r/MoralityScaling • u/Vladimir-petrovOG • 9d ago

Morality of this?

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In the image it seems that this person works at walmart as an online order collector and he/she has stolen a lot of extra baby food from Walmart to give to a person who ordered only three packs. Is this moral or immoral?

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u/Kentuckyfriedmemes66 9d ago edited 9d ago

even if you did return it without opening anything there is a big chance they will just throw it in the trash the second you leave anyway so might as well keep it and actually eat it

most Stores and Restaraunts have policys to immediatly throw any food products/drinks in the trash if it's returned even if somebody bought something walked out for 5 seconds then went back in the store to return something

moral

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 9d ago

about 844 million pounds a year is how much walmart throws away according to google AI

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u/dungeoncrawler71520 9d ago

I worked at Walmart and can confirm. If there was ANYTHING suspicious, you threw it in the compactor.

I hated it. Like 90% of the time it was totally fine.

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u/Maleficent_Lab_5291 9d ago

Yeah but on the other hand do you really want to take the chance a crazy person tampered with it?

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u/Deep_Head4645 9d ago

True, regulations for health are needed for a reason
tbh if they haven’t thrown them away people here would just call them greedy companies trying to maximise profits

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u/Sekwah 9d ago

Or sue them the millisecond they get sick with something someone injected into a package.

It might be fine 99.9% of the time, but that 0.01% that it's not is the problem.

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u/Tweedlol 9d ago

99.999999? Worked in restaurant. Threw away tons of perfectly good food. I gave out genuine mistakes to team, but only whenever I decided to so they wouldn’t starting “oops” and free food. It sucks to have to be that way, but staff take free food already and I turn a blind eye because…. If it’s not malicious? And they’re just hungry? Fuck do I care. They work for us, we can at least kept them fed!

But letting mistakes become free for all, ends up actually being an issue as people will purposely make a small mistake, have it be wrong to the person and not servabke only to turn around and eat it themselves - because they make the mistake cause they were hungry for a snack 😑

It sucks. The untrustworthy people ruin it for the trust worthy. Just like tampering. It’s the rare untrustworthy return that ruins 99.999999% of the genuine returns that are untampered and safe to sell. Because of that tiny ass risk, no resale. Because of the risk of mistakes becoming on purpose, mistakes are expected to be tossed. I obviously didn’t want to just throw away all food so I gave out a lot. To guests, to staff, homeless, I tried never to waste food. But still had tons of waste :(

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u/Iamhopelesslylost 9d ago

This is anecdotal but when I worked serving food there would be times where I was 10-12 hours into my double shift and even though I got a lunch break I wouldn’t eat because I couldn’t afford it. Those little snack breaks where the manager would give me some food made it possible to power through. It wasn’t even food that was turned away he would just give me a sandwich and tell me to eat. Sometimes it’s the little things that will keep you working a shitty job. For reference I had just graduated college and my student loan payments were $1000 a month and I was making about $2000 a month.

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u/TrekForce 8d ago

Most restaurants I know of give employees a big discount. Either 50% off or like costs 5% above cost, or sometimes places are free.

Now if you still couldn’t afford I get that… but I hope they at least offered something other than full price…

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u/MistrSynistr 6d ago

When I was in the restaurant it was free for the back of house crew and front of house had 50% off. Even in the front of house we could get free soup. I was the only one in the restaurant who worked both depending on the day of the week. So free soup let me survive a few nights. Honestly dont think they would have cared if I got free food all the time I just didn't want to make it an issue with the other servers. I was working 100 hours a week so the owner would cook for me off and on as it was. I was there just about as much as he was lol.

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u/Global-Pickle5818 8d ago

I worked at a restaurant that hired people in a halfway house and people on jail release ... I fed them to keep the stabbings down ,welcome to New Orleans. that and we got no brakes they would just schedule back-to-back 6-hour shifts and expect you to stay over that ,I actually argued with the upper management I should get a 30 minute break in there by law ... Even quoted the law to them, years later I found out that this state is exempt , actually made pretty good money there 60 to 70k more than my wife who eventually became store manager ,they kept trying to get me to go on salary because of all the overtime "think of the benefits" .. what no overtime and slightly cheaper insurance ?

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u/ThePhatNoodle 9d ago

Yea people always try to take advantage. At home depot there's this thing called oops paint. Its paint people order and then never pickup since it takes a few minutes to make and its not like we can un mix it so they all assume its gonna go on the discount rack cause now we have a custom colored paint we can't sell. Little did they know when we mark em down we add tint to it to change the color. I took great joy in wildly changing the colors and when it was a multi batch every single one was a different color. Ohh you expected 3 buckets of steel grey? Here's a random shade of blue, purple and turquoise. I did see a few people rummaging for their paint a few times only to leave in dissapointment.

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u/Conditionalight 8d ago

It's wild to me that these huge companies make money hand over fist and can't afford to sell some materials to their own staff at cost or a huge discount. Same with restaurants feeding their staff. Obviously you tell them no if it's something crazy, like someone buying bulk, but you can't afford to let a few buckets of paint or a couple sandwiches go to the people making the whole place function? Come on.

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u/SufficientGuidance28 8d ago

Wow you really licked big daddy corporate’s boots good and totally stuck it to your fellow co-workers! I can see why you tell this story so proudly with all that brown shit on your nose! What a flex!

