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Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

economist.com

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Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#101

Post by timakro »

fragmede wrote: post #53

I've lived in the same city now (not NYC) for 10+ years, so I'm moderately connected with all sorts of people and not just a bubble of affluent tech people. So I'll be real, I know some sketchy people that probably do drugs or at least know where to find some. What I don't know, however, is any "fences". That is, someone that traffics in stolen goods. Or maybe I do, they don't exactly advertise their services. I've n…

Amazon makes it easy to sell especially with FBA. That's as much a good thing as it can be misused. It allows new businesses to get started when they cannot afford to handle shipping to customers themselves.

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#102

Post by [deleted] »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #69
MichaelCollins wrote: post #33

> "The stores are insured bro, why do you care if people steal from them? It's not your problem maaan." This is why I care. Criminals degrade society and we all suffer for their greed.

That’s one perspective. Another is that the truly greedy thing is to construct a society such that some people can’t afford basic necessities, and that inflicts far more suffering than people stealing what they need to live.

[deleted]

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#103

Post by mancerayder »

standardUser wrote: post #97
mancerayder wrote: post #72

What's amazing is how no one is honing in on the real reason this is happening, the DA's office combined with state laws make it hard to bail people and send people to prison. That's the decision made, and it's referred to as the carceral system. It's something viewed as urgently needing reform, and that's how the progressive DA's operate. Look at Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA's program ( https://www.manhattanda.org/…

Do you honestly think shoplifters should be locked in a cage?

Certainly not for one offense, or even two. Someone who behaves outside the law consistently needs to be dissuaded though. What suggestions do you have?

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#105

Post by mongol »

sokoloff wrote: post #79
jakelazaroff wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s one perspective. Another is that the truly greedy thing is to construct a society such that some people can’t afford basic necessities, and that inflicts far more suffering than people stealing what they need to live.

The struggle to survive is the starting condition in nature. That society doesn’t completely eradicate it (but only makes great strides in that direction) is not an indictment of society.

I did not consider it like this before but it is so true. Society is not a given, and it is not a perfect fabric in which evil people tore holes. Instead it is woven by everyone that acts in it.

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#106

Post by somberi »

It just so happened my wife and I were in a CVS (a US pharmacy chain) on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (think pooches inside Gucci bags), and I wanted to get a Deodorant.

We had to call the staff to unlock small pigeon hole after another just to see what was written on the labels.

As always it is not just one thing - the lady that came to help us was in a Hijab and was studying medicine and was helping her parents who immigrated from Turkey and own the operation rights of that store, on thanksgiving eve.

May be I am Old, but I did not mind the locked shelves after meeting her.

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#107

Post by pclmulqdq »

philwelch wrote: post #60
pclmulqdq wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cops are generally part of the crime problem in NYC. They also don't go after people for anything short of attempted murder (even when it's done in front of their faces), so lots of crime goes unreported.

NYC used to have a solution for this, it was called broken windows policing.

Broken windows policing doesn't work when the cops have the city's largest supply of bricks.

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#108

Post by tdehnel »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #37
skymast wrote: post #23

Manhattan is getting the law enforcement it demanded.

Not really. Walk around the city and you see more cops than ever. The issue is that police don’t actually prevent crime. Putting more cops on the street is like trying to use water to extinguish a grease fire.

This is possibly the most ridiculous argument being used today. Anyone who has looked at their speed and slowed down while driving past a cop can confirm that you’re full of it.

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#109

Post by lifeisstillgood »

fragmede wrote: post #53

I've lived in the same city now (not NYC) for 10+ years, so I'm moderately connected with all sorts of people and not just a bubble of affluent tech people. So I'll be real, I know some sketchy people that probably do drugs or at least know where to find some. What I don't know, however, is any "fences". That is, someone that traffics in stolen goods. Or maybe I do, they don't exactly advertise their services. I've n…

Ooooooooohhhhhhh!!

So I steal some consumer goods, put them in individual boxes, send them to Amazon warehouse and they distribute for me.

I simply never put that together.

But surely Amazon is literally handling stolen goods?

Is there a smoking gun email?

Re: Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan

#110

Post by jakelazaroff »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #86
jakelazaroff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Walk around the city and you see more cops than ever. The issue is that police don’t actually prevent crime. Putting more cops on the street is like trying to use water to extinguish a grease fire.

So you need military, not police?

One prevalent narrative in NYC is that there’s an epidemic of people being pushed onto the tracks. We need more police in the subway to prevent this from happening.

I was in Singapore recently. Most people there take the subway. Yet no one gets pushed onto the tracks. Why is that?

It has nothing to do with cops — you rarely see them on the subway there. Instead, they have a wall between the platform and the tracks.

So many problems like this have non-carceral solutions. The reactionary reach for police to solve ever problem we see is inhumane. It makes society worse.

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