The problem here is that baby formula is something people need to feed their babies, and our society has decided that if you don't have enough made up arbitrary tokens, you don't get to feed your baby.

If I don't know 100% that the person I saw stealing baby formula is doing it as part of a crime ring, then I'm not going to ruin a parent's life because they did what they needed to feed their baby. Even then if the crime ring is selling it at a discount then I don't particularly care to stop them either.

If you want to tell people that shoplifting is such a problem and you want to focus on the crime rings and ignore the poor people, your priorities are messed up. Also none of you know how to source your claims. Also, don't start with some BS about how nobody ever does it to feed their baby, that's just false.

In conclusion:

Did you see someone shoplifting? No you fucking didn't, narc.

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 62 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I absolutely did, and I'm taking mental notes on their technique to improve my own.

There's no shame in stealing from a publically traded conglomerate, they used the money from exploiting you and those like you to lobby to steal more from you and destroy the commons they tear up with their supply chains but didn't want to pay taxes to repair and maintain, and destroy public education they also don't want to fund despite enjoying and taking for granted the pre-literate workforce they have access to that they directly profit from. Stealing from them is just revenge.

They've stolen more from us than we can ever hope to steal back, including the temperate climate of our only habitat in their insatiable, blind, reckless, gluttonous, antisocial, sociopathic need for ever moooaaaar.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Ah, thanks ! I was feeling a tad moderate today for some reason.

Radicalize the moderates ! Burn the mosque ! (It's from a movie, don't hit me)

[–] damnedfurry@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

No one shoplifts formula to feed their own baby, they steal it to literally scalp it to those who actually do need it, at a fat markup, after conveniently draining the store's supply so they're the only source.

They're not Robin Hoods sticking it to the Big Bad Corporation. They're profiteering scumbags.

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 51 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I've seen stolen wares and goods being sold on street many times before. They arent scalped as that implies charging more than the retail price, they're sold for significantly less than the retailer, often at a fraction.

And just because they sold baby formula, doesn't mean they don't need to sell it to buy food and gas.

I will side with the have nots doing what they can get away with to survive over the Alice Waltons choosing to live like modern Pharoahs on our backs and never being satisfied with their immoral dragon hoards every time. The owners have bred this desperation, and bribe our captured government to maintain it in perpetuity for their exclusive benefit. Look to the nordic countries, this isn't how we have to live, scraping and subsisting, it's how our owner class demands it be so they can run up their ego scores, competing with one another while seeing us as subhuman batteries for that sociopathic game.

[–] noxy@yiffit.net 10 points 5 months ago

They're rolling back prices! Better than nothing for damn sure

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Bold assumption that no one shoplifts baby formula to use it

There will be people who are desperate enough to do so (I've even known a few)

The amount of people I've known who have stolen food for themselves or their kids is more than those who haven't

Edit: spelling

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, so many people in here are saying nobody ever does this and everybody who is stealing is just re-selling the goods but I don't see anybody actually substantiating that. But like, it can't be right, can it? Surely some larceny is done for personal use. And even then, most cases of theft aren't documented because when someone gets away with stealing some expensive necessity they don't tell the cops.

It's got this "nuh-uh, everybody knows dogs can't look up" energy. Like if it's so obvious, how? What are they talking about?

[–] shani66@ani.social 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I bet its people trying to justify their veneration of the law, a major issue I've seen on the Internet in recent years. Most people shoplift for thrills (iirc), then it's desperation. And even if someone steals to resell, they literally can't do a mark up outside of specific, terrible, circumstances since the store (and hundreds of stores just like it) are right there.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Yeah plus just the logistics of trying to shoplift enough product to make enough money to justify going to the trouble of sellng food on a street corner sounds so absurd. Like how do you do that without getting caught all the time? You would need to be shifting volume.

And when you get this kind of recurrent misinfo I assume it's a story that gets passed around somewhere, like some reactionary commentators are repeating it to their audiences or something.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Seriously?

No one shoplifts formula to feed their own baby

No one ever does this? It has never happened? Now obviously that's not true but let's be kind and say that you're exaggerating and you mean it's just rare.

If this is true, can you explain how you know it?

Edit: the first piece of bullshit was so egregious it distracted me from the existential horror of unpacking the rest of the comment. This is a nightmare of miseducation.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

No, this can't just be an edit, this needs a whole new comment.