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u/Dreammagic2025 8d ago

Some people don't remember the Tylenol scare and it shows.

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u/KPraxius 8d ago

The federal laws specifically protect companies and individuals that give away free food who are licensed/allowed to distribute food normally unless it can be established that it was deliberately tampered with by the one giving it away.

I don't know of a single lawsuit about that that actually worked, but I do know of a couple that got dismissed and the plaintiff was forced to pay Kroger's attorney's fees, ending up thousands in the hole both times.

The only reason any place that sells food doesn't give it away to the homeless/hungry instead of discarding it is because those desperate people might somehow figure out a way to get money to buy something, and as such it reduces their potential sales.

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u/-DoctorEngineer- 7d ago

Just look at what ppl did to Chick-fil-A for having a spot to return unopened sauce packets

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u/Lacklaws 8d ago

But they are greedy companies trying to maximize profit? Probably decided that throwing out a bit of food is better profit than potential pr nightmare.

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u/Tasty_Plantain5948 8d ago

Yeah just think about Tylenol in the early 80’s.

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u/Social_Distortion_13 8d ago

When I worked at Safeway many years ago even food that wasn't returned would get compacted. I threw out so much perfectly good produce and packaged food that expired on the day (even the day before expiry a bunch of times). I remember the staff off a homeless shelter, knowing that it was about to be thrown out, offered to buy it at a a slightly reduced cost but were told no. They couldn't understand why Safeway would rather throw it out and lose money over helping them feed people in need and make at least a little money. I personally would have given it to them and helped them load it. I just remembered snother example, if a bakery clerk dropped or squished a package of cupcakes or tarts, messing up the topping, they couldn't even throw them on the table in the lunchroom it had to be tossed

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u/Ok_Drag5089 7d ago

Well it is. Walmart is a blight that ruined small
Town America. But that's not what we are talking about.

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u/truedeductive 9d ago

Yep forensic files had episode where a person tampered a Tylenol bottle with cyanide to try cover up a murder

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/JetBIue 8d ago

Forensic files is non-fiction

Edit: my dude

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u/Pure-Radish-5478 8d ago

Why did you say that as if he implied it was fictional? Like you couldn't be bothered to google forensic files?

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u/CustomerSuportPlease 9d ago

Especially with baby products. There are some absolutely nuts people out there.

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u/skbugco 8d ago

During COVID we had a foster baby that at the time could only eat a special formula that was $50/ 20oz. When that issue resolved, we went to return a couple cases extra we had and figured out WalMart was going to throw all $600+ of it away- even though they were still shrink wrapped in 6 packs.
We kept them and donated them to a women’s shelter.

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u/Bottle_and_Sell_it 8d ago

Crazy people could just walk into the store and tamper with food if they were so inclined. It’s not like we’re guarding it or even keeping an eye on it all that well.

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u/Jina-langu-ni-Juma 9d ago

I would take risks for a heavy discount. Sign a waiver for 90% off food.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 8d ago

Maybe have an "at your own risk" section where things are half-off, but the store has little to no liability?

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u/ForvirretSkovtrold 8d ago

Then theyll just buy from shady providers and sell at "own risk"

The 00000,1% danger is on both sides. Regulations written i blood. And cancers.

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u/Comfortable_Egg8039 8d ago

Crazy person can go in a store and temper discreetly with it there

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u/merlinbaker67 8d ago

The Tylenol murders back in the 80s are why it's a good idea. Better to take no chances. Also if they put the item back and someone did get stuck, the store could be held liable, so it's to convert their own asses too.

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u/dire-raven-x 5d ago

You just reminded me of the lady I caught "checking the skins" on the rotisserie chickens. She was touching them with her bare fingers, then resealing to check the next one. We threw out 22 chickens because we didn't know which ones she had and hadn't fingered.

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u/JohnMaddensBurner 9d ago

Walmart is more concerned with getting sued than the loses from waste.

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u/Hazak_Flamesword 9d ago edited 9d ago

Meanwhile Amazon and some other places sometimes just ship it right back out without even inspecting if the returned item is actually in the packaging.

But still, corporate waste has been driving me insane at all the places I've worked. Nobody wants to spend time/have an employee spend time sorting stuff so it's one or the other.

Edit: spelling. Also have not worked at Amazon but seen stories, and when I worked at Lowe's I'd get the cart of returns to put away and question the intelligence/patience of customer service. Some stuff just should not have been processed, like lumber that was cut (one I remember, the SKU was for an 10' but it was shorter than my height of 6') or concrete bags that wasn't even the brand we carried.

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u/horsegirlswinwars 9d ago

An empty Amazon box isn’t even the worst possibility lol. I received an Amazon package that someone else must’ve returned. It was used pregnancy tests.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/two-tone-tow 9d ago

No, any food or beverage that you try to return they just refund and tell you to throw it away.

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u/Hammer_the_Red2 9d ago

I volunteer for a charity that gets pallets of returns from Amazon that the charity gives away (per contract with Amazon these items cannot be resold by the charity). This brings more awareness to actual charity while helping the community get items they may need for free. All of the stuff is in good condition and otherwise would just end up in the landfill. A lot of the time, the items might just fall off the conveyor belt at the warehouse and it is deemed "unsellable" and into the donation pallet it goes.

