Stealing Vegetables From Unmanned Produce Stands

The sale of produce through unmanned farm stands was once very common around Tokyo, but an article in the Yomiuri reports that those farmers still using this method are often ripped off by thieves:

….a farmer installed a dummy security camera to catch dishonest customers at his vegetable stand. But he soon realized it had little effect and removed it a few months later.

“It’s so frustrating. But they [the thieves] will pay for it someday,” the farmer said.

According to a survey conducted by the Organization for Urban-Rural Interchange Revitalization in Tokyo, there were about 4,700 unmanned farm stands that sell vegetables across Japan as of six years ago.

Many of the managers reportedly complain that they make only 80 percent to 90 percent of what they should. However, some of them consider it cheaper than having to hire and pay someone to manage the stalls.

To combat the problem, Toshio Asakawa, a 65-year-old farmer in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, introduced four vending machines to sell his vegetables.

“Before the introduction of the machines, more than half of my vegetables were stolen every day,” Asakawa said.

He had to spend 3 million yen on the machines, but it seems to have paid off as his sales have increased by 50 percent, he said.

There are also cheaper theft-prevention methods. A search of Japanese blogs found a post of some pics showing an unmanned vegetable shop that appears to rely on a mirror to strike guilt into the hearts of would-be thieves.