Subject:
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Re: The Free Super Chiefs
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 21 Mar 2002 19:03:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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430 times
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Dave Schuler wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Koudys writes:
>
> > Beyond that, the idea that S@H sent an extra package does not constitute as
> > stealing,
>
> As a hypothetical example, if you had ordered $1000 worth of LEGO and it
> was delivered to me in error, would you accuse me of stealing if I kept it
> and didn't pay for it? Or how about if I saw three Super Chiefs sitting on
> a delivery cart and I helped myself to them? How would that be tangibly
> different?
In the first example, if the item was addressed to you, it would be the
same. See below for analysis. If it was not addressed to you, then
keeping it is stealing. This is different in a material way. Helping
yourself to three off the delivery cart is also stealing, and worse than
keeping a wrong delivery.
> > For me, tho, I would have called S@H and mentioned that they sent me these 3
> > for free, and I would be willing to pay for them. Not only 'cause of my
> > Christian values (it wasn't stealing but I'd still feel guilty)
>
> According to every formal discussion of Christian values I've ever heard
> regarding "thou shalt not steal," the situation described would certainly be
> stealing, as much as accepting too much change from a cashier or failing to
> report that your gas meter only records half your usage. If you got
> something to which you aren't entitled and/or for which you didn't (but
> should have) paid, you've stolen it.
If it was delivered by the USPS, you are by law allowed to keep it if
you did not order it. Since they only tried to order three, not 6, the
2nd three were not ordered. I think one can assume similar rules for
other delivery services.
Now it may be nice to attempt to pay for, or return, the item (but I
would almost never suffer any expense for doing so, TLC is a big boy and
they can take care of themselves) but I would feel no obligation to do
so. In the case of S@H, I would be inclined to attempt to correct the
mistake since I care for the company, but this would be a favor on my
part. If they sent me a letter with a return postage card, or something,
explaining the mistake and requesting I return the item, I would be
happy to return the item, even to a company I felt much less sympathy
for.
I had a similar situation back when I was upgrading to Windows 3.1. I
had received my Windows 3.0 free with a mouse, and the mouse company
sent me a card for a $30 upgrade to 3.1. I ordered the upgrade, and
waited, and waited. My credit card was billed. Finally, I called the
company to complain, and demanded they send it Fedex. They refused. I
asked for a supervisor. He refused. I asked for a supervisor at which
point they explained they were a fulfillment company, and referred me to
a person at the mouse company (apparently they had been overwhelmed with
upgrade orders and contracted out to a fulfillment company so they could
actually get the things out).
I never got the upgrade shipped Fedex. Over the next week, three
upgrades arrived at my door (fortunately UPS left them at my door,
besides having had to wait so long, I also hated getting delivery by UPS
because they often never left a note on the door, and cost at least an
hour of my day to go pick things up from [of course I recently noticed
that now Fedex packages to me would have to be picked up at a Fedex
office in the same annoying location, as opposed to the location they
used to use for everything which was handy to work]). Due to the hassle
they put me through, I felt no obligation to notify them of their error.
I was concerned about getting billed three times, but I found two
friends willing to pay $10 (1/3 the price) on the condition that if I
did get billed, they would pay me the additional $20. Having done that,
I would have happily paid the bill had it ever arrived.
Frank
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: The Free Super Chiefs
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| (...) Darn. Good points. After I posted, it occurred to me that my analogy was flawed, but it was too late. (...) Legally, sure. But the issue was "is it stealing based on Xian values?" and I think it fairly clearly was. Dave! (22 years ago, 21-Mar-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: The Free Super Chiefs
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| (...) As a hypothetical example, if you had ordered $1000 worth of LEGO and it was delivered to me in error, would you accuse me of stealing if I kept it and didn't pay for it? Or how about if I saw three Super Chiefs sitting on a delivery cart and (...) (22 years ago, 21-Mar-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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