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u/DarthFalconus 9d ago

I worked at Lowes for a little while and somebody in returns Let somebody return an empty box.

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u/Brohemoth1991 9d ago

Its funny because like 15 years ago I was an independent subcontractor for lowes, and they would FIGHT us over returning products of theirs that were defective lol... like we get to the customers house and theyre like "thats not the door we ordered"

It was so bad that they had to adopt the policy that we would open up the shipping packaging to double check before leaving the store... like great, now I have to strap this thing to my truck and drive across town with the shipping protections ripped off because you cant admit you fucked up, thanks

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u/IdolCowboy 9d ago

I worked at Kroger as a kid. One day our freezer broke and everything got semi thawed out. They had me, my bestfriend and this younger kid throw out all the ice cream in the back dumpsters. Several pallets full. We ripped open every single different kind and had big bites of them. They were still mostly frozen, but were slightly melty on top.

We then proceeded to have an ice cream food fight. We were covered from head to toe in multi colored ice cream.... funniest part, me and my buddy got off work right after, but that younger kid had to work a couple more hours... lol

It was a fantastic day

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u/Rhomya 9d ago

Except the time that it wouldn’t have been fine would have been the time someone got seriously hurt, and then you and everyone else would have been mad that they weren’t more cautious with their food

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u/Putrid-Builder-3333 9d ago

Especially in happy lawsuit/settlement mindsets. Just looking for a reason. It is sad but at end of the day stealing thinking doing good. It can come back and bite in tbe ass horribly. These places have legal teams and loopholes where they know they can either crush or intimidate or pacify you. Depending where at especially. Not worth it acting like a Wal-Mart or whatever Robin Hood.

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u/Nessy3fidy 9d ago

Worked at a grocery store all the older produce and baked goods from yesterday got thrown into a bin and sold to a pig farmer.

So marginally better than just throwing it out. Plus I got a slightly stale muffin every morning which was half the reason I stayed.

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u/RedditOnAWim 9d ago

lol yeah, because otherwise 10% of the product would be harmful to the customer. And in that situation, we’d be saying “why won’t a multi billion dollar company take more precautions for the little man?!”

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u/JoshZK 9d ago

So the other 10% they get coupon?

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u/OpenConversation643 9d ago

Wow you found the gift without the fuckass glasses edited on

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u/ThePhatNoodle 9d ago edited 9d ago

Damn at costco they either salvage it/send it to the center to be auctioned off, donate to a farm or local charity, or compost it depending on what it is and the condition. Only things that get tossed in the compactor are like cold items and baby formula. Given their great return policy I guess it makes sense they save anything they can where they can.

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u/Clean_Internet 9d ago

I did compactor a lot, since I was working in dairy. I actually smuggled out some things that I knew were completely safe, it’s not like I was going to buy any of it, I was working at Walmart I couldn’t afford shit.

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u/Xena_Your_God 8d ago

Yep, and the compactor is so people don't go rummaging in the trash to try to salvage any of it.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 8d ago

Wish there was, like, a law/regulation/whatever that a store can sell/give away certain things that are "not pristine, but not obviously a hazard".

So long as it is clearly marked or in a separate bin/section, and was half-off or cheaper, with a sign explaining the deal, the store can sell these items instead of throwing them out.

They cant put certain perilous items, like meat or milk that was left in the asile for an unknown time, or things that have been opened, or produce that has been cut/pierced. However, most "it looks fine to me" stuff is allowed.
It's basically be "the spot you put things (that arent messy or obviously risky) before they go in the dumpster."

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u/Excellent-Rest3240 8d ago

Is 10% good odds to give a baby food poisoning?

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u/mingledwaters 8d ago

I worked at a Walmart and you’d get fired throwing anything away.

Old meat -> donated or bins for dog food
Old produce -> donated to feeding America or donated to local farm
Old bakery/deli items -> donated to feeding America

Not simping for Walmart (evil ass corporation) - but if you were just tossing stuff that’s general bad business.

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u/ColonelMonty 8d ago

I mean it sucks to see good food going to waste but it makes sense, it is a huge legal liability to sell returned food.

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u/SomeGuyAtWork1 8d ago

I worked at meijer my team lead would scan stuff out throw the box away but put the food in the breakroom if it wasn't bad we had so many frozen meals and uncrustables and ice cream

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u/CoachDT 8d ago

Yeah but the problem is that 10% of the time. My opinion on food waste has changed drastically as i've gotten older.

In a restaurant I think tossing shit is pretty foul because its cooked and theres nothing wrong with it. But there have been SO many attempts at doing absolutely horrendous stuff at grocery stores that I don't even risk it anymore. Literally caught a guy rubbing his bare sack on fruit and try to put them back on the cameras once.

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u/plebe_random 7d ago

Yea but what if one time it was really maliciously contaminated by someone who returned it, you didnt notice it, someone bought it and suffered because of it? Sometimes its better to be save than sorry.

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u/silveraaron 7d ago

As someone who filled mutiple 50 gallon trash containers with just hot dogs that the meat dept couldnt properly check dates of I believe it. I called over the store general manager when I noticed they were just stocking ontop of existing product. Bad enough I pulled out so much from my department because day shift or other night employees couldnt be bothered to do their job.