I just want to add that this comment makes the bizarre claim that a shoplifter drained the store's supply so that they're the only source. Now, even presuming this is literally the only store in town that sells baby formula, in which case there will be another town half an hour down the road, how did they get all of the baby formula out of the door? How do you shoplift the kind of volume you need for a scheme like this without getting caught?

And further, how in the everliving fuck do you sell it? You have to be visible enough to sell the formula, to people you're ripping off, in a small town where the only grocery store just got all of its baby formula lifted. They're going to fucking expose you.

This would be a scandal. It would be a news story. Please, give a link to a single time this has ever happened, because of all the things that never happened, this happened the least.

25 people thought this story was good enough to upvote. Where the shit are you getting this garbage? What the fuck is happening?

Edit: is there a "shit conservatives say" community? This is such rank bullshit I need somewhere to process it.

[–] PlutoParty@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Holy naivete, my sweet summer child. This has nothing to do with conservatives. This is a well-known scheme that is problematic in many areas.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

"Well-known scheme"?

So I must have something seriously wrong with my understanding of what's being said here, because I made it pretty clear how absolutely balls to the wall insane it sounds. Just the concept falls apart the moment you think about it.

Maybe you can explain it? Or again, just show me where it's happened, even one fucking time.

[–] PlutoParty@programming.dev 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There's really not much to it. I don't understand why you're so dumbfounded such a thing is possible. People steal or buy up formula. Those who steal it make a profit no matter what price they sell it at. Those who live in an area where it sells out have the ability to mark it up big time. Paying 10 extra bucks is better than driving hours away with the hope they have it in stock there. People will sell it on offerup, craigslist, facebook, etc. Search for "formula" offerup if you're in the US and you'll likely see it. This was especially a problem during Covid and we saw the same scheme extend to many other products. In 2022, there was a massive shortage for the better part of a year. Any that came around got bought up immediately - by some that were lucky enough to get it at the right time and the rest by scalpers. This is not a new thing and I find it surprising that you're so surprised. I often see them locked up and purchase limits at the store because of this.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 months ago

Huh.

https://7news.com.au/news/court-justice/woman-who-made-thousands-onselling-stolen-baby-formula-to-chinese-buyers-learns-fate-c-1123762

Whelp, nothing to do but admit I was wrong about this.

[–] damnedfurry@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This would be a scandal. It would be a news story. Please, give a link to a single time this has ever happened, because of all the things that never happened, this happened the least.

I'll do you two better. Only took 15 seconds of Googling, after all:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/baby-formula-targeted-organized-retail-theft-rings/story?id=13293485 https://www.wate.com/news/knox-county-news/three-accused-of-stealing-12000-worth-of-baby-formula-from-across-knox-county/ https://www.newsflare.com/video/635785/thieves-steal-7k-of-baby-formula-from-supermarket-in-just-20-minutes

Time to find out if you'll admit you're wrong, or if the smug ignorance continues.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I have already looked up the information for myself and admitted I was wrong about the fact that the theft rings exist, it's in this thread if you read just a couple of comments deeper. That's not the only thing you said though.

As for your claim that "nobody" steals for their baby, which you didn't reply about, that also took two seconds of searching to debunk:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-desperate-reality-of-stealing-baby-formula-because-you-cant-afford-it_uk_64635704e4b09eef8308cfc6

Also, the idea that the theft is responsible for the store being out, or that they charge an enormous markup, are both still completely unsubstantiated.

This isn't the cut and dried issue you seem to think it is, and I'm still definitely not about to ruin a parent's life for stealing food because they might be part of some theft ring. I also am not going to narc on the theft ring. That's not my business.

[–] damnedfurry@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As for your claim that “nobody” steals for their baby

Congrats on contradicting the absolute literal interpretation of what was obviously hyperbole, I guess.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Cool, so glad you're happy to erase the existence of the poor and desperate for the sake of what, exactly?

See, in this context, we were literally talking about people doing that, and they literally do that, so to say "nobody" does it is just a false claim.

If you weren't trying to minimise the struggle of poor people, you fucked up, because that's what your comment did.

Nice work trying to find an angle where you were only literally wrong and not in the privacy of your own head.

What about the rest of your claims, were they hyperbole as well, or something else? You've just dropped them.