More Americans are shoplifting food • Hacker News Board

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#11

Post by tempsy » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:42 PM UTC

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7

Serious_Cheese wrote: post #2

>“People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” People stealing food to survive while the super wealthy and rich becoming richer and richer[1]. What a great time to be alive. [1]( https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/11/18/elon... ) EDIT: I don't particularly dislike Elon (the man has done alot of good), but he was the easiest example I could think of. Stock market is a better indicator…

Not that Elon Musk doesn't have plenty of flaws that people online will be happy to spill much ink about, but what does that have to do with widespread poverty on a national level? Does the US not have a government and state-level and federal-level representatives whose job it is to take care of their citizens and keep them out of starvation? Elon Musk and his pals seem like a convenient distraction from holding acco…

Agree that blaming individuals makes no sense. It's the system that is pushing the poorest into more debt and insecurity while making the rich richer that is the problem.

A lot of talk about building a healthy middle class but we've lost track of that goal decades ago.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#12

Post by nostromo » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:42 PM UTC

More Americans are shoplifting everything. Crime is up across the board this year.

In my locale, it's an open secret that most retailers will not detain you if you shoplift. And it's widely known that you wouldn't be prosecuted if they did anyway.

So yeah. Shoplifting is up.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#13

Post by owenmarshall » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:42 PM UTC

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7

Serious_Cheese wrote: post #2

>“People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” People stealing food to survive while the super wealthy and rich becoming richer and richer[1]. What a great time to be alive. [1]( https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/11/18/elon... ) EDIT: I don't particularly dislike Elon (the man has done alot of good), but he was the easiest example I could think of. Stock market is a better indicator…

Not that Elon Musk doesn't have plenty of flaws that people online will be happy to spill much ink about, but what does that have to do with widespread poverty on a national level? Does the US not have a government and state-level and federal-level representatives whose job it is to take care of their citizens and keep them out of starvation? Elon Musk and his pals seem like a convenient distraction from holding acco…

> Does the US not have a government and state-level and federal-level representatives whose job it is to take care of their citizens and keep them out of starvation?

It’s patently obvious that no, the US does not.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#14

Post by swiley » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:43 PM UTC

The US is probably inches away from a serious catastrophy caused be the extreme inequality that's only gotten worse this year.

Inequality is one thing, but when you're forced out on to the street to starve to death and there's nothing you can do to improve your situation that's totally different.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#15

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:43 PM UTC

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #9

Another thing that might be playing into the increased shoplifting is that a number of district attorneys are not prosecuting property crimes, especially things like shoplifting. Thus police have no incentive to do anything about that. Thus people know that they can get away with shoplifting so it is likely to go up.

[deleted]

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#16

Post by Spooky23 » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:44 PM UTC

underseacables wrote: post #3

Many people are starving because they are locked down and not able to work, but I think that the grocery self scan that so many stores are moving towards, enables food theft; or at the very least it makes it easier. It would be interesting to see exactly how much shrinkage occurs due to the self scan.

Agreed. Self check is such an obviously dumb approach, especially with high value stuff like meat. People do stuff like swap tags or enter invalid PLUs all of the time.

Was that a cherry (11/lb) or a potato (0.69/lb)?

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#17

Post by lightgreen » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:45 PM UTC

Serious_Cheese wrote: post #2

>“People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” People stealing food to survive while the super wealthy and rich becoming richer and richer[1]. What a great time to be alive. [1]( https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/11/18/elon... ) EDIT: I don't particularly dislike Elon (the man has done alot of good), but he was the easiest example I could think of. Stock market is a better indicator…

No people are not stealing food to survive. US have food banks and food stamps. People steal because they can.

I don’t say people are wealthy or eat enough. I’m saying your statement about survival is untrue, and as any false statement does not help to resolve the issue.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#18

Post by adultSwim » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:46 PM UTC

I was struck earlier this year when my local pharmacy started locking up bar soap. This isn't some expensive item to resell, like razor blades. It's a basic necessity that people are struggling to acquire.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#19

Post by brundolf » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:47 PM UTC

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7

Serious_Cheese wrote: post #2

>“People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” People stealing food to survive while the super wealthy and rich becoming richer and richer[1]. What a great time to be alive. [1]( https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/11/18/elon... ) EDIT: I don't particularly dislike Elon (the man has done alot of good), but he was the easiest example I could think of. Stock market is a better indicator…

Not that Elon Musk doesn't have plenty of flaws that people online will be happy to spill much ink about, but what does that have to do with widespread poverty on a national level? Does the US not have a government and state-level and federal-level representatives whose job it is to take care of their citizens and keep them out of starvation? Elon Musk and his pals seem like a convenient distraction from holding acco…

Many of those wealthy individuals (or their companies, at least) have lobbied to ensure that we don't have a government which takes upon itself to keep citizens out of starvation. Not sure about Elon Musk specifically, but politicians don't just magically decide to ignore the needs of their constituents.

Re: More Americans are shoplifting food

#20

Post by mempko » Thu, Dec 10, 2020, 11:47 PM UTC

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #7

Serious_Cheese wrote: post #2

>“People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” People stealing food to survive while the super wealthy and rich becoming richer and richer[1]. What a great time to be alive. [1]( https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/11/18/elon... ) EDIT: I don't particularly dislike Elon (the man has done alot of good), but he was the easiest example I could think of. Stock market is a better indicator…

Not that Elon Musk doesn't have plenty of flaws that people online will be happy to spill much ink about, but what does that have to do with widespread poverty on a national level? Does the US not have a government and state-level and federal-level representatives whose job it is to take care of their citizens and keep them out of starvation? Elon Musk and his pals seem like a convenient distraction from holding acco…

Because money is power and it's clear people like Musk have a bigger responsibility to push for an accountable government.