<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>PragmaticPulp</author><text>&amp;gt; I think it&amp;#x27;s very fair to have differing attitudes&amp;#x2F;moral thresholds for an impoverished mother shoplifting a week&amp;#x27;s worth of baby formula versus &amp;quot;a couple in Alabama [which] pled guilty to shifting $300,000-worth of stolen baby formula on eBay&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I’ve also noticed a weird tendency to downplay theft lately, either through projecting a theoretical moral justification on to the shoplifter or by insinuating that retail stores are evil corporations and therefore deserve no sympathy.&lt;p&gt;Knowing some people who work in retail, the impact of rampant theft (organized or random) is really quite unsettling on the people who have to be around it. Retail store policies are very much about not interfering with the thieves, but it’s quite upsetting when you realize you’re in an environment where the law doesn’t really mean anything and consequences basically don’t exist for breaking the law. The few people I know in retail (including retail management) are looking to get out ASAP because it just feels so vaguely unsafe and, worse yet, large swaths of the public seem to thing the thieves are the good guys and the retail employees are the bad ones because they’re associated with a corporation.</text></item><item><author>axutio</author><text>Most of the comments here are ignoring the difference between regular old shoplifting and the trend driving the increase discussed in the article, which they&amp;#x27;re referring to as &amp;quot;organized retail crime&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I think it&amp;#x27;s very fair to have differing attitudes&amp;#x2F;moral thresholds for an impoverished mother shoplifting a week&amp;#x27;s worth of baby formula versus &amp;quot;a couple in Alabama [which] pled guilty to shifting $300,000-worth of stolen baby formula on eBay&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;My reading of the article suggests that the trend discussed is a result of the latter, which is more recent and problematic, and not the former. Comments here discussing the morality of crime or a desire for policy change are missing this distinction.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>quacked</author><text>Few people live in what can reasonably called a &amp;quot;community&amp;quot; any more, so the link between anonymous theft and the erosion of social culture doesn&amp;#x27;t make sense to everyone.&lt;p&gt;The most remote, homestead-y places will have unattended &amp;quot;stores&amp;quot; where you leave out goods and people come by and leave money in the basket and take what you have. The least remote, most-managed places have security locks on items over $15. It is impossible to run a friendly, neighborhood-run store when any new customer is a potential thief. When theft goes uncontrolled, owners begin to look at their customers with suspicion. Those who don&amp;#x27;t like theft leave for more peaceful places and are replaced by owners who will tolerate theft with a big insurance policy and force.&lt;p&gt;It is continually astonishing to me that so many &amp;quot;community-focused&amp;quot; people don&amp;#x27;t realize that unilateral actions of harm inside the community (theft, assault, etc.) have ripple effects that harm the entire community. If you grow up in a region where store owners believe you might be a thief unless they personally know you and you have to constantly worry about protecting what&amp;#x27;s yours, and I grow up in an area where I&amp;#x27;m trusted and respected by business owners and I leave my door unlocked when I go to town, how is equity meaningfully achievable between us?</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>PragmaticPulp</author><text>&amp;gt; I think it&amp;#x27;s very fair to have differing attitudes&amp;#x2F;moral thresholds for an impoverished mother shoplifting a week&amp;#x27;s worth of baby formula versus &amp;quot;a couple in Alabama [which] pled guilty to shifting $300,000-worth of stolen baby formula on eBay&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I’ve also noticed a weird tendency to downplay theft lately, either through projecting a theoretical moral justification on to the shoplifter or by insinuating that retail stores are evil corporations and therefore deserve no sympathy.&lt;p&gt;Knowing some people who work in retail, the impact of rampant theft (organized or random) is really quite unsettling on the people who have to be around it. Retail store policies are very much about not interfering with the thieves, but it’s quite upsetting when you realize you’re in an environment where the law doesn’t really mean anything and consequences basically don’t exist for breaking the law. The few people I know in retail (including retail management) are looking to get out ASAP because it just feels so vaguely unsafe and, worse yet, large swaths of the public seem to thing the thieves are the good guys and the retail employees are the bad ones because they’re associated with a corporation.</text></item><item><author>axutio</author><text>Most of the comments here are ignoring the difference between regular old shoplifting and the trend driving the increase discussed in the article, which they&amp;#x27;re referring to as &amp;quot;organized retail crime&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I think it&amp;#x27;s very fair to have differing attitudes&amp;#x2F;moral thresholds for an impoverished mother shoplifting a week&amp;#x27;s worth of baby formula versus &amp;quot;a couple in Alabama [which] pled guilty to shifting $300,000-worth of stolen baby formula on eBay&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;My reading of the article suggests that the trend discussed is a result of the latter, which is more recent and problematic, and not the former. Comments here discussing the morality of crime or a desire for policy change are missing this distinction.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>igammarays</author><text>&amp;gt; I’ve also noticed a weird tendency to downplay theft lately.&lt;p&gt;Happened before in history. See the Russian Revolution and the creation of the Soviet Union. Widespread moral justification for theft of private property on class-based &amp;quot;social justice&amp;quot; arguments. It&amp;#x27;s even happening right here in this HN thread, people justifying stealing.</text></comment>