What does a delivery theft poster reveal for coffee culture?

A tea beverage shop in Zhejiang put up a large poster condemning repeated thefts of completed delivery orders, including a rear-view photo of the suspected thief. The shop said thefts began in mid-to-late June, rising from one or two cups to four drinks in a single incident, with losses over 100 yuan.

A police report went nowhere because surveillance captured only the thief's back. The poster, displayed from June 27, stopped further thefts for about half a month. It was later removed after property management said it affected the city's appearance, and other shops reported the same problem.

Recently, a tea beverage shop in Zhejiang, frustrated by frequent order thefts from its delivery pickups, put up a special poster of condemnation. This poster was not promoting products, but directly calling out the meal thief, even including a rear-view photo of the thief. After media coverage, the incident sparked public discussion about delivery security and how merchants protect their rights. How effective was this poster? And why did the shop eventually take it down? Let's learn the whole story.

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Recently, Zhejiang Economic TV received a tip from a netizen saying that a special poster had been put up at the entrance of a local tea beverage shop.

From the picture provided by the netizen, this eye-catching poster, over one meter wide, was not promoting the shop's own products, but condemning the theft of delivery orders. It read, "Is the lemon tea good? Yes! Please pay for it," "Please do not pretend to be a delivery rider or a self-pickup customer," and other such words, accompanied by a rear-view photo of the delivery thief.

It is understood that since mid-to-late June, completed orders at this tea beverage shop had been occasionally taken away by people dressed as delivery riders. At first it was only one or two cups, but later the thefts became more and more frequent. In the most recent incident, four drinks were stolen from the shop, with losses exceeding 100 yuan.

In an interview with reporters, the shop owner said he had called the police over this matter, but the store surveillance only captured the thief's back and actions, not the front, so the police were powerless. Helpless, the owner made this poster and put it up on June 27, hoping to deter the repeat thief.

In fact, the poster had an obvious effect in the half month since it was posted, and the shop had no further delivery thefts during that period. However, on the day of the reporter's interview, the poster had already been removed. Staff explained that property management believed the shop's action somewhat affected the city's appearance and told them not to display that "poster of condemnation" anymore.

After visiting the area, reporters learned that many tea beverage shops had experienced stolen delivery orders. Employees said that although they would verify the order number with customers and riders before handing over drinks according to work procedures, when the shop was flooded with orders and short-staffed, everyone was busy making drinks and had no time to pay attention to anything else. Most thieves would take advantage of this gap and impersonate riders to take away orders.

Therefore, shops with high output are targeted by thieves. In a month, several delivery orders might be stolen, and some tea beverage shops even had more than a dozen drinks stolen in a single day.

Faced with this situation, most tea beverage shop operators feel helpless. The economic loss caused by stolen delivery orders is not large, but calling the police wastes time and energy, and may not effectively reduce delivery theft. Therefore, after learning that a delivery order has been stolen, shop owners generally do not choose to call the police, but instead have staff remake it.

However, after suffering too many silent losses, shop owners still feel angry, so some tea beverage shops put up posters of condemnation, notices, and other methods to scare off thieves, hoping to improve the situation of delivery theft and reduce the shop's economic losses.

After understanding the owner's helplessness, most netizens supported the owner in exposing delivery theft through the "poster of condemnation," saying it could both deter thieves and remind nearby peers.

However, some pointed out that the wording on the poster was too harsh and somewhat targeted the delivery personnel group, believing that shop owners should pay attention to their wording when making posters and not condemn a whole group with one sweeping statement.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.