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

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

#261

Post by TheRealPomax » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:02 AM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #56

TheRealPomax wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds a little like you think criminals aren't a necessary symptom of "living in a scarcity society" itself...? As long as it's easier to take something than it is to pay for something, there will be people who take, and there will be groups that organize around taking. Pretending that crime is some kind of quirk that you can get rid of if only [fill in reasons here], and that the grey and black markets wouldn'…

> As long as it's easier to take something than it is to pay for something, there will be people who take, and there will be groups that organize around taking. One of the basic functions of the state is to make it difficult for people to steal things.

No isn't. It's to impose sanctions on those who steal things. They have zero involvement in making in harder to do so. Neither laws nor police make it more difficult to steal things, they merely raise the cost of doing so, and as long as that cost is less than the benefit derived from stealing things, thievery will be there to do its thing.

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

#262

Post by lupire » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:02 AM UTC

JamesianP wrote: post #139

akiselev wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

OK so we have something like this: Stand Your Ground laws. A bunch of states passed then recently and saw a large increase in shooting deaths that legally weren't proven to be either self-defense or murder, becuause the witness is dead. Now what?

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

#263

Post by TheRealPomax » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:02 AM UTC

mattigames wrote: post #59

TheRealPomax wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds a little like you think criminals aren't a necessary symptom of "living in a scarcity society" itself...? As long as it's easier to take something than it is to pay for something, there will be people who take, and there will be groups that organize around taking. Pretending that crime is some kind of quirk that you can get rid of if only [fill in reasons here], and that the grey and black markets wouldn'…

Scarcity is not that much of an incentive to steal when all basic needs are fulfilled without much hassle, that's why many countries with their shit together don't have this problem; the US is not one of them.

Okay, yeah no. If you think everyone is so well off they don't benefit from stealing something as stupid as deodorant, you've been living an incredibly sheltered life and it's time to actually look into how much poverty there really is.

There are maybe a handful of countries with their shit together enough for this kind of thing to not happen anymore. The overwhelmingly vast majority of countries on the planet are not those.

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

#264

Post by opportune » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:02 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).…

You are probably getting them from touristy places or convenience stores. You should instead buy packs of 4+ from like Walmart or online if you want a good price

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

#265

Post by renlo » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:03 AM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #227

alar44 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is "the US"? You realize that's an entire fucking continent with vastly different economic situations? Just looked it up on instacart, it's $4.29 here.

The US is not a continent, let alone "an entire fucking" one. Sorry mate.

In that case neither is Europe or Asia ;)

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

#266

Post by nxm » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:03 AM UTC

lupire wrote: post #252

zone411 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Chicago there has been a dramatic drop off: the arrest rate for retail theft went from 43%-54% in 2016-2019 to 18% in 2021 and the number of cases brought to Chicago police has dropped from 8986-10792/year to 6166. https://abc7chicago.com/smash-and-grab-robberies-chicago-org...

What is the cause of the arrest drop? Prosecutor policy, police strike, Covid masking and office closures confounding the operation of the law enforcement system, or something else?

Prosecutor policy results in police saying “what’s the point”?

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

#267

Post by Our_Benefactors » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:03 AM UTC

lupire wrote: post #239

meanmrmustard92 wrote: post #184

Some speculated that prosecutors had gone soft on looting after the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. But it is hard to see any such trend in the data: generally states with more shoplifting prosecute more shoplifters The claim is about the time-series comparison, and the rebuttal is about the cross section comparison. Is the journalist in question stupid, gaslighting, or both?

The rebuttal was explaining the trend that does exist.

No post body was provided.

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

#268

Post by z9znz » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:04 AM UTC

8n4vidtmkvmk wrote: post #241

nuclearnice3 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are just details. Let them echo around in your head as you like. Maybe she's from a conservative part of the world that doesn't have too many woman turning out as doctors. Maybe supporting her family of immigrants, who might not have a ton of money and are dealing with some of the hard things that being new in a strange country brings. Maybe in the deep background you can sense an unhappy reason they left Turkey…

my coworker is from turkey. wears a hijab. or did until very recently, interestingly enough. nice woman. very smart. fiesty.

In a brief recall such as the parent post, certain details would seem either superfluous or meaningful if they don't appear to relate to the topic.

If you mentioned that the guy at the counter of the CVS was wearing a baseball cap, we would wonder why that was a significant detail, or maybe "what team was on the cap".

Saying someone had a hijab is clearly leading with some meaning, but the post didn't go into that detail. I can only guess that it implied something related to Muslims; but I don't even know. They didn't expand on that. So we are left to wonder WHY they mentioned it.

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

#269

Post by jrumbut » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:04 AM UTC

subradios wrote: post #163

mbreese wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Regulating legitimate business activity out of existence to support progressive prosecutors ideas about shoplifting and street crime is the opposite of a solution.

Selling stolen goods isn't a legitimate business activity.

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

#270

Post by ransom1538 » Fri, Nov 25, 2022, 2:04 AM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #179

This is such a big nationwide problem that Target actually mentioned it during their earnings report (this is stated in the article.) Some states/cities have made it near impossible to prosecute these people, so the risk/reward is very favorable to stealing and reselling. Some stores have even closed down in certain areas because of it. When we talk about "food deserts" in some cities, it could one day be we have mas…

I have no idea how a prosecutor can take down these organized rings. The entire method prosecutors use for say exotic drugs, guns, etc: "Ok we have you for 5 years here, who do you work for, make these phone calls, we can get your sentence down to parole". This allows prosecutors to work their way up. But if a prosecutor is sitting in front of a low level shop lifter - who gets out that day - i don't see any prosecutor leverage.