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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

#301

Post by jakelazaroff »

mozman wrote: post #82
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.

It’s simple. Get a job and stop blaming the system and asking for handouts. Petty shoplifters should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Shoplifting is actually one of the least harmful forms of theft, in terms of dollars stolen. Wage theft costs orders of magnitude more. A few years ago, money stolen by police via civil forfeiture surpassed the amount stolen by burglars.

Yet the form of theft I hear the most about, by far, is shoplifting. Why do you think that is?

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

#302

Post by prvit »

coredog64 wrote: post #122
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…

Chains in Manhattan put stickers on the merchandise that tell you where it came from. While you could remove them, it’s a PITA and cuts into your margins. If you don’t remove it, there is a clear signal to Amazon that these are stolen goods.

No post body was provided.

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

#303

Post by mattigames »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #263
mattigames wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 no…

So what? The mere existence of a few tell us that is really possible, and its not like the US or other countries go into great lengths to remedy such situation, instead they pretty much seem to be trying the opposite, just ask any elementary school teacher about how competitive their salary is or how much of their own personal money goes to buy school supplies, or how many criminals are under "medical bankruptcy" or drowning in banks overdraft fees or any other form of bankruptcy, or perhaps you can ask what are "private prisons" and what are their incentives.

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

#304

Post by nradov »

Teever wrote: post #292
SpelingBeeChamp wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am fairly sure that trafficking in stolen goods is only a crime if the person knew, or if a reasonable person should have known, that the goods were stolen.

Merely possessing stolen goods is a crime where I am from and is more than likely the same where you are.

Nope. Possession of stolen property is not a strict liability offense under US criminal law. Prosecution requires mens rea.

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

#305

Post by prvit »

lupire wrote: post #216
lisper wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course not. But it is really hard to turn a profit reselling a product you purchased at retail.

...which means if Amazon wants to avoid criminal behavior, they could ban such objects and not hurt legit sellers. But if Amazon doesn't care, this system is not enough to convict a criminal.

OTOH my friend has spent the past 5 or so years earning high six figures hunting good deals from big retailers and reselling on Amazon.

I’m sure he’s only one of many. There’s nothing Amazon can do without banning such sellers.

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

#306

Post by mattigames »

ben_w wrote: post #78
mattigames wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But society first needs to be in a degraded state for most criminals to exist, as most only meet their basic needs through criminal means, such as food, shelter, health and education.

To say "most" criminals thusly, presupposes that all societies are in degraded states, regardless of the actual causes of criminality.

"Most" in the absolute terms, not in the relative (e.g. percentual) way you may be interpreting my comment. And anyway there is always going to be criminals, but its not remotely the same thing when your national average thief steals one thing per year vs one thing per day.

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

#307

Post by bhk »

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…

A big cause of petty crimes (and more serious ones) is people growing up among criminals and seeing them not face harsh consequences. The reality experienced by a group of people shapes their mores over time.

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

#308

Post by LawTalkingGuy »

bsder wrote: post #21
x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but it's more complicated to acquire and not available right off the shelf.

"A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine" https://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume19/v19i3/Pse...

Which is easily available in San Francisco, Vancouver, LA, etc.

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

#309

Post by short_throw »

someguydave wrote: post #250
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…

It seems like you are a big fan of judging people on the basis of superficial appearances.

It seems you're a big fan of judging people on superficial details of their internet comments.

The point was pretty clear to me...that there's a person and a family on the losing end of all this. Giving the owners of a store a backstory is humanizing, OP gave as much detail as he knew which wasn't much and that's fine. It's a shame we're all so tense about cultural details that people get attacked for trying to say something nice.

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

#310

Post by prvit »

jrumbut wrote: post #269
subradios wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Selling goods is a legitimate business activity.
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