<story><title>Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan</title><url>https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/11/24/why-its-hard-to-buy-deodorant-in-manhattan</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>partiallypro</author><text>This is such a big nationwide problem that Target actually mentioned it during their earnings report (this is stated in the article.) Some states&amp;#x2F;cities have made it near impossible to prosecute these people, so the risk&amp;#x2F;reward is very favorable to stealing and reselling. Some stores have even closed down in certain areas because of it. When we talk about &amp;quot;food deserts&amp;quot; in some cities, it could one day be we have massive deserts of no retailers at all, and it will largely be a government policy failure.&lt;p&gt;The videos of organized ransacking of stores are honestly insane. The stores are somewhat powerless because of liability, and the new laws that have raised the level in which the law even cares. I don&amp;#x27;t think the &amp;quot;broken window&amp;quot; policy is the end-all, it has some problems but allowing &amp;quot;small&amp;quot; theft rings does not generally put areas on a good trajectory. These goods are almost always getting 3rd party listed, be it Amazon, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fosk</author><text>This is mostly a function of policies that explicitly allow and tolerate this sort of behavior as a sort of “pay back” and “release valve” for the poor, addicts or generally speaking under represented social classes.&lt;p&gt;As the wage gap and opportunity gap widens in the US, allowing shoplifting is actually an intentional release valve that is being tolerated and even outright legally permitted (California Prop 47), because - without it - we would see more home break-ins, kidnappings of wealthy people and more severe offenses. Instead, shoplifting is relatively harmless and prevents this type of escalation of crime.&lt;p&gt;“Panem et circenses” said the Romans, shoplifting is a form of “panem”. I think many don’t understand the incredible pressure pot that is the US at the moment with vast negative social pressures and inequality. If it explodes, all bets are off: the US could look a lot like South Africa and Brazil than what it is now.&lt;p&gt;This plus some political survivorship too: votes are all equal, and when most people are disadvantaged or about to become disadvantaged, politicians cater more and more to them (populism) in order to survive and dominate in the political arena.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why it’s hard to buy deodorant in Manhattan</title><url>https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/11/24/why-its-hard-to-buy-deodorant-in-manhattan</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>partiallypro</author><text>This is such a big nationwide problem that Target actually mentioned it during their earnings report (this is stated in the article.) Some states&amp;#x2F;cities have made it near impossible to prosecute these people, so the risk&amp;#x2F;reward is very favorable to stealing and reselling. Some stores have even closed down in certain areas because of it. When we talk about &amp;quot;food deserts&amp;quot; in some cities, it could one day be we have massive deserts of no retailers at all, and it will largely be a government policy failure.&lt;p&gt;The videos of organized ransacking of stores are honestly insane. The stores are somewhat powerless because of liability, and the new laws that have raised the level in which the law even cares. I don&amp;#x27;t think the &amp;quot;broken window&amp;quot; policy is the end-all, it has some problems but allowing &amp;quot;small&amp;quot; theft rings does not generally put areas on a good trajectory. These goods are almost always getting 3rd party listed, be it Amazon, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, etc.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ransom1538</author><text>I have no idea how a prosecutor can take down these organized rings.  The entire method prosecutors use for say exotic drugs, guns, etc: &amp;quot;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&amp;quot;. 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 &lt;i&gt;that day&lt;/i&gt;  - i don&amp;#x27;t see any prosecutor leverage.</text></comment>