Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by bradleyjg » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:22 AM UTC

timakro wrote: post #101

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.

What’s a new company doing selling old spice deodorant? What possible legitimate angle could it have?

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

#132

Post by paulgb » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:25 AM UTC

jakelazaroff wrote: post #62

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.

Yes, that’s a big part of the problem. By far the most common lawbreakers I see in my day-to-day are cops committing traffic infractions. You can tell you’re by a police station solely by how impassable the sidewalk becomes for pedestrians. There was an incident recently in which someone removed an obstruction from a license plate. The police ignored the illegally obscured plate but arrested the person clearing it fo…

> There was an incident recently in which someone removed an obstruction from a license plate[…]

Fortunately, the incident seems to only have encouraged him, and he’s continued to “fix” plate obstructions.

https://twitter.com/gershkuntzman

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

#133

Post by c_hackett » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:25 AM UTC

As someone not from the US can anyone shed some light why deodorant and other personal care goods are so expensive in the US? The prices are so ludicrous compared to the UK that on my trip I had to take a photo as friends would have thought I was exaggerating when telling them!

Take for example Dove Men+Care antiperspirant. In the US what is a rather compact can 3.8oz/107g was on the shelf at $9.55 (plus sales tax). I've just checked a well known UK chemist (boots) and 150ml of the same brand is £1.70 and 250ml is £2.00 (both including sales tax). Not really sure why the US measure aerosols in g and the UK measures them in ml but the price difference alone is jaw dropping.

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

#134

Post by LAC-Tech » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:26 AM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #130

LAC-Tech wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're constructing a strawman fantasy word where by people only do anti-social things because they need to live, thereby painting them as heoric, Robin Hood type figures. Here on planet earth however, some people are just anti-social and understand nothing except force. No amount of education or counselling or whatever else will change that.

Yes, people steal shit from stores and do a bunch of work shipping stuff through FBA because they are anti-social \s You think fencing happens because of anti-social behavior? Fencing _is_ work! The simplest explanation for why people steal and resell stuff is money. You do a thing, and at the end you have money in your pocket that you didn't do before. Not complicated!

A lot of things can require a lot of work and still be anti-social. I'm sure serial murderers work very hard.

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

#135

Post by bluedino » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:28 AM UTC

c_hackett wrote: post #133

As someone not from the US can anyone shed some light why deodorant and other personal care goods are so expensive in the US? The prices are so ludicrous compared to the UK that on my trip I had to take a photo as friends would have thought I was exaggerating when telling them! Take for example Dove Men+Care antiperspirant. In the US what is a rather compact can 3.8oz/107g was on the shelf at $9.55 (plus sales tax).…

Aerosols are expensive but you can get a stick of anti-perspiring or deodorant for $2 at most Walmarts etc

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

#136

Post by rtpg » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:29 AM UTC

Vaslo wrote: post #100

standardUser wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What punishment do you suggest then? The unacceptable answer is none.

If bankers can get away with treble damages, then maybe shoplifters should to.

Even if you are super cynical, throwing a shoplifter in jail accomplishes what? If they have a job, they'll lose their job. If they have a home, they'll probably get evicted. They'll have to go through a court system that has to deal with this. People will have to do a bunch of work to move this person through the system.

And at the end of the day someone goes to jail a bit and leaves, and there's no safety net, so they're just permanently worse off. Congrats, you not only wasted an outsized amount of resources for petty theft, but now the person is back in society with less means of getting anything done in a legal way.

If you consider people to actually be people who you want to see improve, there's a hell of a lot better things to be done than putting people in jail for petty theft. At least in the US system.

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

#137

Post by rtpg » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:30 AM UTC

LAC-Tech wrote: post #134

rtpg wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, people steal shit from stores and do a bunch of work shipping stuff through FBA because they are anti-social \s You think fencing happens because of anti-social behavior? Fencing _is_ work! The simplest explanation for why people steal and resell stuff is money. You do a thing, and at the end you have money in your pocket that you didn't do before. Not complicated!

A lot of things can require a lot of work and still be anti-social. I'm sure serial murderers work very hard.

There's a reason there aren't that many serial murderers, and why we don't orient society around catching those at the expense of everything.

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

#138

Post by public_defender » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:33 AM UTC

bsder wrote: post #17

nhoughto wrote: post #4

Same in SF, I assumed it was because of the homelessness problem. Seems more likely than shoplifting gangs..

It always amazes me that people somehow attribute solid executive criminal function to a bunch of people who can't actually keep a roof over their heads. The shoplifting "epidemic" has been due to organized gangs for quite a while as the increasing legality of marijuana is impacting their revenue streams.

Both can be true. Being the street-level operator for a crime gang isn't exactly a union job. The people doing the actual shoplifting are variously unhoused, mentally ill, substance dependent, and desperate. It kind of depresses me how people think it's Kurt Russell with an eye patch stealing Ensure from Walgreens.

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

#139

Post by JamesianP » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:36 AM UTC

akiselev wrote: post #87

jakelazaroff wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So again, if let’s say a waiter assaults their manager who isn’t covering the difference between their tips and minimum wage, that would be allowed? What if I slash the tires of an illegally parked car with an expired police placard?

When the GP says “reasonable force,” that “reasonable” is doing all the heavy lifting. It’s whatever he considers reasonable. Let’s also ignore that “provable” is decided by the courts which these vigilantes are meant to bypass. Rules for thee but not for me.

Doesn't everyone use words to mean what they want to mean by the words?? I seriously though your post was a defense at first. Why would their rule not protect you from liability also?

If it's legal it isn't vigilantism. Isn't it the law in some states that you are allowed to use force to prevent theft? I assume that's what they meant. Yes it has its drawbacks but I think the current pacifist course has us headed for 24/7 surveillance.

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

#140

Post by ksenzee » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 12:37 AM UTC

c_hackett wrote: post #133

As someone not from the US can anyone shed some light why deodorant and other personal care goods are so expensive in the US? The prices are so ludicrous compared to the UK that on my trip I had to take a photo as friends would have thought I was exaggerating when telling them! Take for example Dove Men+Care antiperspirant. In the US what is a rather compact can 3.8oz/107g was on the shelf at $9.55 (plus sales tax).…

The prices here vary wildly depending on where you're shopping. In a Manhattan CVS I wouldn't be surprised to see prices three or four times what you would see in a Nebraska Walmart. I live in the Seattle suburbs and $9.55 for deodorant makes my eyes bug out. I don't think that's normal.