In a pinch: "Supermarkets need to increase the number of staff who monitor the self-scan checkouts, even though the point of these checkouts is to reduce the need for staff." A Coles spokesperson said: "Coles has driven customer loyalty and sales by opening our stores and providing great service which more than offsets the very small amount of theft and fraud at the checkout by a small number of our 18 million customers a week." Woolworths' line was similar, with their spokesperson saying: "The vast majority of customers do the right thing. Our message to the small minority of would-be shoplifters is simple – don't do it. "We're closely monitoring these checkouts, we adapt our systems to new shoplifting methods and we will catch you if you do the wrong thing." Steve Ogden-Barnes, a retail industry academic at the Deakin Graduate School of Business, said that, whatever the level of theft was in Australia, the big retailers would wear it, for now.

"The global theft barometer, an annual survey into shrinkage, puts the [figure for store theft at] 1.1 per cent in 2013 for Australia," Dr Ogden-Barnes said. "No one's really put a figure on self-serve losses, though one can only imagine the net losses are cheaper to bear than the cost of having employees at checkouts." Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, echoed those comments. "Our understanding is that supermarkets lose about 3 per cent [of turnover] through theft," he said. "What the retailers do is that they know how much theft is happening and how that relates to the costs of employing six people [at the tills] on a Sunday.

"It is tolerable." Shopping habits The survey asked 2634 people aged 18 and over about their shopping habits and use of self-service checkouts. About 19 per cent admitted stealing from self-service checkouts, with most saying they did so regularly. About 57 per cent of these said they first started taking goods because they couldn't get an item to scan. Fruit and vegetables are the most likely items to be taken, as shoppers confess to stealing on average $25 worth each of goods every month from self scanners. One-in-five respondents admit pilfering items at the checkout, but the results suggest shoppers steal regularly once they realise they can get away with it – most admitting they first took goods because they couldn't work the machines.

Crispian Strachan, former chief constable of Northumbria Police and tutor at Cambridge University's Institute of Criminology, said stealing from self-service tills was no different from hiding goods in a handbag or taking a purse from a table. "The method of observation at a self-service till may be more of a temptation than being watched by someone," he said. But he said supermarkets were already vigilant with CCTV, weighted bagging areas and attendants at self-service tills, meaning there is only so much stores could do to crack down on theft without investing even more time and money into pursuing thieves. "Shop theft has often been thought of as a victimless crime," he said. "What people have always done is rationalise it to themselves as something that 'nobody will notice' anyway, but I don't see it like that. These costs are passed on to the store and the taxpayer."

George Charles, spokesperson for VoucherCodesPro.co.uk which did the survey, said: "I'm sure most of those who now admit to stealing via self-service checkouts didn't initially set out to do so – they may have forgotten to scan something and quickly realised how easy it could be to take items without scanning them." Some admitted they decided to pilfer goods from scanners because they believed they were less likely to get caught. When asked why they stole items, 32 per cent said they realised they didn't have enough money to pay for the goods, while 41 per cent said the machines were easy to fool. Mr Charles added: "Supermarkets need to increase the number of staff who monitor the self-scan checkouts, even though the point of these checkouts is to reduce the need for staff, as well as increase their security measures to ensure this comes to an end. "It's not worth getting into trouble with the police over the matter of a few pieces of fruit and veg." Top reasons people gave for stealing from self-service checkouts:

Gave up trying to scan something that wouldn't register: 57 per cent

Gave up trying to scan something that wouldn't register: Less likely to get caught: 51 per cent

The machine is easy to fool: 47 per cent

Didn't have enough money: 32 per cent

At the time I didn't realise it hadn't scanned: 6 per cent Top items people admit stealing from self-service checkouts: Fruit/vegetables: 67 per cent

Fruit/vegetables: Bakery: 41 per cent

Bakery: Confectionery: 32 per cent

Confectionery: Toiletries: 26 per cent Loading

Telegraph, London, with John Collett