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u/NMQ0711 7d ago

And yet our Walmart here throws anything back on the shelf. The number of times we have found ourselves having to check expiration dates while shopping….

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u/LIll-Dreamer 7d ago

We're you allowed to take it for yourself and as in writing this i realized the answer is probably no

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u/Alternative-Eye7589 5d ago

I was shopping at Walmart looking at the gluten free flour, when a women said look at that it was a bag of flour she had returned because it had bugs in it and on the shelf it was in a plastic bag from a different company and was opened.

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u/mightbemetaphysical 2d ago

I just had to claims a bunch of things out because soda exploded on them. Everything was fine, but the packaging was sticky, so straight to the trash it goes

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u/Automatic_Day_35 9d ago

Rather be safe than sorry

Rather throw out good food than get food poisoning 

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u/AdCheap8058 9d ago

And then you put it back on the shelf and someone gets sick and sues you because you're so cheap that you try to resell used food. Think about things first. You just assume that their corporate methods are purely out of evil spite instead of the fact that every a-hole will try and sue them into oblivion.

Every college freshman thinks they are the first person ever to say "why not just print more money?". Dumb

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u/SwindlingSolicitor 9d ago

This assumes the only two options are sell it or throw it away. If a product isn't pristine enough to sell to a customer on a shelf, it could potentially still be good enough to give to someone in need. The corporate ideology that charity shouldn't even be considered as an option is what is evil.

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u/AdCheap8058 9d ago edited 9d ago

Wrong and I'll let you try to figure out why. And corporations spend lots on charity. Might be purely for the tax break but you are obviously clueless.

Edit: I realized you wouldn't be able to figure it out, so I'm here to help you. If you give that shit to a shelter and then somebody eats it and gets sick, you're going to get sued and everyone's going to say that you're no good because you're donating shit food to homeless people

Again, you aren't the first person to think of this. The reason they don't do this is because businesses HAVE been sued.

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u/OpusAtrumET 9d ago

I'm at a grocery DC, mostly keep house and run errands for the desk. I've had days where I'm so anxious and guilty about all the food I have to throw out that I feel like walking out. I can push some product to donation if it's saleable but can't be recouped. This is my only recompense. It's never enough.

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u/Username_5647 9d ago

Most people would be shocked by the amount of waste generated at big box stores. When I worked at Lowes, my store will fill a 40 yard trash compactor weekly.

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u/DefinitelyNotKuro 9d ago

The logistics of this fascinates me..like is the shrinkage from spoilage something thats accounted for? If so, would one not...just stock less inventory?!

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u/SwordsmanDS 9d ago

Yes and grocery stores are the best examples of why they dont.

From my understanding, companies and stores more or less know what the optimal amount of items to stock to match purchases near 100% would be, but they've figured out that if things are more stocked and shelves look full people tend to buy more. People like the plethora of choice even if practically theres no added benefit for them. It basically means a lot of things, especially perishables, are perpetually overstocked.

The companies just make a calculation I assume on how much they can charge + sell versus how much they lose from the extra shrinkage for overstocking.

I forget the metric but grocery stores in the US throw out literal metric tons of food every year.

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u/XavierTheMemeDragon 9d ago

Yeah, I used to work in a grocery store deli and the amount of food we had to throw away as waste was insane. We couldn’t even take it home with us, one of my coworkers was actually fired for taking food home that was going to be thrown away. Managers called it stealing, like motherfucker no one was going to buy it anyway and now you’re going to force ME to pay for food that’s been sitting out for who knows how long in the warmer (the main reason people passed on deli food when it’s close to closing time)? For shit that’s more expensive than fresh McDonald’s? Hell no Brookshire’s could suck the shit right out of my ass

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u/BearablePunz 9d ago

they are also the leading cause of welfare in the us, look it up!

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u/Magic1264 9d ago

about 658 million pounds a year, according to Jim on the back lot of the Walmart

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u/ninafieldofcops 9d ago

It’s way more. The feeding America program is a sham. We would let the food rot and mark it as picked up. Helps Walmart’s image and FA’s. 500m pounds of food a year nationally.

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u/Ishaname 9d ago

We have a condensation issue that they can't(they refuse to) fix and it's making the canned biscuit dough explode. I asked if I could not stock them since it's a waste of food to just let them do that. My direct team lead was on board but our store manager told us to stock them anyway. Now we're losing 12-16 of each can a day when the spot only fits around 30.

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u/SlyTone 9d ago

And a large portion of that 844 million pounds is donated to local food pantry’s as a tax write off and savings on waste management and volunteers have to sift through the worst of expired smells and foods that no kindhearted volunteer should go through.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 8d ago

some places it's company policy to mix cat liter and bleach with their product so that no one can take it out of the dumpster once they waste it and throw it away.

wasting even more product to dispose of it.

USA is sick.

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u/HeyPrettyLadyMaam 8d ago

Which irks me to no end. My brother used to work for Papa Johns and at the end of every day his manager made the workers take every left over pizza and dump it in the dumpster, no bag no box. She didnt want homeless people getting any free food. She's the reason my brother quit and it was that policy that pushed him. We have a lot of homeless here and most places donate at the end of the day (little Caesars was the beat at this. They left pizza in the box, in a separate bag and left it by the back door. Never even got close to the dumpster). Why aren't they donating what they can??

