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The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

nytimes.com

61–70 of 88 posts

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#61
post #52

Genuine question: Is living in America as horrible as it sounds for the average, non-rich citizen? Impression I get from the media: * Education sets you in semi-if-not-permanent debt. * Housing is impossibly expensive. * Single hospital visit can be thousand of dollars. * Critical medication is hundreds of dollars a month (or more). * Unpaid, (effectively) mandatory overtime. * Many people work several jobs (as adult…

Please don't take HN threads into nationalistic flamewar. We don't want that here. More generally, please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents. They lead to extremely repetitive discussion (the opposite of what we want on this site), and usually turn nasty if not outright hellish. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I saw no hint of any of that in Grandparenrs comment.

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#62
post #2

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon. Pay attention to the tam…

What was the replacement powder exactly do you know? Sounds like something you should have involved police in.

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#63
post #7
post #2

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon. Pay attention to the tam…

That's terrifying! You would think such an issue would be worthy of a major investigation, what would happen if a baby lived on that powder for weeks?

I mean, there has been investigations, many investigations, and they've found this sorta thing is Amazon's MO.

Example:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/report-finds-mor...

>Among the Journal's findings: 116 products falsely listed as FDA-approved, including toys, which the agency does not regulate; 80 listings for infant "sleeping wedges" the FDA says can cause suffocation and that Amazon had previously banned; 1,412 electronics listings falsely claiming to be UL-certified; 2,324 toys that failed to include federally mandated choking hazard warnings; and more.

>The WSJ commissioned tests of 10 specific children's products it bought on Amazon, many carrying the enigmatic "Amazon's Choice" badge. Of those, four failed tests based on federal safety standards, including one that contained excessively high levels of lead.

>A 23-year-old man in Missouri purchased a motorcycle helmet from Amazon that was at the time listed as certified as meeting US Department of Transportation safety standards. Later that year, however, he was killed in a crash while riding. A federal investigation later found that the helmet did not meet DOT standards and was recalled. The WSJ, however, found the product still for sale, with an active listing promising compliance, until the WSJ contacted Amazon to inquire about it.

>The WSJ's investigation found 157 products for sale that Amazon has already banned from sale on its site. The motorcycle helmet was one of more than 2,300 product listings altered or pulled after the WSJ drew them to Amazon's attention. Yet, within two weeks, the WSJ found that at least 130 of these problem items reappeared, "some sold by the same vendors previously identified by the Journal under different listings."

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#64
post #2

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon. Pay attention to the tam…

What was the replacement powder exactly do you know? Sounds like something you should have involved police in.

Whatever was the cheapest I'd guess. Flour sounds like a good candidate.

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#66
post #2

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon. Pay attention to the tam…

Is there anywhere online with a large selection (electronics or food) that doesn't allow third party selling and actually sells legitimate product?

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#67
post #2

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon. Pay attention to the tam…

What was the replacement powder exactly do you know? Sounds like something you should have involved police in.

What do you think?? They tested it in a lab??

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#68
post #66
post #2

I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon. Pay attention to the tam…

Is there anywhere online with a large selection (electronics or food) that doesn't allow third party selling and actually sells legitimate product?

It's not the third party that makes it a problem. It's the comingling. So if you buy it from one company it could have actually came from another. So there is no way for the bad 3rd party to be held accountable. As far as I know Amazon is the only marketplace that does this.

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#69
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That being said, if you're very, very poor it's not terrible to be a US citizen. ..then... > You would likely work multiple jobs if you're dirt poor. > You likely wouldn't have vacation if you're dirt poor. I guess that's "not terrible" in your book, compared to starving in the streets? > Community college is free via a Pell grant. No it is not free. [1] The maximum a pell grant can be is ~$5700. Community college…

The pell grant will more than cover many community college options. There are usually also state programs to help pay for state and community colleges. This does not reduce what you can get from the pell grant. Housing is very affordable in most of the US. Just not in major cities. In my smallish college town, 100k population, you can get a 3 bed 2 bath, 1200 sqft home for around $120k.

> The pell grant will more than cover many community college options.

Where "many" is about 10% based on this link. [1]

Four states have an average cost under the maximum pell grant. Most states have fewer than 5 colleges that meet that requirement.

So tack on moving expenses and housing to tuition to go find an affordable community college. I'm sure paying rent is cheap in those towns, and would be covered by the Pell grant, assuming you qualified for the full $5750.

> Housing is very affordable in most of the US. Just not in major cities. In my smallish college town, 100k population, you can get a 3 bed 2 bath, 1200 sqft home for around $120k.

Sure, if you don't mind working at a gas station or supermarket with your fancy new college degree. But there are "many" dying rural towns that will pay you to move there, so there's that. [2]

Bottom line: no one in their right mind can argue that being poor isn't really that terrible as OP did. The fact that you're trying to, is gross.

[1] https://www.communitycollegereview.com/avg-tuition-stats/nat...

[2] https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money/places-that-will-...

Re: The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

#70

Based on the date, it looks like I literally missed this article because I was standing in the aisle of a grocery store trying to decide which formula to buy for my three-day-old baby.

Ha-- having been in that situation this past October, that simple description is incredibly evocative for me. Even in that dazed, sleepless state, though, I remember a sudden upwelling of intense sadness when I realized for the first time how expensive such a basic necessity was... and how they felt the need to keep it all locked up. Real moment of clarity about the state of this country (US).

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