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5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

amazon.co.uk

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Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#41

Post by wisty »

Robin_Message wrote: post #9
itg wrote: post #5

Are the rioters buying these or the people and shop owners who want to protect their property?

Surely rioters? I find it hard to believe a shop owner is seriously going to try and hold the line by themselves against a mob. Also, a baseball bat is a classic disguised weapon but a shopkeeper will have no justification in having one so it is probably an offensive weapon in UK law. I've heard it said that D-cell Maglite torches are used by security guards not because they necessarily need a torch (a headtorch is g…

A rioter caught carrying a baseball bad would be in serious trouble. A bat is hard to conceal on a person. Anyone carrying one will become a target to the police, as they will know the rioter is a trouble maker.

A shopkeeper can hide it under the counter.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#42

Post by hugh3 »

chriserin wrote: post #34

UKers, just make sure you get ash bats, not maple. A shattered bat on the ball field is embarrassing. A shattered bat on the streets is dangerous. Likely there will be no bat boy to hand you a replacement.

Surely aluminium is the way to go?

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#43

Post by ArbitraryLimits »

itg wrote: post #5

Are the rioters buying these or the people and shop owners who want to protect their property?

After seeing Korean shopowners in action during the LA riots in 1991, I'd always been curious how this scenario would play out in a country with gun control laws.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#44

Post by nn000 »

dpapathanasiou wrote: post #33
jfruh wrote: post #23

These loathsome people have no respect for Britain's glorious history or traditions. Real British patriots use cricket bats on their looting spree.

I admit I laughed, but this comment belongs more on reddit than here.

because developers have no sense of humor.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#45

Post by corin_ »

knowtheory wrote: post #29
guelo wrote: post #11

That doesn't make sense, by the time you get the bat the riots should be over. Are the local sporting good stores all sold out?

Doesn't Amazon run a shipping hub out of London? If so they may do same day delivery. Either way, you're hedging the cost of a bat vs the chance that riots are going to go on for multiple days, or spring up outside of your shop?

Next day delivery if ordered before a certain time (5pm I think, might be 7pm). I'd place money on the riots still being around by the time an order placed today arrived.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#46

Post by nagrom »

Alex3917 wrote: post #15
mtogo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it would make perfect sense for Amazon to cancel thousands of orders because they could be involved in some kind of ongoing riot. Great idea. /s

This isn't thousands, it's only a few hundred. Remember, the British don't play much baseball so they would normally only be selling a handful of any given bat per day.

So, we refuse to sell bats to people who want to play baseball in the middle of the summer (the item's main and intended innocent purpose) because other people want to use them for other purposes?

If you don't explicitly do that, you need to figure out a way to identify the potential nefarious users from the potential good ones. Do we allow a bat as long as you buy a mitt and a ball too? Only to people over the age of 25 because most of the looters are under 25? By postcode?

There's no way that any business should be expected to do that - it's a police action. If parliament wants to make bats illegal, or controlled items, that's one issue (resting with parliament, not Amazon and just as contentious). To refuse to sell sporting goods in case they're used for offense is just silly. Do we then refuse to sell cricket bats, or broom handles, or 2x4s, or javelins or kitchen knives if there's an upsurge in their sales?

Ultimately, the people responsible for the use of these items are the people who use them. Let's not try to increase the UK's tactics of using enterprises to carry out work to which the government doesn't want to admit.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#47

Post by ChuckMcM »

srgseg wrote: post #40

Just to balance out the nightmarish images of London, here is a video of the community rallying together to clean up the mess the day after http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz7WGzsaHQE

Hmm, no offense but that looks a bit staged (or perhaps its just near the end of the cleanup) a few people sweeping with brooms, most people milling about and watching them.

A sad thing for me is when I start to tell a young person about a riot that I experienced and they think its 'cool.' There is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, 'cool' about a riot. You can read about mob dynamics, you can imagine heroic acts of protest or defense, but nobody seems to capture the pure evil that seems to permeate the air when rule of law loses its grip for a moment.

The veil of civilized behavior, and the relative safety that brings with it, is quickly dropped by a few. Those few cause pain quite disproportionally to their number.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#49

Post by yid »

RobPfeifer wrote: post #32

Reminded me of trainspotting: "Ah wonder if anybody this side of the Atlantic has ever bought a baseball bat with playing baseball in mind. Sick Boy, "Blowing It: Deid Dugs" (Chapter 4, Story 3)"

Actually, the entire situation reads eerily like the Trainspotting novel. Looks like all the Francis Begbies are out in force.

Re: 5000% Increase in the sale of baseball bats on Amazon.co.uk

#50

Post by Uhhrrr »

[deleted] wrote: post #25
rberdeen wrote: post #10

4000% increate in the sale of Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stoves on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/sporting-goods It must be significant.

[deleted]

Likely just people preparing for Burning Man and other Labor Day camping.
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