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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

#141

Post by ryan93 »

standardUser wrote: post #112
Vaslo wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The fact that the only solution you see is "punishment" is exactly the problem. No reasonable punishment will stop these crimes. Period. And unreasonable punishments, like locking a human in a cage without rehabilitation for years of their life, only make the problem worse and cost us a ridiculous amount of money (and humanity). So maybe take a step back, or five, and think about the causes of petty crimes and why th…

max shoplifting penalty in nyc is a year and thats for repeat offenders. its mostly fines. you are right putting people in prison for years for shoplifting is bad. it doesnt really happen

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

#142

Post by adventured »

somberi wrote: post #106

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…

CVS doesn't lease out or franchise operating rights to their stores in the US. They own and operate all of them exclusively. They operate similarly to Walgreens in that respect.

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

#143

Post by marmetio »

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).…

You paid the "convenience tax". Big expensive city, prices to offset shoplifting, and you didn't know where to go for cheaper product. Otherwise, prices are about the same. I've seen the same expensive deodorant in Europe too.

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

#144

Post by Robotbeat »

bradleyjg wrote: post #131
timakro wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Same as any small business reselling stuff bought in bulk that people need like one or two of every year?

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

#145

Post by tootie »

Terretta wrote: post #8

I'd wondered if someone figured out how to turn deodorant into meth, since they started protecting it like Sudafed even after Sudafed was removed from the Sudafed boxes sold as Sudafed (phenylphrine is not pseudoephedrine and is not effective). Sudafed, baby formula, deodorant, and razor blades, together could sound like a Jesse Pinkman shopping list before he found a high school chemistry teacher to help him. At the…

The article says it's organized. Meaning you hire a dozen thieves and send them after the same few items. Go grab as much Old Spice Sport and Burt's Bees lip balm and whatever else and then you setup as an Amazon reseller with what looks like a real inventory. Then you can fence nationwide with almost no overhead.

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

#146

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

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

#147

Post by jowsie »

jandrese wrote: post #45
HWR_14 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The homeless population (including those in shelters and cars) is < 1% of SF's population. Even if they used products at the same rate as the rest of the population and stole 100% of what they used, they would be responsible for less than half of retail shrinkage.

What if they were selling it to get money for drugs?

Does it matter?

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

#148

Post by mbreese »

nostromo wrote: post #124
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…

Blaming Amazon is misplaced. Blame the people stealing and the system that refuses to prosecute them.

You can tackle a problem from multiple directions. So while direct prosecution is important, cutting off a method for converting stolen goods to money is also important. As soon as that method become unprofitable, the activity will either stop or switch to something else.

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

#149

Post by syliconadder »

tdehnel wrote: post #98
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.

Oh knock it off with this crap. The article is about organized retail theft. If you work for a criminal enterprise you should work a legal job and pay for things like everyone else.

"like everyone else". This would be a small fraction of people though. The whole of human enterprise is built on stolen loot: the forests razed without permissions and the lands dus and animals chased without anyone's consent. We are conditioned to behave as we own this planet, why is it unfair to consider that between people too this behavior wouldn't show?

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

#150

Post by bsagdiyev »

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).…

That's an insane price. I just paid ~$6 for two sticks of regular Old Spice stick deodorant the other day.
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