Thieves rob Best Buy blind
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jun 22nd 2007 9:21AM
posted Jun 22nd 2007 9:21AM
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PWNED
awesome, best buy deserves it
This is really cool
Time to go get some Best deals on ebay.
They took 40 laptops. That's as many as four tens.
And that's terrible.
(sorry, 4chan joke, couldn't stop myself)
Learn the rules of the internet and lurk moar
CANCER THATS KILLIN /b/
OMG thats sweet, isn't that from the superman dictionary
Lex Luthor stole 40 cakes, thats as many as 4 tens.
And that's terrible.
Rules 1 and 2 is a 4chan reference based on the rules of Fight Club, a movie that came out 8 years ago, i.e., half a lifetime for most of the 4chan crowd.
Feh. Loved Fight Club but the whole "you do not talk about fight club" jokes were old in like 2000. gg, 4chan'ers.
I love when thieves are smart. I feel like anyone who gets away with a robbery, deserves to keep whatever they stole.
Because robbery is a victimless crime?
Well, if this had been an someone's house, I'd feel bad for them. But this is fricken Best Buy. Considering that best buy robs innocent customers every day, this just starts to make up for it. Maby these thieves are like the new robin hood (though I doubt they're giving the proceeds back to the real victims)
@steve
I'm sure you'll be happy when best buy raises their prices even further because they have to install more advance security systems into all of their stores, because of idiots like this who feel just because they're clever means they can steal property that is not theirs.
@ mike x
well apparently they are smart... they actually did steal it, not just think they can... and now it is theirs
and who gives a shit if best buy raises their prices... you can get a better deal on pretty much anything at B&H or like... the internet
@ Mike
No, because with all of the alarms, cameras, and other surveillance, it's hard to pull off a robbery of this magnitude anymore. It's at a major electronics chain, which has a mark-up on all of it's items, not to mention insurance to cover it all. If it was at someone's house, I wouldn't be happy. As a burglary victim, myself, it sucks, but for someone to be intelligent enough to do more than break a window, I give them credit.
@mike k and don't forget that they'll raise the cost of earning that measly $5 reward certificate from $250 to $500.
@ GalaXy
Well the clarification on the person vs faceless corporation is good to hear. But I still wouldnt go so far as to say they deserve the loot.
Whether Best Buy shafts it's honest customers or not, I still don't think it's justifiable. I just don't shop there.
I had the same conversation with my dad when I was about 20 about hacking:
"But dad, if someone is clever enough to hack around security systems, and they don't delete anything, what's the harm in that. I don't think it should be a crime"
My dad just couldn't grasp my point. "But it's not theirs to poke around in in the first place."
I still viewed the world as the little guy vs. the big corporation and if the little guy can stick it to the corp, the little guy should be rewarded.
Now that I'm older and actually have my own stuff, I realize naive I was. Look, the distinction between burglarizing a person's house and a big electronics store is... wait for it.... NOTHING. I have homeowner's insurance. I will be compensated if you come and take my stuff. But that doesn't make it ok! It's still my stuff in my house and you have no right to it. Just because "my house" in this case is best buy doesn't make it less of a social wrong.
I loved Ocean's 11 - 13 and appreciated the cleverness of their fictionalized heists, but at the end of the day, they are still committing a felony.
Lock 'em up.
-p-
I would feel bad if Best Buys's CEO's home was robed (or should i say one of his homes?) because thats his personal space, but Best Buy's prices are already set in order to forecast burglary, vandalism, and still make a profit, and if these things don't happen it just means more profit for Best Buy. I wouldn't go as far as to say the criminals deserve the loot but its hard to have a bleeding heart or feel outraged over what happened.
GalaXy @ Jun 22nd 2007 10:10AM:
As a burglary victim, myself, it sucks, but for someone to be intelligent enough to do more than break a window, I give them credit.
--------------
...but obviously not intelligent enough to get a real job.
And where does it say the thieves doesnt have a real job?
@ tekdroid
What? Where does it say anything about not having a real job?
I'm not in favor of theft. All I was saying was that to pull off a crime of that caliber, takes a lot of planning and, yes, some sort of, intelligence. Not to mention they were able to boost plasma TVs and 40 laptops. That is a lot of merchandise to grab in a relatively short amount of time.
They do have a real job:
selling stolen shit on ebay
George Clooney presents:
Oceans Electronics
"Prices so low it's criminal!"
exactly what i was thinking! sounds like Ocean's 11 except why not pick a better target? sounds like gadget freaks to me...
@ForumMaster
Thats just a warmup.
