Co-op Food believes the public isn’t concerned about a spike in supermarket shoplifting because politicians have accused grocers of profiteering, chief executive officer Matt Hood said.
Police are not responding to over 70% of crimes reported in the 2,500 Co-op stores in operation in the UK, recently released figures found.
Hood said he’s “disappointed” people were defending criminals, despite a surge in shoplifting being felt by several supermarket giants including Waitrose.
Claiming that gangs of criminals were targeting Waitrose, the supermarket was forced to start training staff to be more aware of shoplifters and told them to monitor self-checkout tills.
People aren’t as sympathetic as the Co-op Food boss would have liked, who argued that because consumers believe supermarkets are making a killing during the cost-of-living crisis they do not care about a rise in shrinkage costs for the retailer.
“What drives me insane is the amount of people who want to claim it is victimless. Tell me, if that was your child working in that shop, would you say it is a victimless crime because it is fundamentally not,” Hood told the Telegraph.
Arguments linking the rise in shoplifting with the cost-of-living crisis were quickly dispelled by the supermarket boss, who claimed criminal groups were to blame for the spike.