Cost-of-Living Troubles: Why UK supermarkets are placing ‘dummy’ coffee jars on shelves

The cost of living crisis is hitting hard in the United Kingdom.Prices have been rising at the quickest rate in decades for well over a year, and most earnings aren't able to keep up with this increase.The scenario has also led to an uptick in shoplifting instances around the nation.Empty coffee jars and GPS tracking cases have been placed on the shelves of a supermarket in London in what appears to be an effort to prevent consumers from shoplifting.Let’s take a look.Empty coffee jars, GPS tracking cases on shelvesThe "dummy" goods were applied to jars of instant coffee, the cost of which has been rising due to inflation, in a Walthamstow Co-op store. “This product is a dummy, not for sale, please ask a member of staff for help,” read a sign on one of the jars.The store, which uses a franchise business model, said its top concern is to safeguard employee safety because "shoplifting can be a flashpoint for violence."At the Co-op grocery and petrol station in Harborne, Birmingham, today, the GPS tracking cases were seen on the shelf. The images from the Birmingham store show a £10.50 (~Rs 1,075) jar of Kenco Smooth and a £9.85 (~Rs 1,008) jar of Douwe Egberts, both in cases to prevent shoplifters.The cases come with a warning that customers must remove them at the checkout counter before leaving the store and that shoplifters will face legal action.In an effort to lower the cost of living, the government has urged stores to set voluntary price limitations on basic foods. However, businesses are refusing to comply.According to reports, Downing Street is drafting measures to support charging the least amount feasible for some essential goods like milk and bread.However, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which speaks for retailers, claimed that the regulations would not have any impact on prices and that they would even obstruct attempts to reduce inflation.Also read: Explained: Why Europe is likely to escape recession but the UK is in troubleRising shoplifting incidentsAccording to The Metro, one in ten young adults have admitted to robbing supermarket self-checkout lanes to make ends meet. Essentials like the children's medication Calpol are among the most frequently stolen commodities in the UK.According to the most recent Office of National Statistics data for England and Wales, shoplifting climbed by 22 per cent in the year to September, according to The Independent.Tracey Clements, the CEO of BP convenience stores believes the cost of living problem has made shoplifting in the UK worse than in other countries in Europe. "Unfortunately, in the UK, shoplifting and the rise in crime against retail workers are more prominent than what I see in the other nine countries that I look after," she told Retail Week magazine.According to a study done by the Centre for Retail Research in 2022, shoplifting cost the British economy 660 million pounds in 2021–2022.Also read: The global inflation nightmare: It’s 167% in Lebanon, 70% in Sri LankaFood inflationThe Office for National Statistics reports that over the previous year, the cost of instant coffee has gone up by 13 per cent. As a result of Vladimir Putin's illegitimate invasion of Ukraine, food prices have been rising over the past year.On Tuesday, there was some hope that the quickly growing increase in food costs may have peaked because a study of store pricing revealed they had decreased between April and May. Inflation in the food industry decreased to 15.4 per cent in May from 15.7 per cent in April, according to a poll conducted by Nielsen and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).But due to the rising costs of coffee, chocolate, and non-food goods, the overall inflation rate at supermarkets hit a record high of nine per cent. A consumer who spent about £20 (~Rs 2,048) on groceries a year ago would now pay just over £23 (~Rs 2,356) for the same products, as the 15.7 per cent is still a fairly high percentage.Although the May figure is a little less than the April food inflation rate, the BRC reported that it is still the second-fastest annual increase it has ever recorded. Additionally, it stated that the cost of fresh food climbed by 17.2 per cent in May, down from 17.8 per cent in April.The inflation rate for ambient foods, or goods that may be held at room temperature, increased from 12.9 per cent in April to 13.1 per cent in May. According to the BRC, overall inflation in stores increased to an all-time high of nine per cent in April and May from 8.8 per cent.According to Associated Press, one of the main reasons why inflation is consistently running higher than anticipated — and generally higher than other nations in the Group of Seven — is that food prices remain elevated, as anyone doing the weekly shopping at their supermarket can attest to. The statistics agency said that food prices were still 19 per cent higher than they were the year before.“The rate of inflation fell notably as the large energy price rises seen last year were not repeated this April, but was offset partially by increases in the cost of second-hand cars and cigarettes,” the statistics agency’s chief economist Grant Fitzner said, adding, "However, prices, in general, remain substantially higher than they were this time last year, with annual food price inflation near historic highs."