Sandra Boland has been the manager at a supermarket in the Launceston suburb of Newnham for more than 20 years.
She's never seen the rate of shoplifting as high as what it is now and it's costing her business thousands of dollars a year.
"I was here as a child and, when the shopkeeper growled at you for picking up that lolly, you don't come back and do it again, but now they just keep coming," she said.
"I think the demographic of the age groups is younger now and they just don't care.
"For us, the easiest thing is to just ban them from the store so that not only saves a loss of stock but it also protects my staff."
Ms Boland is not alone in her struggles against shoplifting.
Statewide, there's been a 30 per cent increase in supermarket shoplifting.
In 2020-21, there were 435 stealing offences recorded, but that figure jumped to 562 the following year.
In southern Tasmania, it's even higher.
It's jumped by 50 per cent, from 204 stealing offences recorded to 307.
In the state's north, shoplifting from supermarkets has increased 17 per cent.
Cost-of-living pressures contributing
Tasmania Police Inspector Nathan Johnston said rising cost of living and homelessness were contributing factors.
"For people within that [homeless] community, it is harder for them to live and survive and, unfortunately, committing crime to survive is part of their way," he said.
"City Mission, Salvation Army, the other service providers have [all] identified that there are issues and that cost of living is an issue.
"We do what we can, we both work with our homeless community to keep them safe, we also work with the business community to ensure that we're enforcing the law."
It's not the only factor contributing to the the rise in shoplifting.
"I guess it's a cyclical thing — like all crime, and all parts of policing, these trends tend to rise and fall," Inspector Johnston said.
"COVID's had an impact and definitely, in our figures for 2020-21, there was a drop right across all our crime [regions] due to the fact people were staying home."
Families stealing to feed families
The St Vincent de Paul Society has been inundated with requests for help in recent months, with chief executive Heather Kent saying some people were being forced to steal to feed their families.
"It really highlights the degree of difficulty many Tasmanian's are finding themselves in," she said.
"We can't hide from the fact that there is a cost-of-living crisis that's been delivered through a combination of forces.
"If you contemplate, 'How am I going to feed my family, my kids, my older parents?', or whatever, I guess the temptation is there."
Ms Kent says she is concerned about increasing rates of stealing.
"We have retail stores ourselves. We work with other retailers and we do hear that these trends are increasing," she said.
"We want people to stop that. We want people to think seriously about the fact that there are those out there who are ready to help them and that's the purpose of Vinnies."
The charity recently launched an urgent food drive for Tasmanians doing it tough after an unprecedented demand for services.
"It's constant and its increasing," Ms Kent said.
Concerns for shop staff safety
As well as the financial blow of shoplifting, Ms Boland from the Newnham IGA said it also had a major mental impact on staff and she worried about their safety.
To combat rising theft, Ms Boland has installed 30 surveillance cameras at the supermarket.
Despite the measures that have been put in place, she said shoplifters were becoming more brazen.
"They're quite obvious about it. They'll just bring a big bag and just fill it and think that you can't do anything to stop them," she said.
"When you do try, they fight back. They're very very violent so, to me, it's about keeping the staff safe.
"There's not enough that scares them or stops them but the police do what they can."
She was shocked by a recent case of shoplifting in her supermarket.
"We had a young child in, probably 16, last week that tried to take $153 worth of meat just in a sports bag.
"[They] just stood there and filled it up, then he attacked my staff when they said: 'Put it back.'
But Ms Boland is not convinced it is all about cost-of-living pressures.
"It's the same rise for all of us and the rest of us work hard to get what we can have. It's about living within your means."
