AIBU to “steal” this?

[AmiABadPersonn]

Hello everyone I just want your opinions on this as today I’ve been in a heated argument with my friend as to wether I am unreasonable or not.

I am off work on maternity leave so the funds are tight at minute. There is a man who lives near me I believe he is drug user, he sells half price stuff and also takes orders on what you want for half price. He knocks on my house about 1 or 2 times a week with a bag of half price goods. I always buy washing detergent and softeners from him because you can get a whole weeks laundry of the nice brands for around £10. Money is tight as I have just had a baby and I have 2 other children with my husband also. i also sometimes get baby milk formula from him if I’m running low because it’s cheap.

I feel like this is not wrong because if I didn’t buy it other people would. Even if no one bought it he would steal it anyway in hopes someone would buy it eventually.

Today my friend was at my house when he came so I offered her to have a look what he had. She immediately asked him where he got this stuff from and he replied “shop”. She didn’t say much after but when I finished buying my items she started shouting about how I’m funding his drugs addiction and I shouldn’t support it because I am now stealing too. I told her to relax it’s fine it’s only a couple of items. She didn’t say much and finished her coffee and left quick.

So am I morally wrong for this? Or would you do the same?

100% I can't stand all the pearl clutching around this. The supermarkets are the real thieves, their prices are absolutely insane and they ought to have been curtailed.

No pearls being clutched. Theft is theft. No excuses.

I have worked in retail and the shit that the staff get when trying to stop shoplifters is appalling. They are abusive, violent and vile. I have had bottles thrown at my head, milk chucked at me so it burst and went all of me, spat on and called all sorts of names.

If you want to support someone like that, its up to you but, like your friend, I would be reconsidering our friendship on the back of it.

Also you are fucking STUPID to buy baby milk from this lowlife.

I wouldn’t buy it - there are other options.

We had a relative that has been attacked in a supermarket during a theft and one night locking up threatened with violence - there is no support form supermarket bosses - other than you need to help stop shoplifting but don’t get yourself hurt.

You are feeding and supporting a drug addict- that could when your child grows up one night be provided drugs from? Would you be happy knowing your actions kept him in business?

The profits from supermarkets is not nice to read & the way they treat farmers is completely wrong.

I try to think of the bigger picture - it isn’t just a big chain loosing a little bit of profits - it’s the security guard at risk from being attacked, it’s the manager trying to make sure staff are safe in their shop. it’s a drug dealer being kept in business :(

he sells half price stuff and also takes orders on what you want for half price

Ffs he's not Tesco.com. so you're happy to fund a junkies habit and have him steal to order for you.

You know fine well it's morally wrong. N9 wonder your friend reacted as she did

OP, as a Mum, I worked to pay nursery fees and put clothes on child's table and shoes n clothes on his back. It's not hard.

As long as you don’t go running to the police when he ( or someone like him ) breaks in and steals your kids Christmas presents. ( although I expect someone else will be benefit from the windfall so that’s ok)

It is hard. But it's what needs to be done

How would you feel if you had things stolen and other people were buying them?
At the moment it may be shops he is stealing from (which is bad enough) but if he gets desperate enough he will steal from cars, backyards and maybe even houses.
What you are doing is very wrong

Because not all is as it seems with in society, some things are widely unbalanced and unfair. He’s just like a modern day Robin Hood.. albeit was a crack habit. I care more that people have to resort to this to meet their needs or are trapped in the relentless cycle of poverty. I’d say that’s a pretty decent way to view it, not a sterile black and white/good and bad scenario

When the PS2 came out DS wanted one for Xmas (that year no one could get them) and then DH came home and said that his mate could get us one if "You are happy to profit off someone elses misery" (DH's words). He told his mate thanks but no thanks and backed right off this guy. Fairly sure it wasnt him doing the thieving but you never know and as ex said, if he will do it to someone else, he will do it to us. Who was to say we wouldnt pay for a stolen PS2 and then, because they knew where it had gone, it wouldnt get re-stolen from us and there would be nothing we could do as we would have been knowingly handling stolen goods.

Yeh, neither do I.

But I actually have heard of someone buying laundry powder from a neighbour for cheap though.
It was in a really rough area and dealers used to get people (usually innocent kids) to deliver drugs to people’s flats hidden in a bag at the bottom of the box under the powder, saying will you drop this up to number whatever and I’ll give you a quid. One of the people buying from them used to then sell on the washing powder for cheap to his next door neighbour. Whenever anyone mentioned it it was in disbelief that anyone was so desperate for laundry detergent that they buy it in that way, but at least it kind of made sense because it he was selling it extremely cheap.
I wouldn’t buy anything stolen from anyone anyway but I definitely wouldn’t be getting regular deliveries of any sort from someone on drugs. I’d be terrified of my house getting turned over by the police.

So it's ok if we all go and start just fucking helping ourselves? How do you think that would work?

How does anyone know on this thread whether or not the scumbag is stealing from large supermarkets?

I have no time whatsoever for thieves!

Another one who doesn’t understand how your laundry costs a tenner a week!! I buy Surf, my lb wets the bed every bloody night so I wash everyday plus my daughter likes to wear 14 outfits a day, and I spend max a fiver a week (if that) and I buy my laundry stuff from Morrisons or The Range. It doesn’t seem you’re saving money this way.

I'm not the Op, I was replying to a reply on my comment that I spend about the same

One post op to 🎣 out all those people who will justify crime because it’s baby formula. Straight out of social media wannabe commentators handbook that.

Let’s just ignore the serious crimes linked to drugs. I can see it worked.

So what happens when you don't want to buy half price goods from your front door any longer?

Very well said.

OP, what kind of society do you want to live in? And what is your part in it?

i dont advocate stealing but i can understand why people think differently when its survival

I’d be embarrassed if one of my friends was doing this & I’d react in the same way as your friend. Encouraging a drug addict & thief to regularly call at your home is crazy & asking for trouble.

As a former criminal defence solicitor I would confirm that what you are doing is committing the offence of handling stolen goods. courts view handling as more serious than the actual theft as it creates a market for stolen goods.

This! And, your selfishness is pushing up the price of things like baby formula in the shops, for the rest of us honest folk. Supermarkets pass on their price increases to compensate for shoplifters.

Only it's not!

She wants "nice brands" of laundry stuff though...

Please can you elaborate on the £10 a week! If a tablet/capsule is 30p and you do 10 washes a week, that's still only £3.

And scent booster maybe 20p a wash. So another £2. Fabric softener maybe 6p a wash. So 60p.

So that's £5.60. Then maybe a stain remover, some of that anti bacterial stuff. A Calgon.

I've just about made it to a tenner!