Image description: a two panel meme with a bearded man speaking.
Panel 1: “You wanna know what I do when I see people stealing food or baby formula?”
Panel 2: “Fucking nothing because I’m not a fucking asshole.”
Baby formula is a common item for people to steal so they can resell it. So yeah, I’m going to say something. Stop supporting making baby formula harder for mothers to get and afford. It also helps drive these stores out of neighborhoods which makes it even harder for them.
These issues don’t have to be so dumbed down and black and white on social media. That’s a choice people are making.
*for parents
I don’t see the moral difference between stealing baby formula to feed your baby and stealing baby formula to sell for rent. Capitalism fucking sucks and people do what they have to do.
And for all y’all saying "they’re probably just stealing for drug money or to buy designer clothes or (insert bad reason here) - that’s your bias speaking. You think the worst of shoplifters because you want to think the worst of shoplifters. You don’t know why someone is stealing. You don’t know what their life is like or what they need.
Do you know for a fact someone isn’t stealing to feed themselves or their kids? No? Then give your fellow man the benefit of the fucking doubt. Keep your mouth shut and your hands off.
And frankly, if someone develops an addiction because they use illegal drugs to mitigate the symptoms of their untreated mental illness or to numb the pain of being homeless in a capitalist society, and they steal to feed that addiction, who the hell are you to judge them? Everyone has a right to medical care, which means addicts have a right to medical care to treat their addiction, which is a hell of a lot more valuable than a few hundred dollars in baby formula, and society has stolen that right from them, so why shouldn’t they steal a little of their own back?
Even the least excusable shoplifting has a reason for it. And it is, quite frankly, a victimless crime, because corporations aren’t people. And I don’t give a shit if somebody in upper management loses his Christmas bonus over shrinkage. Wage theft by corporate employers steals three times as much as all other forms of larceny and theft in the US combined. So think about who the real thieves are before you go judging people.
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Very good points explaining of why folks should not snitch.
Another one: Who are you snitching to?
The shop manager? Why do you prioritise his wellbeing over the shoplifters?
The police? What does that solve except get the shoplifter into deeper shit and more likely to murder down the line?
Or perhaps you think “but people shouldn’t steal”, in which case you should go after bankers, the police, politicians and big corporations. Don’t have what it takes to do that? Then again, sit down your righteous ass and face your own helplessness.
Reporting some poor sod shoplifting won’t make you more powerful. It’ll make you one of those cowardly white European schmucks who sent their neighbours into concentration camps.
Not only that. It’s oftentimes used for cutting with drugs as well.
There is also return scams where they return the stolen items using a discarded receipt or opt for an in store giftcard.
All returns of baby formula are required to be discarded because of the cases of people tampering with the product.
Families are able to apply to get formula for fairly cheap, sometimes free though the use of coupons. The likelihood of a mother stealing formula for herself is extreamly small.
Baby formula is a common item for people to steal so they feed their babies. So yeah, I’m not going to say something. Stop supporting making baby formula harder for care givers who cant afford it at the moment to get and steal. It also helps to keep the babies in the neighborhood fed.
These issues don’t have to be so dumbed down and black and white on social media. That’s a choice people are making.
You act like your take has nuance but I dont see any nuance and instead you just seem to disagree with the meme.
Awkward. Literally my job is as a manager that involves stopping people from stealing stuff
I mean, it’s a different story if you’re held personally responsible for shrink. You have to feed yourself too. Tough situation.
Yeah I’d lose my job if I just started letting people leave with stuff, even if it’s tough like diapers.
Yes… Capitalism takes a toll on all of us. I understand also your position. But from my position, I would rather not tell you if I saw people shoplifting… Which I also think you understand.
So if you bust me, at least we can get on with the capitalist program we are both stuck in with a tad more understanding and kindness towards each other.
Well if you do see someone shoplifting, yeah it’s not your responsibility or expectation to tell someone! Unless it’s a mom & pop, they can afford some shrink just fine, and that is a much bigger deal to someone risking so much for such seemingly little things.
Do you have any decision power in the process of dealing with a shoplifter? If you know the rules of your company regarding this you might be able to let some people of the hook or sometimes “miss” someone stealing.
Not really, everything is tracked and heavy traffic, We catch quite a bit every day.
I saw someone stealing in Safeway the other day, which is to say I saw absolutely nothing. Then when I was at the checkout the guy in the next lane over was ratting him out. For shame
Breastfeed is free
So is walking, but not everyone has that choice.
People do use a car in many scenarios where walking or public transport is just fine and it is the same on this whole powdered milk industry.
Did you miss the point on purpose?
There are mothers who are literally unable to breastfeed, just like there are people who are literally unable to walk (e.g. bound to a wheelchair.)
In a discussion about a family member trying to steal a wheelchair for a person with a disability, if you post a comment saying “walking is free hurr durr,” then you would get the same reaction from other commenters.
The only difference is that I don’t see the “wheelchair industry” targeting people who can literally walk on their own.
There is a huge difference here and more and more this industry is making people replace breastfeeding to buy their formula instead.
And it’s not me saying this, is the WHO itself
More than half of parents and pregnant women exposed to aggressive formula milk marketing
Don’t you think that many of those people think they need the formula because they were brainwashed by capitalist propaganda?
Still missing the point.
