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Who is downvoting this?
Certain items are being stolen to be resold. This isn't about someone stealing food to feed their kids or unable to afford tampons or pads. Name brand dish detergent and other stuff gets stolen and then resold as the "fell off a truck" at a discount. There are also people who steal on demand, basically personal shoppers but they don't pay for it.
I have no idea what the answer is but the comments here that say they hope everything is stolen from wmt, tgt, etc shows unfathomable ignorance as to what happens when stores close and not only do people lose their jobs, the area becomes a food desert if that was the only place to shop for those without reliable transportation.
I've noticed the downvotes too and I suspect there's a sizable number of lemmings here who are so anti-capitalist/anti-corporation that they think flash-thefts and smash-and-grab raids are good things, don't understand how these crimes harm the communities they take place in way more than they harm the companies being burgled, and downvote anything that pokes a hole in their tiny worldview. It's one of the shittier parts of the Lemmy community that I've been putting up with so far.
The article this thread is about is talking about Target losing 2% of their $27 billion annual PROFIT (as in the money the shareholders keep after they pay their employees) to theft. And here you are blaming poor people for the state of their communities.
"The fantastic journalists at Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) did an analysis and found that this single video spawned 309 separate articles about the Walgreens incident in the 28 days after it was posted. The researchers found that there was not a single article about a multi-million dollar wage theft settlement paid out by Walgreens to its California employees. (On January 5, 2023, after I wrote this essay, a Walgreens executive admitted publicly that the company had overblown their claims about retail theft.)"
https://equalityalec.substack.com/p/the-volume-of-news
You are the lemming, buddy.
That was absolutely NOT what I was doing, but I get the impression you're just here to start a fight, so I'm not going to bother with you further except to point out that
"Lemming" is a term used to refer to Lemmy users, which is how I meant it, not as an insult.
I don't know, man. The comment that is getting downvoted proposes a narrative where people steal things from Target and then Target has no choice but to move out of the poor neighborhood to open up stores in a nice neighborhood, and therefore the people stealing are responsible for that harm to their communities. I'm downvoting that because it's wrong in like a thousand ways, some evidence for which is illustrated by the quote and article I linked to.
My bad on the "lemming" thing. I'm reading this on kbin so that's not in my vernacular, and the patronizing "tiny worldview" insult had me reading your comment in a certain tone.
Anybody who is not a simpleton with zero life experience is aware that being an "underdog in society" doesn't mean somebody is inherently a good or bad as a person: plenty of powerless people out there when given a little power are revealed to be complete total shits.
It's perfectly compatible to be anti-capitalist/anti-corporation (well, most corporations) whilst thinking theft without need is also morally wrong. Assuming the corporations involved are exploitative and use lobbying and other forms of political corruption to gain unfairly advantage positions and these people are not stealing due to need, that would just mean that what we have here is two wrongs, and those don't make a right.
You say people are stealing to resale these items like that is just a normal job prospect. People don’t steal unless in a serious situation or mental illness period, full stop.
What would it take for you to wake up in the morning and decide to steal a bunch of stuff and try to resell it? How desperate would you have to be? What makes you think these people are any different?
When people are safe, comfortable, happy, healthy, all needs are met, and some of their wants they don’t resort to desperate measures. The theft is merely a symptom of the bigger issue.
"People don’t steal unless in a serious situation or mental illness period, full stop."
How do you know this?
Because I’ve done it. Usually the ones stealing the stuff aren’t even the ones selling it. But, when you don’t have money and the only way to get your fix is to steal a list of stuff, you’ll do it.
No sane person wakes up and says “I have everything I need, and I feel safe and comfortable. So, time to go risk my freedom and future to start the day!” It just doesn’t happen.
Sure you have those outliers. You know, the house wife with plenty, but she steals for a thrill, but those aren’t the people stealing to sell either.
Damn son. That's not how that works and not what I am talking about.
It's not the theft for need that is shutting these stores down. It's the theft rings that pay people pennies on the dollar to steal shit because that is easier than getting a real job. These goods are then resold on the "black market" or used to make drugs like meth.
You claim you did it to survive. I don't actually believe that you stole anything more than someones hat and you are definitely extremely naive to the world around you.
Check my history, you’ll see that I make no secret about having been a homeless heroin addict for over a decade. I went through over 5 years of methadone treatment, but I finally weaned myself off of that too by slowly decreasing my dose over time.
I’ve been completely sober now for about 2 years. Don’t clap it sucks, and it’s not by choice. I can’t find anything that makes me feel good except heroin, and I’m not doing that again.
Hell, it’s 5:14 am as I’m typing this, and the only reason I’m awake is because my partner still goes to the clinic, and I have to drive them every morning, 7 days a week, because they won’t stop smoking weed.
My best friend from the age of 6 died from an overdose 8 years ago, and I’m now raising his kid as well as my own, and if you do the math that means I was still an addict when I came into their life, but got in treatment soon after. But nah. I’m just full of shit. I don’t know anything about that. The scars that trace the veins in the backs of my hands must be my imagination.
I joke around about a lot of things, but desperation, and the stories about people I’ve known are all true.
Edit: Stealing wasn’t my main go to. I made it a point to look super respectable, and would beg. I used to could look like a very nice guy. But I absolutely have done it when I was at my worst.
I posted a comment mentioning it 4 days ago.
Part of that bigger issue is most likely fentanyl.
I agree wholeheartedly. The opiate epidemic is insane in America. Rather than treat our addicts. We’ve chosen as a society (in America) to demonize them and let them die out.
Did you grow up in a convent?
I said nothing about it being a job prospect.
Go touch some grass and learn how the world actually works, then get back to us.