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Comment by barsonme | Hacker News Reader

People have been stealing stuff, like laundry detergent or baby formula or power tools, in bulk then reselling it for half price on eBay or Facebook Marketplace.

Maybe they’re desperate for money. But they’re certainly not desperate for $20k of baby formula [1].

[1]: https://www.fox8live.com/video/2024/03/24/police-thieves-cau...

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I've seen some people defend shoplifting (including of baby-formula) with something along the lines of: "People who do it are desperate and oppressed, so unless you're a class-traitor you should pretend you didn't see anything."

However cases like the one in that link--and knowing at least some of the products get fenced and resold rather than consumed by the shoplifter--make it really hard for me to fully buy into that worldview.

I would ignore anyone who used the phrase "class-traitor".

But that's just me. I could be wrong.

In fact, just yesterday, I came across this video on Reddit where a group of people are fleeing after stealing detergent powder and other essentials from a store. One of the comments mentioned how there are organized gangs who sell these items to unscrupulous businesses.

https://v.redd.it/61j51qvwkgwc1/DASH_720.mp4?source=fallback

> Maybe they’re desperate for money.

I wonder if some of it may be related to the opiate epidemic.

Interesting that CVS and Walgreens are both victims of retail theft and (former?) opioid suppliers:

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/cvs-walgreens-to-p...

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