{"id":730620,"date":"2026-06-11T23:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730620\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T23:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:25:18","slug":"soaring-thefts-force-wa-mandarin-grower-to-close-roadside-stall-after-17-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/730620\/","title":{"rendered":"Soaring thefts force WA mandarin grower to close roadside stall after 17 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

A West Australian mandarin grower is shutting his seasonal roadside stall after 17 years due to people stealing up to 40 per cent of the stock laid out each day.<\/p>\n

Bruce Crain said 70 bags of clementines were recently stolen from a stall at the end of his driveway near Capel, 200 kilometres south of Perth, in just one weekend.<\/p>\n

The thefts have prompted Mr Crain to close the stall just a week into his usual season.<\/p>\n

A feature of food-producing regions across Australia, stalls are set out by growers on the roads outside their farms.<\/p>\n

But they depend on customers’ adherence to an honour system, ranging from a locked tin to deposit money in, to visible bank transfer details, to turn a profit.<\/p>\n

Mr Crain said the roadside sales represented less than 1 per cent of total revenue, but it was disappointing nonetheless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We have never seen this level of theft from the honesty box,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The traffic has doubled, and unfortunately, it has brought with it a level of dishonesty.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bruce Crain owns a family-run orchard in Capel in the state’s South West. (Supplied: Bruce Crain)<\/p>\n

Shutting up shop<\/p>\n

Mr Crain said some theft was not unusual, but the level of dishonesty this year was “insane”.<\/p>\n

“I’d often get text messages during the day: ‘Bruce, the stall’s empty, can you get more fruit down there?'” he said\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And we’d race down there and put more fruit down there, only to find out it wasn’t being paid for.<\/p>\n

“It’s just painful.”<\/p>\n

Mr Crain said he ran the stall to give locals and visitors the chance to buy his fruit directly.<\/p>\n

“We love the fact that a lot of people \u2026 come down and buy our fruit and are very happy to get it from the end of the road,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Crain said he would consider reopening the stall next year, but any restart would come with stringent security measures to help prevent further theft.<\/p>\n

\"Fruit<\/p>\n

The clementine mandarin season runs for just six weeks a year. (Supplied: Bruce Crain)<\/p>\n

Bad apples<\/p>\n

The operator of a local guide to the South West’s roadside stalls said Mr Crain’s experience was not an isolated one.<\/p>\n

Christine Martins founded an online roadside stall directory, the Backyard Pantry, in 2021.<\/p>\n

Back then, stall numbers were on the rise<\/a>, with honest consumers credited for the roadside boom.<\/p>\n

Ms Martins said the trend had taken a sour turn and estimated the region had lost up to half its stalls.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Some roadside farm stallholders rely on the honesty system to turn a profit. (ABC Great Southern: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

“Some people come through and steal, and these producers can’t afford to just keep providing these products \u2026 and sharing them for free,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s always a few bad apples who spoil it for everyone else.”<\/p>\n

Ms Martins said roadside stalls were an integral part of the region’s identity.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Crain family has been operating the seasonal roadside stall for 17 years. (Supplied: Bruce Crain)<\/p>\n

“It’s part of the charm,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It would definitely take away some of the experience of driving and stopping at all these stalls, so it would be a huge loss.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A West Australian mandarin grower is shutting his seasonal roadside stall after 17 years due to people stealing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,353662,353663,353664,353660,158395,41844,353659,85,37777,45,353661],"class_list":["post-730620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-capel-mandarins","tag-clementine-madarins","tag-honour-system","tag-roadside-stall-theft","tag-roadside-stalls","tag-south-west-news","tag-south-west-roadside-stall-map","tag-sports","tag-stealing","tag-wa-news","tag-where-are-roadside-stalls-in-south-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}