On a recent trip to Cyprus I hired a car via the internet.
I was told to return it at the airport by leaving it in the parking lot with unlocked doors, and the keys and parking ticket placed under the driver's mat.
My concern that the car might be stolen was brushed aside.
It's a good business model as it cuts the need for rented premises at the airport, but it certainly wouldn't work in South Africa.
Any company that tried it here would lose virtually all its cars to thieves.
There are lots of other business efficiencies that we lose out on because of crime.
But the direct costs of extra security and theft hit hardest, as well as the trauma of crime and the constant fear.
We also lose skilled people because of high crime, and fail to attract others for the same reason.
According to the World Bank's Investment Climate Survey in 2005, crime costs businesses in South Africa about 1% of sales, 3% of net value-added and 5% of labour-costs.
These are roughly in line with the costs of crime in Brazil, Russia, Peru and the Philippines, but higher than Morocco, Turkey, China, the Ukraine and Poland.
Compared to businesses in Turkey and Morocco, South African firms faced a cost disadvantage of about 5% of labour costs.
Small businesses suffer most, with a higher risk of being wiped out from theft of a vehicle or a till robbery, as opposed to large firms with resources and insurance.
An interesting study compared house-hold enterprises in Mamelodi in Pretoria, with the low-income settlement of Madina in Accra, Ghana.
The range of businesses, mostly headed by women, was similar, including food, retail and services, but the major difference affecting survivability was crime.
Whereas crime was virtually unknown in Madina, it dominated conversation in Mamelodi, where the researchers found that shops closed early and robberies were common.
Without fear of crime in Madina, their greatest business took place after dark where the streets were full of people. Many businesses stored their goods outside because of space problems, but never experienced theft.
Poverty is often blamed as a cause of crime, but this is an insult to the vast majority of poor people who live honest lives that don't harm others.
Crime is more often a cause of poverty, and hinders efforts by people to uplift themselves.
Just think of the devastating consequences for a family after the murder or severe injury of a mother or father.
Communal peace is valuable social capital not just for quality of life but for economic advancement.
Francis Fukuyama has shown that high-trust countries do better economically since they find it easier to grow beyond family enterprises to create professionally-managed corporations that involve strangers who cooperate on the basis of shared values.
Without trust, one is reliant on family or clan only, or elaborate contracts drawn up by pricey lawyers that are even more expensive to enforce through the courts.
How much better the centuries-old practice in the diamond industry where multi-million deals are sealed with a handshake and the Hebrew words "Mazal u' Bracha" (Good fortune and blessing).
We should resolve to increase broad societal trust and shut down the "steal industry" in all its forms, large and small.
Jack Bloom is a Democratic Alliance member of the Gauteng Legislature. This article first appeared in The Citizen.
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