Slog - Comments on Shopliftingology

Comment by jcricket

jcricket — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:02:45 -0800

Uh - yes, underlying the sentiment of "steal for corporate bookstores if you must" is that it's less bad to steal for corporate bookstores. Sure, each event of stealing impacts their bottom line less than a smaller store, but it still is a cost to them, and as others have pointed out, carries the same risk and damages to individual sas stealing from your beloved indie bookstore.

If stealing is always wrong, just call the shoplifters nasty names and say "don't steal".

So yeah, it's an assholish thing to say/imply that big corporations are somehow acceptable targets in any way for illegal behavior. How about "if you're gonna take from the tip jar, do it at starbucks", or "if you're gonna dine and dash, do it at cheesecake factory".

It's like the whole "pro graffiti if it's on a big corporate building where I don't have a stake involved" attitude.

Comment by Aislinn

Aislinn — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:17:26 -0800

I'm really impressed that he decided to email you about this, and thought his points were very well-made.

However, I think the "if you're going to steal, do it from a large corporation" argument holds some water, mostly because a large corporation has such losses worked into their bottom line, and it has a smaller impact on their viability as a business. Financially, they can absorb the loss better than a small business. It has nothing to do with "dehumanizing" the people in charge of loss-prevention; it's just about the numbers. I've never stolen anything from any store, and never would, but I don't think you were in error to tell the people who stole from your store, who are clearly going to steal something regardless of all the reasons it is inappropriate to do so, to steal from a place that is better-equipped to suffer the loss.

What frustrates me most about people stealing from bookstores is that it's not about fulfilling a need; that's why we have libraries, so people can have free access to books and information. Unlike accepting food- or clothing-related charity, which can involve some swallowing of pride or possible exposure to a sermon, libraries offer their wares judgment-free. I'm not saying that stealing food or clothes is somehow "justified," but on a scale of justifiability, stealing from a bookstore ranks very, very low.

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:22:48 -0800

After reading your article, I assaulted a security guard in Bellevue's downtown Borders for a copy of My Friend Leonard, which I've already read, and it sucked.

He tried to stop me, but I was super-shiv certified.

This is all your fault, Paul. How could you forget that the Stranger's readers are comprised of impressionable idiots? For shame.

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:24:33 -0800

Wait, there isn't a Borders in downtown Bellevue. Um. Barnes and Noble. Yes! That was the one.

Comment by Semolina Pilchard

Semolina Pilchard — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:30:03 -0800

Zzzzzz

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:32:35 -0800

I am the walrus! Woo!

Comment by Jason Josephes

Jason Josephes — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:44:17 -0800

I had a pretty visceral reaction to that line, too. How much money does a bookstore have to make before it's "okay" to steal from them? What about stealing from one of the bigger independents -- sure, they may not be B&N and but they're not Twice Sold Tales. Is it okay to steal Stephen King but not a small-press poet? Most importantly, if you can't afford the book you want, why not do something really radical and check it out from the library?

Stealing is wrong.

Comment by pencil riot

pencil riot — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:00:17 -0800

Progressive tax is basically stealing. So is progressive tax wrong?

Comment by calvin

calvin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:03:23 -0800

It may have been an offhand comment that started this, Paul, but I think everyone who criticizes big companies, esp. those in retail, needs to remember that real people work there, people just like you and me, and to widely pan everything about the company with the same broad disdain often showed on here can be a big mistake. You know your subject better than most of your peers on Slog, and even you goofed on this one. Remember to see your disdain for things from the opposite viewpoint, as you eventually did quite well here.

Comment by JC

JC — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:10:51 -0800

It is folly to ask criminals to have some sort of moral code. People steal where it is easy to steal from. I know people who worked at Value Village. People stole from there all the time. Why steal a two dollar shirt when you can steal a two hundred dollar one from Nordstrom? Because you have a better chance getting caught at Nordstrom. It is a crime of opportunity.

The real problem is that there is almost zero penalty for stealing. If you steal something from most stores, they just tell you to never darken their doorway with your presence again, which most career thieves flagrantly ignore. Make the crime cost something if you're caught.

Comment by iwanttobealion

iwanttobealion — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:11:42 -0800

When I worked in the fiction section of "a large downtown bookstore" we kept the Kerouac, Thompson, Burroughs, Bukowski, etc. behind the counter and customers actually had to ask to look at them. It was worth much more to the management for some folks not to find the books and buy it somewhere else than to have hundreds of dollars of shrink every week on the exact same books. Good Riddance to the graphic novels though - they were impossible to keep in order and always fell over on the shelves.

Comment by Natalie

Natalie — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:12:20 -0800

I think the bottom line is, stealing from a big corporation hurts the owners of the corporation less than stealing from a small company hurts the owners of that company, but stealing hurts the frontline employees (be they owner-operators or wage slaves) the same.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:23:02 -0800

Too long. Didn't read.

Comment by hm

hm — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:27:43 -0800

You were "shat upon"??? Wouldn't you have to stay still for quite awhile for someone to be able to do that?

Comment by Paul Constant

Paul Constant — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:37:09 -0800

Well, someone rubbed their shit on me. And the shit was fresh.

Comment by keshmeshi

keshmeshi — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:45:40 -0800

@8,

No form of taxation in a democracy is stealing. Our forefathers opposed taxation without representation, not all taxation.

Comment by keshmeshi

keshmeshi — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:46:26 -0800

@15,

Thanks for reminding me why I don't work retail.

Comment by Dave Coffman

Dave Coffman — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:11:50 -0800

@16: Try that argument in the District of Columbia.

Comment by keshmeshi

keshmeshi — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:02:19 -0800

@18,

I highly doubt #8 is from D.C.

Comment by anna

anna — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:09:55 -0800

paul, i work at a local independent bookstore, and i think the knee-jerk response "go steal from the damn barnes & noble" is pretty universal. whether it's assholey or not, it just feels right in the moment. i think other people maybe don't get the larger context- how much the big guys fuck the little guys, and how much of a war it feels like sometimes. it feels kind of unfair to get fucked by giant corporations and dirty little kids. like maybe the street punks should be on your (underdog) team or something, fighting the man.

Comment by anna

anna — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:11:57 -0800

p.s. we loved your article. it's posted on our bulletin board.

Comment by Greg

Greg — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:20:55 -0800

@15: How did you not punch this person?