Comment by mscarborough | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mscarborough | Hacker News Reader

FTA: Hallatt says he still has a lot of respect for Trader Joe’s, and “what they’re trying to do with food.” He still says he’s running the store out of love for the label, and, he says, finding Coulombe’s quote is one of the things that made him persevere through the lawsuit.

Dude, you're doing it for the money. And if a lawyer's quote got you to keep going in a lawsuit, you're definitely doing it for the money.

Sorry, this entire article is parroting a very well-constructed (but seemingly BS) storyline. "he still goes to the border", "waits in a white unmarked van", "he envies cabbies salaries", etc.

His ultimate goal is to bring Trader Joe's to Canada? Just doing it to advertise for the Trader Joe's label?

Sorry man, you found the grey area you wanted to (self-admittedly within a few minutes) and then kept going.

"Lawyer" -> Founder of TJ's. No shit he's doing it for the money: everyone tends to do their job, at least in part, for the money. But I think it's very presumptuous of you to assume he has no loyalty or respect for the brand.

You also seem to think that he's "getting what he deserves", as if what he's doing is wrong. It isn't.

First, even if so, so what? That's neither illegal nor immoral.

Second, while we associate the word "smuggling" with illegal activities in which the smuggler receives compensation for engaging in highly risky activities, he's not going to get any sort of that in this situation. If he's even remotely competitive with the Safeway across the street, as he claims, then there is absolutely no way this is some sort of "rake in the dough" operation. He may be making a modest living but there's no good path to wealth here.

So, if as I think your message implies you think he's really raking it in and covering over that with some good PR moves, I'd suggest reconsidering. I do not see an economic solution in which he could possibly making very much money. To be honest I'm surprised he can run this at a profit at all.

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