Shoplifting Tumblrinas

[Cave]

What exactly is with Tumblr folks hating Capitalism? I know little about economics but from what I've seen it seems to be a system which works despite its flaws. Maybe I'm wrong though.

I wouldn't say you're wrong. Capitalism does "work" in many respects. Capitalism is definitely a flawed system, but that's misleading because all economic systems are flawed. These people aren't economists. They don't understand the systems enough to criticize them. They're ignorant about everything they say.

 

[Silvana]

What exactly is with Tumblr folks hating Capitalism? I know little about economics but from what I've seen it seems to be a system which works despite its flaws. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Because America loves it and they hate 'Amerikka'. They wanna be edgy without doing anything.

They want to be recognized as edgy revolutionaries.
They want to be recognized as being progressive, which they assume equals being anti-Capitalist.
They want to be recognized as "most radiculest progressive SJW snowflake".
They want to steal shit while keeping a clear conscience.

Can anyone think of anything I might have missed?

 

[Rin]

They want to be recognized as edgy revolutionaries.
They want to be recognized as being progressive, which they assume equals being anti-Capitalist.
They want to be recognized as "most radiculest progressive SJW snowflake".
They want to steal shit while keeping a clear conscience.

Can anyone think of anything I might have missed?

They think it's capitalism's fault they have to go make something of themselves, and that in a communist system they could sit at home and play on the computer all day.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

What exactly is with Tumblr folks hating Capitalism?

One possible reason is that capitalism encourages "inequality" -- the people who are more successful tend to earn more. Whereas in communism or socialism everyone's automatically economically equal -- at least on paper. Human nature isn't normally compatible with that though.

Of course capitalism can be abused, but I don't know of any communist country that wasn't far more corrupt and oppressive than most developed capitalist countries. Some people don't seem to have a problem with curtailing freedoms (whether in market or expression).

 

[Melkor]

I'll be honest: I can't go through the shoplifting tags without getting irrationally pissed off. The people who post in those tags who are legit shoplifting are overly-entitled white girls who think they're fighting "capitalism", when in actuality they're stealing money from people who work at the stores they steal from.

 

[AnotherForumUser]

One possible reason is that capitalism encourages "inequality" -- the people who are more successful tend to earn more. Whereas in communism or socialism everyone's automatically economically equal -- at least on paper. Human nature isn't normally compatible with that though.

Of course capitalism can be abused, but I don't know of any communist country that wasn't far more corrupt and oppressive than most developed capitalist countries. Some people don't seem to have a problem with curtailing freedoms (whether in market or expression).

Don't get me wrong, I can understand where the sentiment comes from with regards to finding American Capitalism somewhat distasteful due to the divide between rich and poor and there are probably valid arguments against Laissez-Faire Capitalism. One of the funniest things about people like this though is that their "RAH! RAH! FIGHT DA POWER!" bullshit is more than often marketed to them by capitalists through merchandise and music.

 

[Captain_Asshole]

I'll be honest: I can't go through the shoplifting tags without getting irrationally pissed off. The people who post in those tags who are legit shoplifting are overly-entitled white girls who think they're fighting "capitalism", when in actuality they're stealing money from people who work at the stores they steal from.

The reason you are getting so pissed off is probably because you see it as the pure, unadulterated injustice that it really is, while those fucks consider it an act of heroism. After all it could be your shop or your ass getting his pay cut (or worse) over stolen merchandise.

 

[& Knuckles]

Apologies if this has been posted already, I don't really come to this thread.

 

[Warden]

I'm pretty sure companies aren't allowed to take stolen merch out of employees' pay. Unless the point is that shoplifting cuts into profit and the company tightens payroll as a result.

But aren't companies cutting payroll as much as possible anyway? I'm not defending shoplifting, I'm just trying to understand the gravity. What is the actual effect shoplifting has?

 

[neverendingmidi]

I'm pretty sure companies aren't allowed to take stolen merch out of employees' pay. Unless the point is that shoplifting cuts into profit and the company tightens payroll as a result.

But aren't companies cutting payroll as much as possible anyway? I'm not defending shoplifting, I'm just trying to understand the gravity. What is the actual effect shoplifting has?

Well if shrink is bad enough, some stores will just close entirely. Which is a big reason behind food deserts. And then everybody loses their job.

As far as payroll goes, let's say you have a job that gives you 30hrs a week. You're living paycheck to paycheck. Shrink goes up in your store. Your hours get cut to 15, so your paycheck gets cut in half. That's no big deal right? (heavy,HEAVY sarcasm there)

 

[Fiddleford]

I'm pretty sure companies aren't allowed to take stolen merch out of employees' pay. Unless the point is that shoplifting cuts into profit and the company tightens payroll as a result.

But aren't companies cutting payroll as much as possible anyway? I'm not defending shoplifting, I'm just trying to understand the gravity. What is the actual effect shoplifting has?