They needed the plasmas, laptops and money to organize and fund their next target.
actually they were just furnishing their hideout... think about it... best buy... office depot... ikea, you're fuck'd!
Maybe they are getting warmed up for the big Apple?
iPhone! hello!
Wow... that station even has their own "crime reporter." Oh wait... it's just their anchor.
I don't know why, maybe it's the fact that I worked at a BestBuy and know just how much they rob their customers, but I love reading this. Now if only these people could make their way to the store I worked at.
Oh, and BestBuy was pwn3d!!!
I feel that it's TOTALLY possible for an employee to be part of the team that robbed them. Think about it - in order to orchestrate it flawlessly they'd need to know what time to hit, where to deactivate the alarm, and how to move all the electronics out without getting caught.
Inside job ftw.
Great you really gotta love these guys stickin it to the man. Now maybe people can pay actual reasonable street prices for some good stuff. Come on, you know you want some deal where normally you pay sometimes up to 10x the price of actual cost and best buy does this. Have you seen ram or computer hardware prices at bestbuy 512mb is like 75-80 and a 8600gt is 200 while at newegg its as cheap as 19.99 for same amount of ram and 129 for the 8600gt and that shows you how much they inflate their prices..So the title of this should be BEST BUY GOT PWND BY THE LIL GUYS WOO HOO ... am i cynical or what lol...
What I've done is when I need something over the weekend, I it at BBY. Then order it from newegg on Monday and return the item I bought from newegg to bby once it arrives.
Um, yeah. Losing 40 laptops and a few TVs is going to make a huge difference in prices chain-wide. Not.
If they leave behind no surveillance tapes, how does anybody know they rappelled in? Maybe these are inside jobs, but they cut holes in the roof to misdirect investigators.
well they didnt jump down 40 50 feet or hover down or i guess they flew down
No, I mean maybe they got in some normal way (e.g., by hiding inside at closing time). They cut a hole in the roof, but they didn't go in through it.
It would be nearly imposible for them to hide during close, i work at best buy and after the manager activates the night alarms even the smallest movement will set them off(we've had balloons set them off), thus the only logical way they could enter would be via the roof.
But, if it's an inside job, the manager might be in on it, and not turn on the alarms.
I love it. I also love the fact "Best Buy" has the absolute worst price on electronics you can find lol.
Bravo
I'll take this as karma for the highway robbery Bestbuy commits when they convince customers that they need those hundred dollar HDMI cables (and of course, doesn't carry any of the $10 varieties)
Tell me about it. I bought a belkin y spliter rca to 1/8" converter cable for my mixer at best buy. Paid 22 or so for it. A mnth later or so I went to a target and saw the same one for 6 bucks Oh i was burned but i bought another 2 from target just in case.
All BBY surveillance equipment is kept at the front....along with the alarm pad. As long as you've watched someone enable/disable it, you can do it.
I mean, seriously it's that easy. Hell, if they disabled the alarm they probably just walked out of the back warehouse door (it's controlled by the alarm). I'm surprised they didn't steal something substantial like a plasma TV.
they did steal plasma tv's u dumbass
Wow, I wonder if this will be on FORENSIC files once its solved :)
Time to call the Justice League.
AWESOME.
Maybe they have a portable EMP generator :D
Maybe not the best strategy when stealing from an electronics store.
Ya know, this is what's wrong with the world. You idiots who are saying, "Good Job! Way to stick Best Buy!" Yeah, way to stick us, the consumers. Those losses get passed on in the cost of other products, morons. I'm not saying that Best Buy doesn't rip people off, but if you really want to stick them, DON'T SHOP THERE. I'll bet you guys are the same people who were like, "WOOO! May 15th GAS OUT!!!! WEEE!!!" How blatantly stupid can you be?
Honestly, I agree with you, but even knowing this I can't help but respect the skill and forethought involved. Thing is, it sounds to me like the place has been cased, so it's possible they'll be able to notice any odd behavior from previous security tapes.
I'm totally getting the theme from mission impossible with the whole hovering over the lasers part.
i don't spend money at bestbuy anymore (haven't since 2002, when they decided an extended service warranty that i paid over 20% of the products price for, wasn't valid) douche.
so, i could give a f--- about them. they have been raping customers for years, every time anything bad happens to them it makes me happy. karma comes back and bites them in the a--.
Not really...their insurance will cover it and their insurance cost will barely go up.
@fred
This is in no way sticking it to the consumers. Anyone who shops at best buy deserves to get ripped off because they know they will be ripped off and yet still shops there.
I do agree however that we should all stick it to best buy by shopping for electronics online.