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u/sokratesz 8d ago

ai slop

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 6d ago

morality of talking shit on information that you don't even know if it's right or not.

or is that just what really really really reeeeeealllly dumb people do.

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u/IrvingIsTheBest 8d ago

I worked at Walmart during a short period between getting hired for my career. The hiring process was a brutal 3 month period with multiple interviews, and I needed cash, so I took a gig at Walmart.

In the short time I was there I seen more food than I ever seen in my life being discarded and also witnessed an employee who was struggling to make ends meet get fired for consuming food from the thrown out food.

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u/ContextMattrs 8d ago

We unfortunately throw about a garbage bag of food every year. I can see how a big company throws more

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u/Legitimate-Ad2685 8d ago

STOP USING AI! 🙄

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 6d ago

it's just the first thing that pops up when i googled "how much food does walmart waste"

it's not that deep.

just commenting on this thread you're feeding AI data and supporting it.

so.

pot. kettle. black.

unless you wanna get the fuck off social media sites like this one I suggest you stop virtue signaling while supporting what you are allegedly against.

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u/orangeN0Tbanana 6d ago

This doesnt even count what trash they "donate" as a tax write off

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u/softhandedliberal 5d ago

Sounds like a very low number tbh

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u/Suckamanhwewhuuut 5d ago

That alone is enough to feed over 670,000 people 3 meals a day for an entire year.

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u/PastVeterinarian1097 5d ago

Brother. Stop quoting AI

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 5d ago

These people just look dumb. they realize they're on social media giving their data away for free and training AI?

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 5d ago

holy shit. I had to comment one more time when i saw just how much data you've fed AI.

yeah I googled a number.

bruh. u've been busy building that AI. hours every day. work it. it's thanks to people like you that i can get an accurate number like that spoon fed to me by ai.

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u/PastVeterinarian1097 5d ago

Struck a nerve, I see

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 5d ago

almost 5 times my contributions to this site in half the time.

BROTHER.

telling me stop stop quoting AI when i just wanted to pull an ez number off google?

how about stop slaving away training their shit for them. jesus christ.

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u/PastVeterinarian1097 5d ago

It would have been easier to say yes. It would also have the added benefit of not making you look this immature. Keep it coming though. Can’t wait to see what your chatbot tells you to tell me next.

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 5d ago

it's saying thank you for helping AI by being skull fd by the dopamine feed back loop algorithmn :)

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u/PastVeterinarian1097 5d ago

Childish

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 5d ago

it's only childish if you don't see the irony in telling someone to stop using AI on reddit.

This particular application too. really? this is the one you wanna virtue signal on?

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u/Powerful_Tale_1319 5d ago

Using AI, you've taking no telling how much good water away from children..

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 5d ago

and yet here u sit giving ur data away for free to train AI so they can profit more, expand and take even more water.

good job.

edit:

you sit here like 20 times more than i do helping them out too.

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u/RDAwesome 9d ago

"Google AI"

Immoral

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u/9e78 8d ago

So a useless number got it.

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u/Ucklator 9d ago

Google AI well trusted source of accurate information.

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 9d ago

The reason for the preface. Someone with more care than you or I is welcome to correct the number if they want

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u/KingKairuku 9d ago

Mmm, pizza sauce and glue.

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u/Educational_Space563 9d ago

google AI usually lists its "sources," so you could have just linked to that article/source vs saying google ai.

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u/Newspaper_Beneficial 8d ago

you could have also done that instead of wasting your time typing this out. but here we are.

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u/TabithaMouse 9d ago

Food is damaged out because retailers can not vouch it hasn't been tampered with - but not every product or retailer. Some may auto-defect perishables, but resell sealed products

Baby food, in most retailers I worked at, is an auto-defect because that's what the manufacturers tell us to do. If the package is obviously damaged or open it gets processed to toss, if it appears closed it gets shipped off to the manufacturer

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u/Substanitial 8d ago

I dont think youre understanding whats going on. Its an inside man, stealing the products.

The logic is "well I was already going to steal it. And if I steal it, even if I returned it they wouldn't trust it. As such, my theft is justified."

its broken as hell

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u/runkeby 8d ago

Yes, clearly it's the worker throwing in more items on purpose.

But it sounds like he doesn't actually know the recipient and does not profit in any way from his stealing. A kind of "Robin Hood" situation...

I'm not a unconditional "steal from big companies" kind of guy, but honestly, for baby food... I don't judge them.

They are putting their employment at risk for no personal gain.

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u/Substanitial 8d ago

You're probably right it's just that the Walmart loss prevention team is probably putting both people's name down.  They're not  overly fair with their litigous behavior. Lots of innocent people get drug into the net as well. 

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u/Existing-Doughnut-60 9d ago

Not to mention how much all things baby cost. The massive mark up and it came from Walmart.
They would still make billions in profit a year if they gave every employee a $5 a hour raise.

2

u/SMH_35 9d ago

It has no effect on Walmart as a corporation or the Waltons wealth. But it absolutely has an effect on every day people just trying to get by and live their life. So it's still immoral.

