From scrapyards to Lag BaOmer: The theft industry driving writers crazy

The phenomenon of shopping cart and basket theft from food chains in Israel has reached enormous proportions, with damage estimated in the millions of dollars to the industry. Rami Levy: "For us, it means hundreds of thousands of shekels a year." At City Market, about 20,000 carts disappear per quarter, and at Tiv Taam, the damage is estimated at about 150,000 euros.

The phenomenon of shopping cart and basket theft from food chains in Israel has reached enormous proportions, with damage estimated in the millions of dollars to the industry. Rami Levy, owner of the "Rami Levy Shivuk Hashikma" chain, describes a loss of hundreds of thousands of shekels a year for his chain, and millions of dollars for the entire market. According to him, some of the cart thieves sell the iron to tire repair shops and scrapyards, after removing the chain's embossed name. Despite appeals to the police in 17 cities, security coordinators received no response. The chain is developing technology that will make the cart beep after moving 100-150 meters away. Yossi Schwartz, founder and CEO of "City Market", notes that the scale of thefts stands at about 20-25 thousand carts per quarter, and that the phenomenon increases towards Lag BaOmer, when the chain is forced to hide the carts from children who collect wood on them and sometimes burn them. At "Tiv Taam" as well, they face a loss of 700 to 850 carts per year and a procurement cost of about 150 to 160 thousand euros. Tamir Hadad, the chain's security manager, notes that the extent of the phenomenon depends on iron prices in China. The chain tried locking mechanisms and RFID technology, but the thieves learned to neutralize the system using aluminum.