Several grocery stores in Skåne have experienced meat thefts worth several hundreds of thousands of kroner a year, something that South Sweden reported on. Even at Stora Coop in Lund, meat thefts have increased in the last 1.5 years, according to store manager Lennart Martinsson – who has now had to resort to drastic measures.
At his store, guards are on site every day of the week and extra surveillance cameras have been installed.
– Five days a week we have the police here who pick up people for shoplifting, he says.
Order job
Despite the fact that the guards and the police are catching more and more shoplifters, you can also see that the individual theft volumes have increased. It used to be a few packages – now entire bags are filled with meat worth anything between 5,000 and 16,000 kroner. And the dark figure is feared to be large.
– That’s what worries us: then it’s a custom job. Because no one needs 30 beef fillets at home for the household exactly, says Lennart Martinsson.
He believes that there is a market for stolen meat and it is usually sold on to restaurants and restaurateurs.
Looking at other stores, how common do you think this is?
– I think it is very common. I have spoken to my colleagues – we are twelve large Coop here in southern Scania and more or less everyone has problems. It is everywhere, says Lennart Martinsson.
– It doesn’t matter if you are a small or a large shop. It’s shoplifting and it’s the meat that’s number one, he continues.
It is often in remote nooks and corners of the store that the thief picks up goods and then goes through the self-scanner to pay for a single item – but with several kilos of stolen meat in the bag.
Considering locking up the meat
The problem has now become so serious that they are considering locking up the meat, something that several other stores have now started to do, according to Lennart Martinsson.
– We have talked about it but feel that it is terribly boring because 99 percent of all people are honest and do not steal. Then it will be busier for them, says the store manager.
– It is our last resort, but it can only go so far.
Camera surveillance
At several stores in Malmö, they have already started to lock certain types of meat in the warehouse. There, the staff can go and pick up the meat when the customer wants to buy it, according to him.
– The service will be worse. But it continues and it is clear that we have to do something.
Although they are considering locking up the meat, the staff at Stora Coop in Lund will first try to continue with other measures. In addition to the new cameras that were installed in the store, all the expensive meat has now also been gathered in one place.
– Instead of spreading it out in the store, you have it in one place, where you have a camera and try to keep an eye on it there.
He also demands greater support from the municipality and the police. It is mainly about stricter checks being made at restaurants.
– If you can’t sell the meat to restaurants, the thefts will probably go down. For example, they have raided restaurants in Malmö because restaurants need to prove where the meat comes from, with a receipt. Meat has been found there where the owner could not prove where it came from. We want there to be stricter control here as well.