Exactly right fred, a robbery at a single store in a huge chain is going to raise prices in every single Best Buy everywhere in the world. That's how major corporations do things. Insurance? Psh, they'll just raise prices.
Okay Fred, I work at Best Buy so I know how much the markup is on certain items.
$32 for a 6 foot USB cable that cost the store less than $3. And they only carry the store brand cables.
'Nuff said.
The problem is not the price of items, you nitwit. It's that stealing is wrong. If it's not yours don't take it. Is that really so tough to understand? I fully understand the concept of mark-up, and that cables, protection plans, etc. area MAJOR rip off, but that does not justify stealing, period. I'm sure your employer would love to hear that it's own people think it's ok to steal.
I don't think it's even about "sticking it to the man". People just think it's cool. It's like how people are fascinated with pirates. You can say stealing is wrong all you want, but it still makes for a good story.
I have to admit, while I don't condone robbery, an act like this is pretty damned impressive.
sounds like an inside job. it always is if everything goes so smooth.
As awful as it is to say it, good. Sure, it's just one store instead of the whole chain, but it's still a pretty big heist.
Yes, there are people who say "well theft only increases the prices for the people who don't steal, and makes it harder for them to buy things without being accosted by LP!".
I'd imagine that most of us here "cheering" on the burglars/delighting in BB's misfortune probably don't shop at The Great Evil(BB) anymore, so those price increases/increased security measures don't bother us.
Uh huh, that's great. So, because it doesn't affect you personally then it's OK to steal? Nevermind that BB is probably insured so they don't actually feel the hit either, but the insurance company does, and so I hope you don't do business with those guys. Condoning theft is just wrong. Have our consciences become so warped that we can't see that you shouldn't take stuff that isn't yours?
I don't recall saying that what they did was in any way right...
I personally have issues with Best Buy from the bottom to the top of their chain. I would love to see all BB stores spontaneously combust and the chain go bankrupt.
Perhaps there are posters here who have not heard of "schadenfreude," taking pleasure from someone else's misfortune.
I don't think what they did was too bad...
On a side note, I have a few laptops and appliances that I need to get rid of. If anyone's interested, let me know.
I use to work at Best Buy in Dallas, Tx. We had the same thing happen to our store, which was a flagship store in the area. They only stole laptops that were on display due to the fact that they had serial numbers filed off. This leads me to believe that terrorist cells or black networks require the machines to do hacking with. Anyhow, my two cents.
If they REALLY wanted to find these machines they could. The Serial number is in the Bios, and I'm sure that the MAC addresses are gonna show up when they fire this thing up, and start browsing. But I don't know if it's quite as insidious as you think. The machines will turn up on Ebay, and some poor schmuck is going to pay near retail for it.
Um, yeah...because when you buy a laptop there's a national registry where your name, address and phone number are tagged to the serial number. Not. Get real, doofus!!
Making any laptop totally anonymous is as easy as buying a $10 NIC at your local PC swap meet.
"because when you buy a laptop there's a national registry where your name, address and phone number are tagged to the serial number. "
Actually there is. Its called a CREDIT CARD. A serial number can be matched with a sales receipt. I do believe you underestimate the power of our NSA.
would not say this is 'cool' by any means. Theft is Theft.. I know
that Best Buy is big, and does have insurance, but why would it be
right that they get robbed? I am sure you would not like it if
someone did it to you.It all trickles down to the consumer
somehow.And who gives a crap that Best Buy prices are high...so don't
shop there~.They will get caught..they always do. They get to cocky,
and get busted. What the heck are they going to do with 40 laptops?
See them? You know Best Buy has all the serial numbers, and whoever
buys one from them best be careful..especially registering your
Windows. This is how these 'cool' people get busted.
Awsome! It's been a LONG time since someone pulled off a robbery like this. It's one thing to rob someone's house sloppily, but it's whole different story when they get away with robbing a place with full security and left no fingerprints.
These thieves must have been pretty darn good to get past Best Buy's temperature, sound, and touch alarms. They should make a movie out of it.
Haha. I'm personally a bigger fan of Circuit City than Best Buy, but some guy there lied out his ass to me yesterday. Humorous story: I did my research on a couple different pairs of Pioneer 6.5" car speakers; one was rated at 30 watts RMS/160 peak, the more expensive pair at 35/220. Just out of curiosity, I asked the guy working in the car audio department what the watts RMS were for the two sets. He told me 75 for one, 90 for the other. I flat out told him he was lying, and he responded by showing me the Circuit City web pages for the two speakers. One said the RMS was "info unavailable." The other listed the RMS as 35W, but he quickly scrolled past that info down to peak wattage, and then informed me that RMS handling is simply peak/2, therefore 110. He was also very smug when he asked "So, I wasn't lying to you, was I?"
