Is food truly considered a low-value product today? In my country, it's one of the most marked-up items, second only to printer ink. For instance, farmers receive $2-3 per ton of potatoes, yet these are retailed for $3-10 per kg, over triple what they were just 3 years ago. Despite the general tripling of food costs (just for basics, processed things have increased even more heavily), the earnings of farmers and others in the supply chain, except for supermarket executives and shareholders, remain unchanged. This price inflation, driven by greed, results in significant profits for those who can bypass the system. For example, if one could acquire a ton of potatoes and sell them at farmers markets for $2/kg, undercutting supermarkets, they could make a substantial profit quickly. However, buying directly from farmers is not an option as they are typically bound by strict contracts with major grocery store chains, this leaves theft which has the added enticement of yielding even higher margins than doing things properly.

Now, a truckload of luxury goods like avocado as given as an example of cargo stolen in the article? I imagine you'd be set for a year of a single heist with less risk than robbing banks and less exploitation than 'honest' work.

Freight trains can be 3 miles long. Apprently the locks are hilariously weak, and they are generally staffed by 2 people. Responding to a break in can take 30 min - hour, and the train companies dont really care because they have insurance.

It's likely that the ID on the outside of the car is vague enough to imply that there may be high value goods like detergent or alcohol inside. Once the thieves break into a car, they would generally not have time to pick another.

Some alcohol is fairly high value, and easy to sell on the black market.