If You Had The Magical Power to Shoplift Anything from Any Supermarket and You Always Get Away with It, Would You Do It?

AustriaBargain on 09/05/2024 - 03:26

Let's say you have to use everything in your own house so you can't sell stuff to make money. Would you just walk into Coles or IGA or Costco and load up your cart full of stuff and just walk out, if you knew you could get away with it 100% of the time with zero legal, moral, societal, or any kind of repercussions other than living with your own conscience. So you're still stealing, you're harming their bottom line or causing them to pay more insurance. The magic makes it so no one else ever know the stuff was stolen.

Or would you just do it to big billion dollar chains and never to independent places or co-ops or whatever.

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • Camelface on 10/05/2024 - 14:08

    If you steal something, you never get away with it. Posts like these are absolute time wasting.

  • jerjergege on 10/05/2024 - 14:21

    If you could get away with it 100% of the time, I would just open a store and steal 100% of everything from every store to sell in my own store.

    • Camelface on 10/05/2024 - 14:44

      Why would you want to do that?

      • centrelink on 10/05/2024 - 15:45

        probably because you are a young horny male individual who is currently going thru puberty. The constant thought of sex is raging thru the mind non-stop so henceforth the proposition of having a mgical power to pick up any girl… any time to have sexual intercourse with is a plausable explaination for something worth while for the young minded male individual, even though other better uses of magical powers like the power to control time is disregarded which would of been way cooler because being horny is more important

        • Camelface on 10/05/2024 - 16:48

          I thought this applies only to animals.

        • SpainKing on 10/05/2024 - 20:38

          I gotta know what the (now deleted) context for this comment was

  • Serapis on 10/05/2024 - 14:56

    You should be stealing all their trucks before they get unloaded. Hypothetically it would be low effort and large reward given your scenario, relying on the technicality that they'd be "in the supermarket" as soon as they park in the loading dock.

    Then I'd recommend repainting the trucks and selling them to Amazon. If you can't sell the trucks, starting a logistics company would be the next best thing.

    If you're a loot goblin, hypothetically any place that satisfies the conditions / parameters which reduce the risk to zero is a target.

  • playerzer2 on 10/05/2024 - 15:02

    You understand that stealing from ANY retailer causes the prices to go up across the board for everyone else who shops there?
    In a very real sense, when someone says "there goes the neighborhood" when they see someone like @AustriaBargain walking around, this is what they mean.
    Can I assume that you also dispose of washing machines by rolling them down the nearest hill?

    • AustriaBargain on 10/05/2024 - 16:36
      -4

      You're just one single person out of a population of 26 million. If you stole your weekly shop would it actually change the prices for anyone? You're just one person. No one else has this magic power, only you.

  • constantly L8 on 10/05/2024 - 15:32
    +1

    I would go to Costco and steal this and often:

    https://www.costco.com.au/Jewellery-Watches-Sunglasses/Rings…
    🙃
    gg

  • centrelink on 10/05/2024 - 15:41

    Yes if i was a poor uni student. Old man Centrelink.. no

  • 2025 on 10/05/2024 - 16:35
    +2

    So the only thing keeping you honest is the fact that you might get caught if you’re not?

    Jesus I hope you don’t babysit, care for the elderly, or anything like that.

    • AustriaBargain on 10/05/2024 - 16:37
      -3

      Why? What would you do to babies if you knew you couldn't get caught for it 😳

      • 2025 on 10/05/2024 - 16:42
        +1

        I’d teach them that theft is immoral, whether they get caught or not. I’d teach them that if they fantasize about violence and immoral acts, perhaps seek some treatment and definitely not advertise it on forums.

        • AustriaBargain on 11/05/2024 - 07:27
          -4

          Is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family? Well suppose you got a large starving family, is it wrong to steal a supermarket full of bread to feed them? And what if your family don't like bread? They like cheesecakes, eneloops, seafood, and coffee pods.

          • 2025 on 11/05/2024 - 14:40

            @AustriaBargain: The ends justify the means, eh?

            Why not dig up the dead and steal their jewellery and other bits of pieces? They can’t snitch on you. It’s another example of a victimless crime. While you’re at it, you should satisfy another primal urge you may have with the corpse. After all, you’re not hurting anyone, right? That makes it ok?

