AIBU to “steal” this?

these comments are making me laugh! some mumsnet users love the ‘i’m better than you’ stance while in reality im sure if they were offered a bargain (fenced or not) would take it.

you are completely right he would sell it to someone else if you weren’t buying, he would just become more desperate and sell it for cheaper.

@MartyFunkhouser
This is very commonplace, order to shoplift, available in many local
pubs, not every one lives in London in their cosseted life.

Times are hard for everyone right now. Struggling to make ends meet. I went on the game but I know that it is not for everyone

Depressingly, this sort of theft to order is all too common. Supermarkets are mostly helpless in the face of it as it’s not worth a poor security guard getting stabbed over.

If you want formula at our local co op you have to get it from the kiosk!! We've got cheese locked in plastic boxes which are unlocked at the till.

OP you're funding someone drug habit, encouraging them to steal, handling g stolen goods, being part of the reason everyone else has to pay higher prices in supermarkets and happily justifying ot as ok because he steals from Asda and not small businesses..what of he decided it was OK to burgle you because it was better than stealing from the lady down the road who could only afford non branded laudery products?

And by the way he's ripping you off on the cost of laundry products

But she wouldn't be short anyway because this is crap she doesn't need. That was my point. Nobody needs fabric softener or scent balls. I have never used that stuff and my laundry is still clean.

She literally says in the first post that she knows it's stolen. So that's not buying "in good faith" by anyone's definition.

Theft from shops puts the prices up long-term.
Plus you're encouraging him to steal - if nobody bought stuff from him, there would be no point in him stealing.
Plus by buying from him you're enabling his addiction as your money becomes money to buy drugs.

This thread is maddening. Those handful of people that agree with OP because it’s stealing from big supermarkets, even though that price is passed on to the customer (consumerism), as some sort of fuck you to the man are the same people buying into consumerism 101 - laundry balls. These things are a relatively new product to the market, maybe 5 years? So a few years ago P&G/Unilever execs thought to themselves how can they make more money and someone came up with laundry balls.

P&G/Unilever then paid a marketing agency a small fortune to convince people that your clothes being in a continuously moving drum of warm water and soap for an hour isn’t enough to clean them, so buy this product that literally washes away to make it smell fresher longer. But P&G/Unilever didn’t mind lying the small fortune because they knew they’d get that money back on spades because people are gullible, so they bought it. Not thinking about the chemicals on theirs and their children’s skin or that it’s washing these chemicals into a river (because if water companies can’t deal with shit, which can be broken through organic processes, they definitely can’t deal with these chemicals). Then to get even more money, they sent the products to influencers who make content (to get paid) putting these pointless chemical balls you literally wash away into glass containers in their utility. And people watch it and think “I want to have the all white utility and the glass jars and the laundry balls are a must”.

If you want to stick it to the man, stop buying (or stealing) stuff like this. One of the clearest examples of consumerism I can think of. Don’t endorse stealing, those costs are passed on to customers and it’s retail workers on low incomes that have to deal with shoplifters. The logic is so flawed but I guess anything to justify the behaviour.

You know it's wrong.

I personally don't think you have a moral dilemma here. You buy in good faith. Not as if you're doing anything wrong. Carnal lust, sins of the flesh etc. are an entirely different matter

She didn’t say she can’t afford it, she said things are tight

And if things are tight, you don't buy pointless shit like scent balls!

@MartyFunkhouser unfortunately this is actually standard practice in some areas! Mainly council estates in low income areas! Have you never watched Shameless? 🙈🤣

She didn’t say she can’t afford it, she said things are tight. If she’s willingly and knowingly buying stolen goods from a drug addict she didn’t have much of a moral compass to start with.

and you'll be whining when they start shoplifting etc as teenagers.

No she won't. She will be giving them "shopping" lists.

In what sort of den of iniquity do you reside where residents give actual shopping lists to the local junkie for him to steal to order?

I call bullshit.

I know perfectly well that to 'receive' stolen goods is considered by the courts as more serious than shoplifting - and you will get a longer prison sentence. As to the rest, one should not judge people one does not know. OP's friend knows nothing of the door-to-door salesman except that OP says he is a drug user (she thinks). He may be running a small business for all anyone knows. So, yes, I stand by what I said insofar as I will not judge someone I do not know.

To be fair to the OP, poor people will often make poor financial decisions. When funds and education are both limited, they will often make decisions that offer short term gain over a long term benefit. And they’re not going to save $ for something substantial rather they’ll buy cheap and often. Hence buying rubbish like overpriced laundry scents and tinned baby milk every week from the local dealer.

I think you are mixing up the OP with her friend.

If you're hard up then of course buy it. If you're not, then don't. I admit to doing the same in the past but was young and naive at the time. When someone told me he was stealing them, I stopped buying razor blades from him.

What actually even is a scent ball?

I'm astounded anyone could spend that much on laundry. If money's so tight you are struggling to buy formula, ditch the softener, stain remover and scent balls!

Yeah, thinking about it, only a male wouldn't know how much laundry you can do for £10.

I can't get past you thinking £10 a week on detergent is cheap. How many loads do you do, for goodness sake?

yup, I did report but MN have left it up