# Self-Service Checkouts Make It Easy To Steal

- Link: https://stayathomemum.com.au/news-opinion/general/self-service-checkouts-make-it-easy-to-steal/
- Published: 2016-11-08T06:10:06+11:00
- Author: Clare Whitfield

#### _The increase in supermarket self-service checkouts has been impossible to miss in recent years, with most shoppers finding themselves using the machines more often than traditional checkouts._

However, the rise of self-service has come with something of an unexpected consequence:
it’s encouraging shoppers to steal.

Research done on shoppers in the United Kingdom suggested that self-service checkouts
were allowing people to normalise and even excuse stealing from supermarkets, even
if they would not have ever been involved in theft in other circumstances. And the
Brits aren’t alone, because as it turns out, we do it in Australia as well!

[⌊Two women using a self service checkout in a retail store highlighting theft concerns⌉⌊Two women using a self service checkout in a retail store highlighting theft concerns⌉ ](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/telegraph.co_.uk_.jpg?quality=89&ssl=1)

via telegraph.co.uk

A professor from the Queensland University of Technology, Larry Neale, told [720 ABC in Perth](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-21/self-service-checkouts-normalising-theft-for-customers-research/7648910)
that the self-service checkouts make stealing psychologically easier, because stealers
feel separated from the business they’re thieving from.

> _“Self-serve checkouts provide that distance between you and the organisation 
> or an identifiable victim,”_ Professor Neale said.
> _“The customer can’t point to someone and say, ‘that person is going to lose money
> if I steal from this store’.”_

Neale noted that another reason that people were using to justify stealing from 
major supermarkets was resentment. These light-fingered Robin Hoods seem to be trying
to ‘get back’ at the supermarkets for their mistreatment of the little guy (that
being everyone from farmers to the shoppers themselves) by nicking as they pleased.

## **Stealing As A Form Of Protest**

Interestingly, when 720 ABC Perth put out the call for listeners to ring in and 
confess when they stole from self-service, there was a pretty common theme. Many
people admitted that they stole from the self-service checkouts as a protest against
the machines.A mannamed Frankhad this to say:

> _“If they are going to make me self-serve and reduce the employment for our youth,
> I will help myself to almonds and mushrooms at potato prices and make sure I hit
> their bottom line.”_

His disgust at the way major chain supermarkets were disregarding unemployment, 
particularly among young people, was more than enough to justify his thefts, despite
him actually being a shareholder in both Coles and Woolworths.

## **The Real Cost**

The total value of these self-service checkout thefts is difficult to accurately
determine, and supermarkets are hardly going to be sharing the numbers with the 
public. However, Professor Neale claims he has estimated the cost to be billions
of dollars annually for Australia’s major supermarket outlets.

[⌊Self service checkouts make it easy to steal | stay at home mum⌉⌊Self service 
checkouts make it easy to steal | stay at home mum⌉[

via pointofsale.com

Neale also noted that the supermarkets tended to “absorb more of that risk because
they are saving so much on labour costs” and that he expects in the future smarter
technology will stamp out more and more of the cheeky thieves.

But until that happens, shoppers will continue to scan everything as carrots, conveniently
neglect to scan items, or mistake the expensive peaches for the cheaper apples, 
feigning ignorance and innocence when they’re caught out.

Personally, we don’t have the criminal mind for it!

![author avatar](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/
12/clare_whitfield_profile.webp?quality=80&ssl=1)

 Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

 Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical
home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney,
she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school 
age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience
in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

 [See Full Bio](https://stayathomemum.com.au/author/clare_whitfield/) [  ](https://stayathomemum.com.au/author/clare_whitfield/)