            Well suppose you got a large starving family, is it wrong to steal a supermarket full of bread to feed them?

            Sounds a bit like an invasion of a country for natural resources, where your starving family is your citizens. People that think like this make history for the wrong reasons.

            • AustriaBargain on 11/05/2024 - 15:14
              -3

              @2025: I certainly hope our country would be willing to invade for food if the alternative was millions starving to death. And I'm donating my body to science. I suppose if that means a medical student gets to be alone with my body to satisfy primal urges, then so be it if it's in the name of science.

  • BartholemewH on 10/05/2024 - 16:44

    No. I don't condone theft. Magical powers or not.

  • Eeples on 10/05/2024 - 17:09

    Do your own homework.

  • yamborghini on 10/05/2024 - 17:36
    +1

    Ive studied a bit of moral philsophy and ethics at university before.

    There are three main ethical frameworks of moral philosphy, consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics.

    Consequelism: Morality of action depends on outcome.
    Deontology: Morality follow rules that are innate.
    Virtue Ethics: Morality is defined to what we call a virtuous nature.

    It can be defended as morally right with consequentialism. The utility for the individual would outweigh the unnoticed negative impact that it has on the org.

    Deontology would obviously not permit it since stealing is ok as a rule would be bad.

    For virtue ethics it would be a big nono. A virtuous person would not take advantage of a situation even if there were no negative consequences.

    As a virtue ethicist it the answer is painstakingly clear and my integrity is worth more than a few bucks.

    • AustriaBargain on 10/05/2024 - 17:46
      -1

      What if you knew for a fact that stealing your weekly shop from Coles would not change Coles' profit and losses a single cent. That there was no negative impact at all, your weekly shop is so insignificant that it wouldn't even influence a rounding error for Coles. What is so bad about it.

      And actually if you could get your weekly shop for free and then you donate the money you would have spent on that food on building wells in Africa that save hundreds of lives a year, then wouldn't it be morally incorrect to not use your power, as paying for that same weekly shop would deprive Africa of another new well built this week.

      How could the innate "badness" of a theft that affects absolutely no one be more morally right than the building of the life saving wells in Africa with the same money. Wouldn't it be less virtuous to pay for your shop when you could get it for free and donate the same cash?

      • yamborghini on 11/05/2024 - 17:19
        +3

        You're trying to argue for a consequentialist (utilitarian) aproach not virtue ethics. Once you start meausuring the utility of different outcomes its a consequentialist approach. Im a stark opponent to consequentialist ethics as it elimantes the human emotion behind decision and creates over bearing burdens on individuals.

        Also you've created a paradoxical hypothetical. There is no way in which the theft of something creates no consequence. You cant simply remove a logical conquence. Its like asking is it ok to kill someone but they dont die. Theft itself implies some sort of loss, you cant say theft without loss because then it wouldnt be theft.

        You also are trying to create binary scenarios. You have actions that are morally right, morally wrong and morally neutral. There are some actions that arent a moral obligation.

        Morally right: Help build wells
        Morally neutral: Do nothing
        Morally wrong: Destroy wells.

        • AustriaBargain on 11/05/2024 - 17:22

          When I was a kid working at Bi-Lo one of my jobs was to pour the expired drinks down the drain. I'd sometimes take sips of the drinks I was pouring down the drain, which I was told is theft. But what's the difference between some of the drink being in my belly or in the drains under the store, what loss is Bi-Lo enduring over my theft of the drinks?

    • Jolakot on 12/05/2024 - 00:01

      As a virtue ethicist it the answer is painstakingly clear and my integrity is worth more than a few bucks.

      As a proud Viking, raiding our enemies (Woolwoles) is noble and courageous. I will bring back my plunder (fancy $9 artisanal sourdough I can't justify buying) to our longhouse and we will feast and celebrate!

      If your virtues prohibit you from stealing at all, but our virtues encourage us to steal from you, then we're all just acting completely ethically within our own moral wheelhouses.

      So I'm very glad that there aren't any objective virtues, otherwise we'd have to rethink our Viking ways! Now would you like some ethically (to us) sourced sourdough?