I understand what you’re saying, but it doesn’t represent all the reasons for which a baby may need formula.
Stop insisting in that red herring argument.
I’m not missing the point, I don’t know how is it where you live, but in many places there are human milk banks for people with real problem on breastfeeding
I wish you had started from here.
Spent a little too much time in the stupid tank did ya?
If you are a Nestle fanboy then that’s on you
“False and misleading messages about formula feeding are a substantial barrier to breastfeeding, which we know is best for babies and mothers,”
OK but breastfeeding requires breasts you know? And that energy has to come from somewhere?
Shit time is money as some say, and very few mothers are given the opportunity to properly raise their children
Stealing on the other hand really is 100% free, and easy!
whatafuck am I just reading… Then steal food for your own and then use that energy to make milk…
Its really funny youre just pro breast milk not anti stealing, but hey still a lot of people arent given the time to breastfeed and its taxing on the body, so ideally give everyone all options freely.
But as always - fuck Nestlé, amen
doesn’t work for some mothers, through no fault of their own. not to disagree with the sentiment, just to remind that it’s not an option for everyone :)
Yes, except for the time when
- the mother have to continue to work to survive so she does not have time to breastfeed
- the workplace does not allow the mother to pump while at work
- the mother is too stressed or can’t feed herself properly which leads to her milk supply drying out
- the nurse at the maternity just start giving a bottle to the crying baby rather than taking the time with the mother to initiate the milk production. Which leads to the milk supply to never really start properly
- …
Breastfeeding is possible if and only if the mother is well taken care of, by her family and by the society.
The main benefit of formula is that now the society can continue to exploit women even directly after birth and the baby will still survive.
Someone stealing formula is not someone who is too lazy to breastfeed, someone stealing formula is someone who has to struggle to survive rather than spending time bonding with her child.
I said this before, but I wish I was stupid enough to think like this. Just blissful ignorance and elementary school playground arguments. Easy living
Instead youre even stupider to not eh?
Hiel Walmart n shit
What does “hiel walmart” mean?
Comparing you to blindly following the system that opresses you if we really boil it down.
Dont stop people from shoplifting and your owner sprays everyone with a little squirt bottle and you blame it on the shoplifters, not the owners?
Shoplifting increases the prices I have to pay for my groceries. That’s just how society works. But I’m still left confused as to what the hiel walmart part meant, care to open that up? Never heard of the word “hiel”.
The increased prices is the spray bottle, if that’s how society works then we really haven’t strayed that far from midevil monarchies. You think the 2nd LA house isn’t maybe sorta a tiny bit increasing your grocery price? Or the monopoly that made it impossible for any other brands to exist did?
Its my misspelling of heil, as in Hitler obviously - unless you really are this dense cause then I can see why capitalism is having an easy job with you
Ah right, so I’m being told I’m stupid by someone who can’t spell.
Explains quite a bit.
Also “heil” isn’t “as in” hitler. Heil translates better to “hail” in english, as in “Hail to the King” or something.
But I’ll stop educating you and let you educate yourself from now on young lad.
Can’t spell… in German? That’s youre measurement for intelligence? I mean IG it stands true for Einstein, but like then newton, Ben Franklin, Stephen hawking are all idiots to you?
And yes the analogy is to hailing Walmart as if it is a kind or Hitler, but the point is youre blindly following it. Sorry I expected some crumbs of critical thinking and didn’t walk you through the entire thought lrocess
Step 1: rob grocery stores while complaining about billionaires Step 2: blame anyone but yourself while complaining that you are in a food desert
Tell me how much is in your savings account rn.
You really believe this system is sustainable?
Whenever I rob a grocery store, I usually do not have time to complain about billionaires. Those things are implicitly understood by the folks around me who are blessed with average and above intelligence.
I complain about billionaires afterwards on the Internet.
Based on my statistical analysis, the take-home share of myself and my fellow robbers are too small to influence the investment decisions of large grocery chains. So no, I do not fault any of us for the predicament we are in.
Baby formula is cut with drugs to fluff it without being toxic. At least that’s what I was told.
At first I read this as if you were implying that manufacturers added drugs to baby formula as cheap fluff, which, I was just… WTF???
I think what you are trying to say is that drugs are cut with baby formula, not the other way around.
Supermarkets where I live used to have a limit on how much baby formula one customer can buy in one visit because people buy all of it to take back to China to sell, because some people in China don’t trust the local baby formula since the 2008 Chinese milk scandal.
There is a slight chance someone is doing something for bad reasons so lets stop all people, including thise who need it from doing the same.
I suppose it’s the difference of taking 1 vs filling a tote
Powdered milk is much cheaper, I don’t know why you’d waste money on formula. Corn starch is cheaper still. If you’re cutting like that you’re obviously just trying to pass visual inspection, why not chalk or talc? Cheap in bulk.
You’d taste the creaminess if you’re rubbing it on your gums, and if you’re cutting something someone plans to inject why bother with non toxic? Milk doesn’t belong in the veins either.
There used to be a huge resale market for Western formula sold in China because in the 2000s a lot of Chinese formula didn’t meet minimum safety standards so Chinese parents resorted to the black market to keep their infants safe.
It’s free if you take it instead of buy it. I never knew there was a demand in China for it. I’m also not well versed in drug cutting, it was just what I heads. Thanks for all the info, I genuinely appreciate it.