I used to work at a toystore and preteens would go in and steal smaller stuff all the time, and we would get in trouble if our boss noticed lots of stuff missing. It wasn't directly taking money away but she would cut our hours if she felt we weren't doing a good enough job. I expect some other stores do similar things.

 

[fire_fly]

I'm pretty sure companies aren't allowed to take stolen merch out of employees' pay. Unless the point is that shoplifting cuts into profit and the company tightens payroll as a result.

The company I work for hasn't turned a profit in two years, mostly due to poor upper management and unbelievably bad shrink. Labor hours have been cut so severely that part-time employees only get 15 or so hours and full-time employees that aren't managers have to work in multiple locations and sometimes end up working 10+ hours alone, all day, with no breaks.

Shoplifting only effects store employees. That's the long and the short it. Corporate certainly won't take the hit.

 

[Warden]

The company I work for hasn't turned a profit in two years, mostly due to poor upper management and unbelievably bad shrink. Labor hours have been cut so severely that part-time employees only get 15 or so hours and full-time employees that aren't managers have to work in multiple locations and sometimes end up working 10+ hours alone, all day, with no breaks.

Shoplifting only effects store employees. That's the long and the short it. Corporate certainly won't take the hit.

In this reply I'm not arguing, promise! It sounds like the company is just bad from the top. Are you really sure shoplifting is a big cause of understaffing, because I remember working retail and all the corporate brainwashing they'd feed us. The place I worked didn't even have a shrink problem, a corporate guy told me it was "recession-proof" also, and still the labor was spread so thin they'd have a single employee working for way too long like you said. Corporate makes cuts and then blames lost productivity on the lowest rank of employees, manipulating them to be more proactive for the same old pay. It was the same at every job I ever had. Shoplifting was the least of our worries, since the cuts came no matter how well we performed.

Again, not defending shoplifting. Of course two wrongs don't make a right. My point is that corporate makes cuts no matter what and blames it on everyone else, because a company has to grow or else it dies, so I'm skeptical that shoplifting is as deep an impact on employees as you guys say. But if someone wants to prove me wrong then I'm okay with that.

 

[fire_fly]

In this reply I'm not arguing, promise! It sounds like the company is just bad from the top. Are you really sure shoplifting is a big cause of understaffing, because I remember working retail and all the corporate brainwashing they'd feed us. The place I worked didn't even have a shrink problem, a corporate guy told me it was "recession-proof" also, and still the labor was spread so thin they'd have a single employee working for way too long like you said. Corporate makes cuts and then blames lost productivity on the lowest rank of employees, manipulating them to be more proactive for the same old pay. It was the same at every job I ever had. Shoplifting was the least of our worries, since the cuts came no matter how well we performed.

No worries! To be fair, you do have a point in that shrink comes from a lot of things. Theft is a big part of it (the chain I work in carries a lot of small, expensive, easily-stolen items) but you're right, that's not the only problem. It's also things getting broken on the sales floor, shipment errors (none of which is the store employees' fault but we somehow take the blame anyway), and poor manufacturing (such as styling tools, and sometimes even product packaging).

Shipping errors and poor manufacturing aren't something that can easily be controlled, that's part of a larger problem. However, people DO have the choice to not steal and make things harder on employees that already get blamed for literally everything else.

 

[Meowthkip]

What exactly is with Tumblr folks hating Capitalism? I know little about economics but from what I've seen it seems to be a system which works despite its flaws. Maybe I'm wrong though.

It's because it's all they've ever known and therefore they have nothing to compare it to. These idiots wouldn't last a week under actual communism.

They have no idea. All they have are abstract concepts.

 

[Yamyam]

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

What exactly is with Tumblr folks hating Capitalism? I know little about economics but from what I've seen it seems to be a system which works despite its flaws. Maybe I'm wrong though.

That's just it though, it's a system that works, and Tumblr hates that. So why not show them what for by being complete idiots and break the law by stealing?

I don't get that logic, wouldn't it be just as easy for them to just simply stop buying (or stealing, whatever the case may be) everything?

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I don't get that logic, wouldn't it be just as easy for them to just simply stop buying (or stealing, whatever the case may be) everything?

I think the idea is that by stealing they still get all the benefits of capitalism for themselves but they still contribute to the destruction of western society

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I think the idea is that by stealing they still get all the benefits of capitalism for themselves but they still contribute to the destruction of western society

Aren't they already contributing to the destruction of society just by existing?

 

[Javert]

I've worked in retail and seen a lot of weird crap stolen. I think the best was a kinder egg toy. They stole the toy but left the chocolate behind for whatever reason. Guessing some little kid was feeling very guilty after that.

My store is in a very poor area though, so we mostly get drunks trying to steal spirits or people trying to steal food. In a way I find that more sympathetic then these tumblr-tots who do it for some weird sense of validation. Most of ours at least recognize that they shouldn't be doing it and only do it as a result of (perceived) necessity or to fuel uncontrollable addictions. These people want to dress it up as some noble struggle. There is nothing noble about being a well off middle class tween nicking cosmetics for the sake of it.