  • UFO on 10/05/2024 - 18:08
    +2

    So the only reason you don't shoplift (assumption) is because you're afraid of the consequences of getting caught?

    Not because it's wrong? Your moral compass is off mate.

    Your question makes absolutely zero sense (as has been said multiples times already), because stealing something belonging to another whether you get caught or not, DOES have a moral and societal cost- to you and everyone else in the society you live in. You demand law and order of others for your person and belongings, but dream of an exemption for yourself to commit crime freely and without repercussions.

    Changing the victim doesn't change the offence. Whether you steal from a faceless billion dollar corporation or an old pensioner, you're still a criminal.

    I don't believe in Heaven and Hell, but this is exactly the reason on why I imagine the Bible was made. Putting the fear of God into criminals who think that just because it's dark and no one can see, doesn't mean you won't suffer consequences of it on the day of your judgement. It's for people who don't have a good moral compass and need fear of punishment (either in life or after death) to do the right thing.

    Just so you know… most people don't steal because they are afraid of getting caught.
    They don't steal because they know its wrong and try to treat others with the respect hopefully shown to them in a civilised society. I guess it comes down to whether you're a good person or not. Wishing you could steal things without consequence probably puts you in the later category. It's a warped sense of right and wrong you have mate. Seriously.

  • duluxe2000 on 10/05/2024 - 18:47

    Most people don't steal because they never do it before (they never do it before because they think it's wrong and it has consequences). After the first time people learn that there is little or no consequence, they will keep doing it. This applies to many things not only stealing and it explains the chance a criminal re-commit crimes after leaving prisons.

    But yeah, people are also not stupid. Everything has consequences that's why they don't steal.

  • ganymede on 10/05/2024 - 20:29

    All I want is a single cent from each item sold in each store for eternity.

  • Morphio25 on 10/05/2024 - 20:39

    As a family we'd be about $450 a fortnight better off so yes, yes I would.

  • nobro25 on 10/05/2024 - 22:10

    This is why we can't have nice things.

    • Jaspa7 on 12/05/2024 - 15:56

      not really.. this is why the 'start nice, then tit-for-tat with a sprinkle of forgiveness' strategy is optimal, in game theory, and somewhat in life too.

      Easy to work out as on owner:
      Assume every customer has good intentions walking in, but 9/10 will get what's coming if they start vandalising/stealing

      As customer:
      Assume prices & practices are fair, but report and shop elsewhere if not

      you want something nice? earn it :)

  • Jaspa7 on 10/05/2024 - 23:04

    Go read/listen to Atlas Shrugged

    • AustriaBargain on 11/05/2024 - 07:24

      I'd rather read accounts of Ayn Rand collecting the US age pension because she was so broke in elderly life she literally needed it to survive.

      • Jaspa7 on 12/05/2024 - 15:10

        indeed - god forbid you get old and claim what you've been contributing to your entire life (non-voluntarily moreover)

        Regardless, any theory/philosophical principles will have contradictions with a devised hypothetical - don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
        Or do, but don't get resentful when your life turns to poo because no-one likes nor trusts you, least of all yourself

  • jefflang007 on 11/05/2024 - 07:23
    -1

    Really? You are trying to make shoplifting sound fun, like an escape room. Business suffer, prices go up. Surely there are more intellectual questions you could have posed.

    Come on mods, this one needs shelving.

  • ratman on 11/05/2024 - 08:01
    +1

    Yes, big chains only.

  • manbearpig on 11/05/2024 - 11:24

    No.

  • Franc-T on 11/05/2024 - 13:01

    The Till

  • s1Lence on 11/05/2024 - 18:20

    i would steal 100% of the stock of every supermarket in the world and try to become the fattest man alive by doing nothing but eating all day long
    i think this is a realistic goal since i won't have to worry about paying for food or working so i will have the whole day to gorge myself
    i will go down in the history books

    • mapax on 11/05/2024 - 18:30

      What would make you different from being just another mukbang attention seeker since no one would know where you got all the food from?

