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Cargo theft accounts for $15-30 billion dollars lost each year, my quick search says shoplifting accounts for $15-20 billion dollars per year. Why do we hear s
by boomboomsubban 4y ago
Cargo theft accounts for $15-30 billion dollars lost each year, my quick search says shoplifting accounts for $15-20 billion dollars per year.
Why do we hear so much more about shoplifting? Sure it's more public, but I've seen dozens of stories about how shoplifting is destroying retail and this is the first one about cargo theft I can recall.
- QuarterReptile 4y agoArticle says the average cargo theft is $214K, which I'll guess is more than average shoplifting, meaning cargo theft is less frequent. Logistics companies are less relatable than physical stores where people have been. Cargo theft is just less relatable in every way.
- imtringued 4y agoAlso the criminals end up rich and in capitalism having money increases your self worth and you are rewarded for having money no matter where it came from.
- gruez 4y ago>in capitalism having money increases your self worth and you are rewarded for having money no matter where it came from. I can't imagine what type of economic system where this isn't true. Even in communism you're rewarded for having money because it allows you to obtain more resources.
- delecti 4y agoCynically? Because people understand shoplifting more, and the media can blame it on the poor/homeless and use it as fuel to increase police budgets. Wage theft is also in the same order of magnitude (the infographic on Wikipedia says >$19 billion in 2012), and similarly doesn't get the same kind of coverage. Capital and the police scratch each other's backs.
- colechristensen 4y agoI have met several people who stole things for fun and talked openly about it. Not to make money or to fulfill some fundamental need, but just for the thrill and to get something they couldn’t afford or didn’t want to pay for.
- boomboomsubban 4y agoOk? Do you think they're regularly doing this and account for a meaningful portion of shoplifting or do you think they're basically telling you their story about how one time they broke the law?
- willcipriano 4y agoCan you prove the other way around?
- boomboomsubban 4y agoAren't diapers known as one of the most frequently shoplifted items? I guess they could be some kind of challenge for kleptomaniacs, but it seems more likely they're expensive essential items.
- nostrebored 4y ago… diapers, laundry detergent, etc. are stolen because they’re as good as currency. Anyone who lives in a poor area can tell you there is someone reselling these for a bit cheaper.
- willcipriano 4y agoBaby formula as well. That's the reason it's typically locked up in stores, drug dealers will exchange formula for drugs. https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/opinion/columns/2017/08/08/baby-formula-is-hot-with/18187709007/ https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/opinion/columns/2017/08/08...
- fabianhjr 4y agoThe same reason the media doesn't focus on the biggest theft category: wage theft. It is easier to vilify individuals than to reduce the need for food theft (depressed wages and lack of economic opportunities for most people)
- missedthecue 4y agoThe media also doesn't focus on the inverse of wage theft: time theft, which is probably an order of magnitude larger than wage theft, if not more. edit: CBS reports wage theft at $50 billion a year while a 2007 study in the Kentucky CPA Journal puts time theft in the US at $400 billion per year.
- Firmwarrior 4y agoHaha, is "time theft" when you post on HackerNews while you're compiling instead of checking Slack and email?
- pclmulqdq 4y agoDon't "@" me. I swear my HN shitposting is marketing, or something.
- vuln 4y agoYeah I’m out here _evangelizing_ or some shit. For what I don’t know.
- missedthecue 4y agoLying on time sheets is usually what's meant by time theft, not checking HN while youre compiling.
- incone123 4y agoIn Barbara Ehrenrich's book Nickled and Dimed she got a job at a big box store (i think it was Walmart) and orientation included telling the workers that time theft was doing anything other than work while on the clock.
- gretch 4y agoBecause cargo theft is not something an average person has any involvement with. People know what shoplifting is and they might encounter it in their day to day life. If some cargo container goes missing, what does that even have to do with me? It’s just some minutiae of an inefficient system as far as an average person is aware
- rizzom5000 4y agoBetween the two, on the low end, that looks like a per capita donation of around $100/year to criminals, not including all of the other associated costs related to theft prevention, enforcement, incarceration and so on.
- newsclues 4y agoWait until you find out how much wage theft occurs.
- s1artibartfast 4y agoVisibility and customer impact would be my answer. I've never seen a car go with theft but I've seen masked Bandits robbing a store several times. It is very uncomfortable and frankly scary to watch people come in with balaclavas and start grabbing power tools or whatever they want. It is also very frustrating to shop in stores where many items are under lock and key
- nitwit005 4y agoThe news companies hardly have reporters anymore, and are often more than happy to pick up press releases companies create for them. It frequently seems to be a way to lobby for more police protection.