I'm pretty sure the person you're responding to doesn't have billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of the same copy of a game. Because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't care.
> So it's okay if the perpetrator thinks the target is rich enough?
Yeah? When "rich enough" literally means such an unfathomably large amount of wealth that it is effectively infinite for the person that holds it (which in this case it is, since Bezos will not ever scrape away even a fraction of his wealth in his lifetime), it pretty much is okay. Infinity minus one is still infinity.
To clarify, there are plenty of problems with theft such as how it can impact coworkers, and it's totally valid to be against theft. I am just very pedantically pointing out that yes, it is in fact not nearly as bad of a crime to steal from someone who is unbelievably rich.
The wealth of the victim is a great thing to weigh in if you want to steal. Surely you can see this.
If I steal a bums sandwich, I hurt him. If I steal Jeff Bezos' sandwich, literally nothing happens. There is no result. He never knew the sandwich existed.
Maybe you'll never have to steal a sandwich, but I hope if you do, you make the right choice.
Stealing from a retailer like Amazon just serves to fuck over employees.
What new draconian measures is Amazon going to institute now that the news has given thousands of asshats the bright idea that they can just get a job at a warehouse and walk off with goods?
I get that theft happens. I've worked in retail and my mother managed a large retail store when I was younger. So I also get that shit rolls down hill. These aren't "victimless crimes". Sure the company isn't effected that much (though, the stock prices of retailers effected by the recent thefts tell a different story), but employees get to share the pain. Managers lose out on bonuses (read: income) from this, and asshole GMs pissed off at missing targets take out their low-level employees.
I distinctly remember retail theft being a reason my mother switched careers. She'd tell me about how she just had to sit back and watch as people rolled TVs out of the store without paying for it and realizing that she'd be the one paying for it.
It would be tolerable if it was one or two people. But as recent news have shown once people see there is little consequence in stealing up to a certain amount then it emboldens people and it happens in large numbers.
So a bunch of mouth breathers think stealing from the rich corporation is ok. It happens in numbers and then draconian measures that punish employees and/or law abiding, tax paying and merch paying citizens are enacted.
Always.
So no, this shit ain't victimless in the long run.
And the worst part is that this mentality does not stop a big retail stores. This sordid mentality that it's ok to steal doesn't prevent thieves from stealing from smaller business that cannot handle the loss of inventory as easily.
These stores pay the ultimate price by firing staff and/or shutting down.
Why? Cause thieves rarely differentiate. If you steal that's pretty much your life. And that's your thing.
I'd assume Amazon is going to institute new draconian measures on their employees because that's who they are. There will probably be lots of jobs for AI/ML people to implement those measures to ensure that the plebs are properly attending tasks anyway; theft is just another aspect they'll monitor for anyway.
The more interesting question that occurs to me is - what is the optimal item to steal from an Amazon warehouse? Nintendo games actually seem like a decent size/weight/value ratio, but I'd bet there's much better. Obviously precious jewelry is a classic, but there might already be increased scrutiny on those. I'm sure some enterprising young go-getters will figure it out.
It affects Amazon. If everything include all money, employees and relationship to other businesses were stolen Amazon would go out of business and someone else would take their marketshare.
Sure, stealing is wrong. But he paid them back for the theft. In Amazon's eyes, they just made a sale. And probably a bit of a laugh over what the kid went through
And before you say anything about losing money from training the kid or turnover or whatever, Amazon's turnover is horrible. They're used to it.
Ok, stealing is wrong. But you're taking a narrow view of theft. Amazon is "stealing" from the entire planet in the form of labor and resource exploitation. Stealing merchandise from Amazon can be seen as a form of self defense by the almost-powerless common person.
You don't think Amazon is doing anything unethical? Why, because everything it's doing is legal? Laws are not 1:1 with morals or ethics, that's why they change. But uh, I also feel the need to point out that Amazon does not operate according to the law any more than it can get away with[1]. So if breaking the law to steal value from thousands of employees/customers is ok, but breaking the law to steal one copy of a game is not... that's not a system of morality I want to live in.
Stealing is wrong people. Retail theft is a huge problem right now, and now I understand why: I'm apparently in the minority for thinking this way.