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Anyone caught shoplifting in the Netherlands may find it more expensive from today. The country’s largest debt-collection agency is raising the standard damages charge it demands from shoplifters caught in the act, from 181 euros to 242 euros, the first increase in fourteen years.
Not a fine, but a bill
Many people will recognise the stickers warning that “Shoplifters pay 181 euros”. That figure is outdated, but the main point is that it represents a civil claim for damages, not a criminal fine. Under Dutch law, whoever causes damage must compensate for it, and a private collection agency levies the charge on behalf of the shop, not the state. The agency raising it, SODA, is used by several large supermarkets and retailers, and says the increase is needed “to bring the amount back into proportion and to preserve the deterrent effect”.
What the ‘damage’ actually is
The sum is not really about the value of the goods, which are usually recovered, but about the shopkeeper’s time. Detaining a shoplifter and handling the paperwork takes time, and that's what the charge covers. The original 181-euro figure was set in 2012, based on a shopkeeper losing on average two hours per theft.
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Why shops use collection agencies
Retailers increasingly use an agency rather than the police, whose reporting and waiting are slow and who cannot always attend. The drugstore chain Kruidvat, which uses SODA, put it plainly: “The thief pays damages and we do not report it to the police,” saving time. But there is a trade-off. Without a report, the shoplifter is not criminally prosecuted. The retail association InRetail, though supportive of the higher charge as a deterrent, urges shopkeepers to keep reporting thefts anyway, “so that the statistics continue to show the real situation”.
Will it hold up in court?
The charge is enforceable only if it reflects genuine damage, and there is doubt whether the higher figure will survive before a civil judge. The 181-euro amount assumed two hours of lost time, but thanks partly to the agencies’ own services, shopkeepers are now often finished in about fifteen minutes. That makes a higher bill harder to justify, and people have already succeeded in the past in getting the amount reduced when a shopkeeper could not prove the time spent. How judges treat the new figure remains to be seen.
What happens to those who don’t pay
The system leans on cooperation. Shoplifters who refuse to deal with the agency can face legal proceedings, but that is costly and slow, and becomes difficult if the thief’s identity is unknown. In practice, shops and SODA depend on those who cooperate and pay. “The shoplifters pay,” said SODA director Niels van Os. “They also have an interest in wanting to resolve it.” For someone caught in the act, quietly settling a 242-euro bill can look preferable to a police report and possible prosecution, which is exactly the calculation the system is built on.