COLES Port Douglas has had its hands full controlling a recent spate of shoplifting in its store.

According to reliable sources, an average of 30 people are being detected on a regular basis. To compound the problem; product is being eaten in the store; wrappers left on the floor or on shelves and are not paid for.

Although Newsport did not talk to staff members, it is believed they are visibly annoyed and frustrated by the activity.

Shoplifting can mean more than just taking something from a shop without paying. Criminal offences covered by this act include:

• shoplifting: taking goods from a store without paying

• eating or drinking something in a shop without paying

• swapping, removing or altering price tags to get a lower price for an item

• leaving a restaurant or hotel without paying.

According to Inside Retail, Australia, supermarkets take the top spot in retail shrinkage.

Supermarkets/grocery retailers (1.68 per cent), sports goods stores (1.32 per cent) and hypermarkets/mass merchandisers (1.06 per cent) witnessed the highest shrink rates because of the widespread prevalence of internal and external retail theft targeting their merchandise.

Industry sources add that the advent of self-service checkouts has compounded the problem. A classic case occurred when a Cobar, NSW woman stole more than $300 worth of groceries and was fined $500, reported the Central Western Daily.

According to the police statement, she went to Coles’ self-service checkout with a trolley-full of food and started scanning items. After she put the bags of scanned items on top of other, unpaid-for items, and when staff brought her back, they found the value of the unpaid items was $328.75.

Although Coles would not confirm or deny that shoplifting was prevalent at their Port Douglas store, they did provide this statement:

“While the majority of customers do the right thing, Coles has a range of security measures in place to reduce theft from our stores.”