      • s1Lence on 12/05/2024 - 12:09

        what has my comment go to do with mukbang? if anything, i'd put an end to mukbang since all the food would belong to me

  • Darude Sandstorm on 11/05/2024 - 19:34

    I have some friends who got about $200/Week of free groceries at coles/woolies, got caught 5 times over 10 years and now can't do it because they patched the bug in the self-service by putting an electric door that doesn't let you out if you didn't pay.

    If we could opt for stealing from a Pharmacy I'd much prefer to steal my $180 a week medication over my $110 a week food.

  • nobro25 on 11/05/2024 - 20:30

    OP's next Ozbargain thread: If you have the magical powers to kill anyone without any consequences who will you kill?

  • Tiredman on 11/05/2024 - 21:28

    No. Why steal when i can afford it.

  • zikilaasa on 11/05/2024 - 23:35

    Well, its a circle of life. If you want to live in a life where anyone can do that, you will just end up with nothing as whatever you steal will be stolen by someone else. Just learn to be happy with what you have.

  • The Value on 12/05/2024 - 01:13
    +1

    Meats.

  • quanticism on 12/05/2024 - 15:11

    No need for hypotheticals, just go to a lovely city in the US like Seattle, NY or San Fran and you'll have your superpower.

  • TEER3X on 12/05/2024 - 15:19

    The correct answer to almost all stupid hypothetical questions is "No", regardless of whatever you would actually do if the proposal/offer actually came up in the real world.

    • AustriaBargain on 12/05/2024 - 15:28

      Are you saying some of the people here who claim they would never steal, would actually steal if the opportunity presented itself to steal and 100% get away with it?

  • beefmaster on 13/05/2024 - 09:18

    Does it applies to walking into Costco and drive away the top model car? What if you got pull over for speeding and the car is not register under your name?

    I think there is a loop hole or weakness in your black magic. Come back to me once you have become the grand wizard and offer me something foolproof.

    https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/costco-australia-wants…

    • AustriaBargain on 13/05/2024 - 09:48

      As long as the car stays inside your property. After you take it straight home, if you leave your property then it turns to ash in your mouth.

  • RefusdClassification on 15/05/2024 - 11:18
    -1

    I just found this today (sorry for being so late). It's a far better summary of the anti-capitalist perspective that I will ever be capable of:

    Why I Love Shoplifting from Big Corporations - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRv2Ymssrxo

    There's a transcript on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/s1qkk4…

    Some highlights: "Nothing compares to the feeling of elation, of burdens being lifted and constraints escaped, that I feel when I walk out of a store with their products in my pockets. In a world where everything already belongs to someone else, where I am expected to sell away my life at work in order to get the money to pay for the minimum I need to survive, where I am surrounded by forces beyond my control or comprehension that obviously are not concerned about my needs or welfare, it is a way to carve out a little piece of the world for myself—to act back upon a world that acts so much upon me."

    "Shoplifters of the world, unite!"

    "Shoplifting is a refusal of the exchange economy. It is a denial that people deserve to eat, live, and die based on how effectively they are able to exchange their labor and capital with others. It is a denial that a monetary value can be ascribed to everything, that having a piece of delicious chocolate in your mouth is worth exactly fifty cents or that an hour of one person’s life can really be worth ten dollars more than that of another person. It is a refusal to accept the capitalist system, in which workers have to buy back the products of their own labor at a profit to the owners of capital, who thus get them coming and going."

  • iflyin on 07/06/2024 - 15:39

    Cost of living must be hard for some to start thinking about this. Internal (employee) shoplifting is a bigger problem. There 2 types of shoplifters: those that do it on impulse (amateurs, usually young and do it to impress friends etc) and the professionals (they look like regular shoppers and sometimes work in groups). There will always be bad eggs - they probably didnt have the best upbringing, i get it. OP might be one of them. If you need help, seek help. Tried to find a shoplifters hotline, none out there.

    • AustriaBargain on 07/06/2024 - 16:45

      I always heard, when I was a kid, that some employees at K-mart would throw things into the dumpster to retrieve later, like brand new vacuum cleaners and stuff.

  • Windows7forever on 25/07/2024 - 19:05
    +1

    A cloak of invisibility would sure come in handy for this purpose!

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