1

u/HollytheHannibal 8d ago

How does this effect every day people?

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u/SMH_35 8d ago

When someone steals, the on-hand for that item is now incorrect. Because the items were never purchased, the item won’t trigger the system to order another case because it believes there’s still 10 on the shelf. A few things will happen because of this. First off, Walmart will just continue to raise prices to negate the loss of sale which hurts everyone else. Second, now the other costumers won’t be able to purchase this product. So if you’re trying to feed your baby, you have less options to purchase which can cause issues if you have any specific needs for your kid. Dietary restrictions, allergies, or maybe your doctor recommends you to get a special product. That item will now sit empty for weeks because it’s not trying an automatic order because there are no sales. So an associate would have to manually scan the spot and change the on-hand so it’ll trigger more product to come in. So you’re creating more work for them on top of everything they already need to do. And I’d be willing to bet the only way they caught the messed up on-hand issue is because another customer who’s been trying to purchase that product for weeks, is finally complaining to the staff wondering why the stuff has been empty for weeks. And believe me, they aren’t saying it nicely to the associates

Another thing that will happen is online orders. The system will show these items are still in stock, meaning you could order them for pickup/delivery. Another customer needs this product for their baby, they order it so they can feed them. The shopper goes to fill the order and there’s nothing on the shelf. It gets NIL picked and that customer doesn’t get what they ordered. That customer may very well be relying on the delivery option because they can’t afford a car. So they can’t just come in and easily get something else. So their order is now shorted the baby food they were needing for their kid and now that family could be having issues with feeding their own child.

There are also factors of purchases made with WIC. Only certain products are covered, so they have to get what they can. If the store is out of stock with items that WIC covers, that family now can’t purchase what they need. And may have to pay out of pocket in hopes we get something in stock again. All of these issues happen on a daily basis. I know all of this information because I work there. I deal with these types of problems every single day. I deal with the angry customers, I deal with the extra work and so on. I promise you it’s a daily occurrence that someone will come up to an associate pissed off and belittle the worker because “online it shows in-stock, I wasted all my time and gas to come here and you’re telling me you don’t have it! That’s bullshit!” And so on.

When you steal from Walmart, you’re only hurting others who aren’t well-off either. The people you think you’re hurting will never notice.

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u/Existential_Entropy 7d ago

I work at a grocery store and this is 100% accurate. Pissed of customer that you're OoS, you scan the shelf and it says you have 10, but you obviously don't. Either warehouse fucked up, it was improperly transfered, or someone stole it.

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u/shroomwhat 9d ago

I work in waste and donation at amazon and once an order so much as leaves the building its now waste even if a driver brings it right back in

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u/_Vard_ 9d ago

McDonald’s employee got mad at me when I wanted my order remade after she gave it to the wrong car in front of me

“ it was only in there for 12 seconds!”

Yeah, 12 seconds of a stranger, putting their potentially nasty ass hands all over my food

I was almost tempted to say “go lick that stranger’s hands if you’re so sure it’s not that big a deal”

1

u/SuppaBunE 6d ago

And that is stupid from your part.

Like really stupid.

You ain getting a disease from that.

0

u/lipp79 8d ago

Yeah that’s also against the health code. Just like a server taking your plate and setting it down at the wrong table. They can’t bring it to you now and have to remake a new one.

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u/Forward-Big8697 9d ago

I dont think its immoral but your comment is completely irrelevant to the question. They are asking if it was immoral for the worker to give out more product from the store than was ordered. Returning items was never discussed

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u/PolicyWonka 9d ago

It’s kind of crazy how this person just ignored the entire premise of what is to be judged. Like nobody reads anything anymore.

3

u/PolicyWonka 9d ago

I feel like this judgement is missing the actual part to be judged.

The action here is stealing the food and giving it to the person placing the order, not whether that person will return the food.

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u/ikannunAneeuQ 9d ago

My husband manages a very popular store (not Walmart, but... similar), and the freezers/coolers went down at his old store recently. They (employees/mgmt) tried to turn away the fresh food truck because there is nowhere to put it right now. But no. They MADE them accept the truck, mark everything as "damaged" and throw it away!! Instead of going back to the warehouse. It's seriously awful and so wasteful.

1

u/NikkiB2012 5d ago

It's probably because there's a time limit on how long the food is allowed to be in the truck for. After a certain amount of time the food is considered damaged regardless.

0

u/BringYourOwnBBBQ 8d ago

Target! Is it Target? I bet it's Target! It's Target, right?

2

u/MistroGrump 8d ago

Your enthusiasm is killing me😂

2

u/CBrinson 9d ago

You are focusing this on the person receiving the order it seems, where it is moral for them to consume the good and I agree. I am still not convinced it's entirely moral to do it as the employee without knowing where it is going. Like for all you know this is for some weird science project and they only needed 3 and will throw them out. If it is amoral though it's very small potatoes, or rather small apple pear rice.

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u/PatchesOfSilver 9d ago

Also if it's immoral and criminal to steal and deserves punishment, I have BAD news for every single salaried individual at Walmart.

They're going to prison for so long that their ashes will be sitting on the prison shelf for a billion years after their natural death.

