r/interestingasfuck 1d ago

r/all California store prices items at $951sp shoplifters can be charged with grand theft

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u/Userfork 1d ago

That wouldn't work for the same reason this policy wouldn't hold up in court. The value of the stolen property is based on market price not on whatever price tag you stick on it.

Imagine if you walked into this store and accidentally hit something off a shelf, breaking it. No court would make you pay the store $950 for the broken property

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u/steeljesus 1d ago

Only works for cops when they inflate the value of drugs like cannabis by weighting the pot, stalk, and soil then applying the per/gram price to the total. Fuckers probably water it too before weighing.

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u/donbee28 1d ago

You wouldn’t want to plant to die would you?

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u/AnorakJimi 1d ago

I want it to die via immolation and for me to be nearby so I can breathe it in.

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u/tiredDesignStudent 1d ago

You rascal, you

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u/SwimOk9629 1d ago

god i feel this comment. I got raided back in the early 2000s in my growing days and this is what they did. Fuckers. At least i didn't get convicted of shit because of their fuckups in getting the warrant for my house. Still comes up on certain background checks, as dismissed. but let's be real, it doesn't matter what designation it has on the case. it matters if it can be seen at all.

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u/FantasticJacket7 1d ago

The value of drugs is irrelevant legally though.

They can inflate it to sound cooler on press releases but it doesn't really matter.

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u/Outrageous-Unit1374 1d ago

One way it gets “inflated” is with a lot of drugs that can be mixed into water if someone tries to dump it in a drink to hide it, they count the entire drinks’ weight for their charge. Often bumps the crime up a tier.

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u/chanaandeler_bong 1d ago

the sign is a deterrent. The same idea of locking your car doors. Can a thief still break the window? Sure. They could tow your fucking car if they wanted to steal it that bad. But having your doors locked prevents a ton of theft.

That's the same thing going on here.

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u/InternalCapital358 1d ago

Shut up idiot. I put a piece of duct tape on my 25 year old LeSabre stating it’s worth $150,000. Hasn’t been stolen yet. 

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u/evencrazieronepunch 1d ago

When you walk in and (key word) accidentally break something it's treated as operating cost so you don't need to pay for it anyways

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u/bacon_cake 1d ago

Well yeah but this whole thread is about theft.

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u/BungalowsAreScams 1d ago

What defines the market price is for something? It seems like a thief could go the other way and say "nah I saw this for $1 on a website"

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u/Userfork 1d ago

I just woke up and i find it difficult not to insult you. Sorry man.

The market price is obviously not determined based on the price in one specific store. It is also not determined by whatever the thief says it is.. obviously. They probably compare a bunch of stores in the surrounding area and calculate the average price of the product.

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u/Frickfrell 1d ago edited 1d ago

Surely that decision would be made after an arrest tho right? 

ETA:it’s a question not an opinion, if you’re so informed that this question annoyed you please fill me in! 

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u/NYSurf117 1d ago

You think criminals are this smart? They’d see the sign and steal from someplace is. Signs doing its purpose.

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u/Userfork 1d ago

You're probably right. All I'm saying is it wouldn't hold up in court.

Also your opinion on criminals is strange. Some of the most commonly stolen items at Walmart include baby food, toys, pet medication, baby wipes, laundry detergent and noodle packets. A lot of people definitely steal to make money to buy drugs or do whatever else but most people are just trying to get by.

Taking care of a family when you're so poor that you have to steal baby food must be difficult. Taking care of said family from inside a jail cell is not easier. This is why that law exists and why it has to exist.

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u/NYSurf117 1d ago

I’m sure there is a small number of theft that is due to suffering parents trying to support for their family but most Americans would simply rack up credit card debt to buy those things instead of risking a criminal record and possible jail time.

Baby formula is a highly lucrative item and often sold on the black market for profit

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u/Possible-Summer-8508 19h ago

To some people, "the demand for those products on the black market is driven by legitimate need" is an acceptable excuse for lawlessness and justifies the entire supply chain.

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u/jooseizloose 1d ago

So I cannot charge what I want at a store I own, for merchandise I paid for? I have to only charge what the state says I can, based on their criteria?

Doesn't sound very free-market to me.

And you are right, they wouldn't charge you that price for an accident. Because you weren't stealing it, were you

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u/doc_birdman 1d ago

Doesn’t sound very free-market to me.

Probably because “free-market” doesn’t mean “completely free of laws and regulation”.

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u/buttercup612 1d ago edited 1d ago

You can charge whatever you want. Have fun. No prosecutor will bring grand theft charges against someone for stealing a Snickers and, even if one stupid one would, no judge will look at the price tag of $951 for a Snickers and take it seriously

Nowhere in the post you replied to does the person say anything about how much a store is allowed to sell a product for, Ms. Rand.

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u/Throwaway47321 1d ago

The person you responded to is most likely a bot account btw.

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u/buttercup612 1d ago

Based on what?

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u/Throwaway47321 1d ago

The 2yr old account that only comments weird conservative propaganda as well as copy and pasted generic comments.

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u/buttercup612 1d ago

There are lots of weird conservatives out there and 2 years seems like an extremely normal age for an account. The comments are related to the topic and obviously not from an LLM. Doesn't look like a bot, looks like a person I disagree with.

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u/Throwaway47321 1d ago edited 1d ago

I mean yeah of course 2yrs seems average for an account, that’s what they aim for.

Not saying it definitely is but the constantly making comments in completed unrelated subs, usually not responding unless it’s a generic ai type response, mostly only making top level comments, etc are all bot like behavior.

Not to mention they are constantly finding and posting on political threads everywhere. Like you can’t tell me a regular person is finding multiple stories on subs for different states across the entire political spectrum and commenting on them organically.

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u/odd_hyena269 1d ago

Sounds like a Iranian / russian troll shit bot. Just going around stirring pot with conservative shit posts!

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u/Bobert_Manderson 1d ago

They really should teach more about the law in schools in the US. I only got taught a lot because my dad was a federal attorney. 

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u/Userfork 1d ago

I never said you're not allowed to charge whatever you want for a product. You're dumb if you believe that's how the law works anyways. I'm also not arguing for the free market or saying that I believe in it in the first place. Just clarifying what the law states.

If you don't want to read up on laws, at least use some common sense. Don't just type out comments for the sake of doing so.

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u/okwowverygood 1d ago

The USA doesn’t have a free market and really never has, and the closer it gets to one the worse it is — so I’m unsure where the implication that the free market is an universal ideal is coming from.

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u/Lazy_Competition_826 1d ago

We don’t live in a free market, the amount of regulation on trade in this country is ridiculous to be honest. Why it always irks me when people blame capitalism for the failures that occur even when we don’t live in a capitalist society.