to a shelf? We know this is suspicious behavior. Ask if you can help that customer, ‘Can’t find it?’, for example.”
According to the duo from Midlaren, less is stolen in the local supermarket. “And do you know why? You know the owner and he knows you,” says Andriessen. That is why, according to Gabric, it is necessary for a large AH or Jumbo to work as one team, such as in a local supermarket. “Social control is already greater there. Then the threshold quickly becomes higher for customers to steal or not pay at the self-scan.”