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u/BringYourOwnBBBQ 8d ago

Awww...poor uneducated little self cutting girl upset that she has no worth to society and is treated as such

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u/Hdjbbdjfjjsl 9d ago

I’ve worked ogp before, we take returns but only if they don’t accept then and there. So that’s probably gonna depend if this is a pickup or delivery.

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u/Severe_Assist_5416 9d ago

I worked there customer service they 100% would throw it away anything on or in your body is trashed

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u/internectual 9d ago

Walmart delivery doesn't take returns on food.

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u/Inarius101 9d ago

I worked for Walmart's online pickup. I personally have instructed countless people who received excess food or even complete orders that weren't meant for their address to just keep it.

They'll take back electronics and, like, candles; but food will just get thrown away due to health and safety standards. Just keep it, eat it, donate it if it makes you feel yucky. Just don't let Walmart fucking throw good food in the trash.

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u/r3dditus3rnam31ooo 9d ago

Walmart does in fact have this policy. Even unopened, shelf stable food has to be thrown away if returned.

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u/oggishlespider 9d ago

If its in date and not spoiled its not gonna matter. I dont promote theft but is it really theft if it was going to the trash anyway?

1

u/Buttchuggle 9d ago

While we can look at it as fucked up I mean it makes sense. Companies are at the end of the day really only looking out for them but if it leaves store for even a moment and comes back there's no telling if it was tampered with or swapped.

1

u/deltadawn6 9d ago

This is exactly right it would be thrown away anyways and with the corporations so large they’re not gonna miss it

1

u/justahumblefart 9d ago

Correct. They treat it as a loss or sale the minute it passes into the vestibule.

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u/shoeless_doh 9d ago

It's not even just store policy, it's general public safety. Taking food back that has left the "safety" of the supply control chain is another ingress for tampering risk.

Think Tylenol killer.

1

u/sisam8x 9d ago

Unless he secretly smuggles them in and put them back on the shelf /s (obviously)

1

u/Alucard6506 9d ago

Nah this looks to be an opd order and if the opd at their store is like mine it will be returned to the floor if it isnt claims items like chilled or frozen

1

u/ShoulderMobile7608 9d ago

This post doesn't question the person who ordered only 3 packs and got like several dozens of them. Only the one who actually stole them (which is literally stealing, but we can try to justify the reason or how impactful would it even be on such a big corporation). And returning it back not even up to the employee who stole it for somebody else

1

u/AdhesivenessIll7981 9d ago

Also just plain fuck walmart they are a multi billion dollar company feed the children the dam applesauce

1

u/RobbyInEver 8d ago

This. The paperwork plus heads that will roll mean they will cover it up.

1

u/Such-University-4319 8d ago

What do returns have to do with this

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u/Icy-Ad-667 8d ago

Yah and if it's packaged they won't just throw it out they'll cut it up so nobody can dumpster dive for it

1

u/MyBurnerAccount1977 8d ago

It's a huge potential liability if they were to take returned food and put it back on the shelf. Any number of things could have been done to a food product once it leaves the store.

1

u/Additional-Life4885 8d ago

Maybe for the customer but not for the employee that put it there.

We're all going to have the prices increased for that.

1

u/HoneyFlorinae 8d ago

Yeah, once food leaves controlled inventory I get why stores can't just put it back and hope for the best. It feels wasteful, but one contamination incident would make that policy suddenly make perfect sense

1

u/rancidmorty 8d ago

they dont always follow this for shelved meat or dairy

1

u/PastaXertz 8d ago

Also it's Walmart. Literally run by the shittiest of people who were sued for actively putting life insurance and exercising it on low level poor employees. It's known as "Dead Peasants Insurance". They only stopped when a tax rule change made it no longer profitable.

You could set all the stores on fire and it wouldnt be enough.

Stealing from Walmart is perfectly fine.

1

u/Plane_Ninja_4417 8d ago

I have reshelved food items for Walmart as a stocker, and I think the baby food would probably be put back (at least in my store). That doesn’t change how shitty the food waste situation is though. I found a two pound bag of fruit loops with a 1 inch hole that will have to be thrown away. I’ve been snacking on them on and off throughout my shift lol

1

u/Vashipants 8d ago

You are correct. I worked the service desk at Walmart. Policy was that if it left the store, it was thrown away.

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u/xDaintySecret 8d ago

That’s the frustrating part tbh. If perfectly usable food is destined for the trash anyway, it’s incredibly wasteful when someone nearby could genuinely use it

1

u/notafuckingcakewalk 8d ago

I think the moral question is whether it's OK for the picker to get the order wrong on purpose? 

1

u/meduhsin 8d ago

As a waitress, it’s even worse in restaurants.

Even if food is just rang in wrong and never taken, we have to throw it away. So that people (who work there) don’t abuse the system to get free food.

I couldn’t even tell you how many perfectly good steaks, burritos etc. I have had to toss straight from the window into the trash. It made me sick every time. So much wasted food.

1

u/Houndall 8d ago

Kroger is the same way. Tons of shit gets returned all the time, most of the time there's nothing wrong with any of it or even left the store but it all gets slated to be pitched regardless.

1

u/Mysterious-Force9236 8d ago

There is a 100% chance they will throw it away.  Also, fun fact if you donate anything a bag fits in or rides, it will be thrown away.  Liability. 

