Stores: If anybody shoplifts, I'm gonna make everyone wait.

Stores, years later: Hey everyone is buying everything online these days.

The social contract is just that, a contract. The unwritten contract of most developed countries has long been:

*Work hard. Get an education. Don't steal. Don't commit acts of violence. Don't try to foment unrest or rebellion. Walk the straight and narrow. In turn, you'll have a peaceful and adequate life. You may not be rich, but you'll have all your needs met during your working years, and you'll be able to retire when old with a bit of dignity."

For generations, the social contract was that anyone who played along and did things "right" would have a decent life. That decent life might mean living in a modest apartment your whole life, but it was achievable by the vast majority. Traditionally, if you couldn't achieve self-sufficiency, it's because you either were excluded from the social contract (like certain minority groups), you were born with some debilitating disability, or because you did something very wrong (like commit a serious crime.)

But contracts are two-way streets. When one side breaks the contract, it breaks for both sides. In wealthy countries, this old social contract has been broken by the rich. Millions are finding they did everything they were supposed to, and they still can't get a decent life. So with the contract broken, there's far less reason to follow it.

Most people do not avoid committing crimes simply because they fear the law. Most folks have an ethical belief that stealing and violence is wrong. Most people wouldn't do these things even if there were no police or prisons. But when you break the social contract, the portion of the population that finds committing crimes to be morally acceptable will inevitably rise.

Both of these statements are correct. And if you blame the locked cases on shoplifting rather than blaming the shoplifting on the fact that greedy, soulless merchants will jack up their prices in response to sunrises, sunsets, or passing fancies, then fuck you along with capitalism.

Yes, yes... if we just shit upon the poor and desperate just a little bit more, capitalism will finally work and we will all live in a Utopian meritocracy. Remember hygiene is a privilege, not a right!

Went to buy $2 nail clippers from Walmart. Locked in one of these cages. Hit the button, wait a few min, no one comes. Oh, they keep the overstock on top of the cabinet. Reach up and grab what I want and check out.

Unbelievably stupid decision making

I don't report shoplifting people either because they desperately need it while the CEO of the franchise earns millions. When shoplifting is a common thing forcing the store to put products behind locks, society has failed as too many of the population are struggling financially.

Nah, this is probably suppose to make the poster look hypocritical, but I think the sentiment of basic life essentials still stands.

Imagine this person lives in an area where fracking, data centers, and beverage companies have stolen or destroyed access to water; then complaining about bottled water being locked up because of shoplifting.

Tooth decay can kill you eventually, but hydraulic despotism can kill you pretty quickly. The slowly boiled frog vs the one dropped immediately into the pan.

When it comes to shoplifting supermarkets, I'm of the opinion that that is a symptom of the state failing to, or worse, choosing not to, take care of those who, for whatever reason, can't take care of themselves and those they are responsible for.

You don't know what it's like, you don't have a clue.
And if you did you'd find yourself doing the same thing too.
~ R. Halford et al, 1980

It always gets under my skin that my local grocery store has two camera screens to deter shoplifting. The first is in the liquor aisle, which is fair enough, fine, whatever.

The second one, however, is in the baby supplies aisle. Absolutely go fuck yourself Kroger. This and the self-checkout that accuses you of stealing and calls an attendant if you rearrange your bagged groceries to fit on the stupid scale makes me wish there were better options where I live.

One thing about me is that if I see a customer pull out their hammer and break the glass deodorant safe, I pretend I didn't.

Next it will be curb pickup or delivery only. Customers won't be allowed in the stores at all.

And, as soon as they can, it will be robots in the stores filling orders.

If what I want to buy is under $200 and locked up, I usually go to another store to buy the item. I am not waiting for an employee to show up and unlock $200 item.

It often only takes a few months of huge losses in sales for the shelves to all be unlocked at a store.