A shoplifting spike over the past month at the Springdale Heights and East Albury IGAs has prompted owner Bob Mathews to hire an additional security guard.
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Up to $500 worth of goods is stolen every week and staff have become concerned for their safety when approaching people.
Springdale Heights IGA employee Samantha Barraclough said staff members were increasingly catching people in the act.
“Sometimes I don’t even bother because I don’t want to get myself in trouble,” she said.
“One of our guys did get punched one day when someone stole alcohol. Now the security guards are here every couple of days it’s helping and keeping us safer.”
Albury Detective Chief Inspector David Cottee said the theft at IGA was consistent across major supermarket chains.
“I can say that in terms of statistics we have had an increase in shoplifting thefts,” he said.
“A part of that increase has been driven by the fact we have run some operations specifically targeting larger retail stores and we’ve detected more offenders.
Inspector Cottee said theft through self-service had become a major issue.
“In general terms they are using self-serving checkouts at larger retail stores to their own benefit and that has shown to be the case with store operations we’ve done recently.”
Coles declined to comment on the issue.
Mr Mathews estimated 90 per cent of theft at the IGA stores was opportunistic with smaller items and alcohol but roughly one in 10 thefts was needs-based.
Employee Gary Walsh said the people who stole to support themselves often took items like meat.
“I saw a young bloke walk past with a couple of trays of meat and coming back he didn’t have them,” he said.
“I asked him where they were and he said he put them down on the shelf.
“As he’s getting towards the shelf, he’s pulled it out of his pants.
“I asked him what he was doing, and he said, ‘I’m hungry – I’ve got nothing’ … he got really upset and said he was sorry.”
Mr Mathews has plans for staff to give out contact cards for St Vincent de Paul Society for similar situations.
SVP St Clare’s conference president Anthony Foley urged people to approach support services rather than steal.
“We have one in Albury Central which is behind the Commonwealth Bank and the other is on Mate Street in Lavington,” he said.
“We can assist with food and make referrals to anybody that might need counselling, housing or financing.
“We want them to give a hand-up to self-sustainability to manage themselves and their money properly.”