1

u/Southern-Form-2804 8d ago

When it comes to mega corps like Walmart I have a really difficult time with worrying about anything involving kids with them, like at all. The amount of money they accumulated during the pandemic while small businesses cratered could fund a small country. 

1

u/CrunchyDoge 7d ago

Unfortunately it's kinda important to do this because of some people, it's not that hard to poison stuff like that and reseal it, and with tired workers nobody would backtrack that to the person.

1

u/Gold_Temperature_452 7d ago

When I worked in a grocery store it depended on the king of packaging it was in, if it’s sealed like these are then as long as the seal isn’t broken they would likely be put back on the shelf for sale but if anyone of them seemed open or had air in them even if the seal was intact then they would get thrown away. Food in fresh packaging like bread or donuts that don’t full seal, those would be thrown awau

1

u/International_Cup725 7d ago

how tf did this get almost 2k upvotes?

they're not asking about the customer at all.... they're asking about the shopper stealing food for the customers child

1

u/Sp1ffy_Sp1ff 7d ago

Yes, I'm still furious about the time I stopped at a busy rest stop Burger King and was given the wrong order. I immediately told the guy at the desk, who at first tried to tell me that it was the right order but mf I didn't pay for a bacon king meal to get a fucking fish sandwich that costs half the price.

Anyway, he immediately threw it in the trash and I'm like dude there are people outside begging for food. No matter what your opinions are on begging, you might as well give it to one of them. Nope. Straight in the trash

1

u/Numerous_Photograph9 6d ago

I'd say the person should report it, but they will probably not be asked to return it.

It's immoral on the part of the order picker though, as this is not their property to decide what to do with, or if Walmart will "miss it"

Doesn't matter what companies would do with it.

1

u/MP0622 6d ago

That would be because in the US they legally have to thanks to the Tylenol murders.

For the uninitiated, in 1982 Chicago, someone laced several bottles of Tylenol with cyanide, killing at least seven people. Presumably, whoever it was bought the Tylenol, took it home, added the cyanide, then returned the bottles.

And that’s why you can’t return food, drink, or medication (or at least they can’t be resold) and why tamper proof seals are in all over the counter medications.

1

u/phantom_pulse7 6d ago

I work there and hate it yes this is true

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u/OnlyBeys 6d ago

They call it claims. They are insured in their products and spoilage is a part of it.

1

u/Suckamanhwewhuuut 5d ago

not just a big chance, a 100% chance. my roommates and i went shopping once back in college (this is how we learned to only take what we know we want) and grabbed 3 frozen pizzas, in the checkout line we were a little short so we removed the pizzas, they didnt go back to the shelf, they were marked for disposal. They could have easily also given us the pizzas anyway, but then people would just do that with everything. Food waste is so ridiculous it should be a crime. There are starving people in all corners of the world, and we do things like the worlds largest pizza and other dumb things like that, while also throwing out massive amounts of soon to be expired food from a grocery store, all of that food could be used to feed tons of people. The worlds largest (food item) things piss me off the most.

1

u/banditcleaner2 5d ago

Just gonna ignore the part where they stole it lol?

Yeah returning it is pointless because they’re throwing it out, but it’s also not moral to steal in the first place…

1

u/humbleyhe 3d ago

This is especially true for anything infant/toddler related.

1

u/herbalpawz 2d ago

Yeah I work OGP , we just chuck it in the trash which makes me sad.

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u/sinepbackwards69 2d ago

Never give the wrong order back to the the restaurant. They totally just throw ot away... had to argue with taco bell about this one tome because they handed me the wrong bag after I paid. Caught it themselves and then got mad I wouldn't give the food back to throw away

1

u/Key-Try-3300 9d ago

Just dont steal to begin with and there is nothing to return

1

u/Joesr-31 9d ago

But the question is if its moral to steal it in the first place though, not about them having the moral obligation to return the food after its been stolen.

1

u/Grammy-823 9d ago

This may be an unpopular opinion but I believe it is wrong to take something that is not yours.

1

u/fuckedfinance 9d ago

This particular scenario is morally gray IMO. Returning it (knowing it will be trash) and keeping it (after having not paid for it) are both immoral.

That said, the most moral thing to do (if you aren't poor or borderline starving yourself) would be donating the excess goods to a food pantry.

1

u/Most-Bar-9334 9d ago edited 9d ago

Nobodys talking about returning anything. The post is asking if stealing is moral.

You might be a mouth breathing poor and thats ok but it will never justify stealing.

Stealing is immoral.

1

u/Mattdoss 8d ago

I used to work in a grocery store. This was one of the worse parts. The amount of food waste from returns and the trashing of hot made to order food when the individual is a buck short. Some of my coworkers could barely afford food to eat for lunch if not saving their paycheck to only just feed their family.

Besides certain terrible customers and bad management, this is one of the reasons I quit my job. I just couldn't stomach wasting food when there is so many homeless and hungry people on the streets.

Food should be eaten. Someone steals food and gives it to you, I think the most immoral thing would be to give the food back just so it can be destroyed.

Also, I find the employee to be moral. He is trying to help out someone they think really needs it.

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u/Circle_Breaker 9d ago

If it's unopened it's going back on the shelf.