A disappointed Australian farmer is shutting down a roadside mandarin stall with an honesty system he has been running for the last 17 years due to a sudden spike in thefts.
Bruce Cairn, who grows mandarins on his family-run orchard near Capel, south of Perth, said the level of theft this year had been “insane” and that he was losing up to 40% of the stock he put out each day.
He is now closing the stall, which depends on an unattended honesty box for payment, just a week into his usual season, and said while he is considering opening again next year it would not be without new security measures.
“We have never seen this level of theft from the honesty box,” he told ABC News.
“The traffic has doubled, and unfortunately, it has brought with it a level of dishonesty.”
Mr Cairn said 70 bags of fruit were recently stolen in just one weekend, and while sales from the stall made up just 1% of his income he found the spike in stealing disappointing and “painful”.
Christine Martins, who runs the Backyard Pantry, an online directory of roadside produce stalls, said Western Australia’s South West region had lost about half its stalls due to rampant theft.
“Some people come through and steal, and these producers can’t afford to just keep providing these products … and sharing them for free,” she said.
“There’s always a few bad apples who spoil it for everyone else.”
Ms Martins said the stalls helped give the local area its charm and were part of its identity, and it would be a “huge loss” to the region if they disappeared.
Locals responded to the closure with sadness and anger on social media, with some suggesting mass immigration was to blame.
“In an unrelated topic, demographics holidaying in the great southern have changed in the last few years,” read one popular comment.
“[Immigration minister Tony] Burke’s modern Australia,” said another.
“When I was in my late 20s to 30s these were everywhere in WA, it was fantastic you could just over and buy some, but unfortunately we live in a different world now,” wrote another Aussie.
Header image: The Capel mandarin stall (Bruce Cairn)
