Why shoplifting is bad

Photo by Brittani Burns on Unsplash“Shoplifters of the world/ Unite and take over” — The Smiths“When she wants something, man, she don’t wanna pay for it” — Jane’s AddictionSeven years ago, when I wanted some toothpaste, I would walk down to my local Walgreens, grab a box of Crest off of the shelf, pay for it at the register, and walk home with it. Today, when I want some toothpaste, I open up Amazon.com and buy it in bulk. What changed? Amazon was just as good in 2019 as it is today. But now, when I walk into Walgreens, the toothpaste is locked behind a clear plastic case. In order to buy it, I have to call a store employee over to open the case for me. That’s just too much of a hassle; the convenience of being able to walk into a store is canceled out by the inconvenience of having to stand there waiting for a human being to help me buy a goddamn tube of toothpaste.People argue about whether there was really a nationwide epidemic of shoplifting in the U.S. in the early 2020s, and…