As one of the employees of that store it sucked. You people don't realize how this affects the men and women that are just trying to scratch out a living by working there. Because of that our Labor budgets were nearly shot and any chance for a raise for anybody was almost destroyed. So next time remember that real people work there and were affected by this.
On a funny side note my department has a toy lightsaber from when episode 3 came out and apparently they played with that and our scanning gun.
What? They violated your lightsaber? Those sons of b!tches!
How should this effect your budget? Insurance which is bought and paid for already will cover to merchandise and the damage to the building. If they are using this as an excuse then its business as normal for any corp. That is avoid paying raises whenever possible.
Oh, that isn't very clear after reading it. I was at Circuit City when this guy lied to me about the car speakers. The point is, most B&M stores thrive off of selling crappy, overpriced junk to ignorant customers, even if it requires lying. Being informed and doing research before going to the store is the best way to prevent this from happening to you because people WILL lie to you there. These companies use their customers.
I'm not saying these robberies are necessarily "right," but hell, I'm laughing.
"All those extended service plans and Nexflix subscriptions WASTED!!"
If you want to rob best buy all you have to do is get a job there and you will be trained thoroughly by your fellow staff.
Hmm I work at a big store like that in UK and our security cam's and alarm are linked up to a central network. If the alarm was turned off during the night then they (security) would check out what is going on through the security cameras. Also the main store alarm code is only known by the two store managers, so I guess its BBY own fault for using rubbish security measures.
The only way I could think of doing our store is to come in armed 5 mins after store close as there are normally only a couple of colleagues left to lock up, so would be easy, but then you would have to act quick as if the alarm was not set quick enough after store close then that would raise suspision at the security thingy. But not exactly elegent like oceans 11
To the "employee" that works at the store---
1) To not give raises due to the robbery is just the managements way of using an event to justify being cheap.
2) Using an event like this to justify not giving raises leads to disgruntled employees, which leads to "inside" jobs.
3) The loss did not REMOVE sales from your store, only potential sales. You mean to tell me that you could not get 1 or 2 laptops from other stores in your district to make up for the loss in inventory?
4) Based on number 3 above, your labor goals should not have been slashed. Again, using an event to justify cutbacks. Kind of like Boeing laying off people two days after 9-11 and blaming 9-11. No way could you have determined what lasting effect 9-11 would have on your company in just two days. They used the event to justify being cheap.
5) You're a non-commission gimp.
I think the question is, would Best Buy management be capable of using the event to screw it's employees? Could the senario that the alleged employee presented happen?
"3) The loss did not REMOVE sales from your store, only potential sales. You mean to tell me that you could not get 1 or 2 laptops from other stores in your district to make up for the loss in inventory?"
You clearly have never worked in retail before, it doesn't work like that.
1 you have no clue, when a retail store makes money the profits are passed down to us the average joe employee. When there is a theft of this scale any extra money is taken out of the store profit totals for the year = no raises
2 Same response
3 still clueless
4 our labor budget which is how many hours we get weekly is drastically affected by profit so not as many hours for us the employees.
5 your still an idiot.
I have mixed feelings - I REALLY REALLY hate best buy but I'm not thrilled with significant crime sprees.
Wait, so just cause best buy has made some money its ok to steal from them?
All this karma talk is redic. I doubt any of you are going to be ok with people dropping in through your ceiling and taking your crap if you have the good fortune to make a buck or two in your life.
And lets not forget, it won't be best buys CEO, or the rich store owners that feel the brunt of this. It'll be the employees there who don't get a raise to cover the tens of thousands of dollars of loss, or the customers nationwide who have increased costs to cover the overhead involved in installing and running some newer, more expensive security.
Plus, the "I don't care, i dont shop there!" logic is so shortsighted that i can't help but laugh. Yeah, all us geeks reading a gadget blog probably find other places to buy our electronics. My mom, on the other hand, decides she wants a new CD, or cell phone, or mouse, or TV, and she goes to Best Buy. And i bet yours does too.
Wow you are one seriously disillusioned idiot. Your justification to your point as to why stealing form best buy is wrong is basically that I wouldn't be happy if someone broke into my house and stole something from me. Obviously I wouldn't like being robbed and neither would any other respectable member of society. But you entirely miss the point with your grossly inaccurate rationalization; that point being that I as an individual assign a certain value to my belongings, because they provide me with happiness and a enjoyable lifestyle. Now what do those plasma Tvs and laptops represent to a mega corporation like best buy? Merely numbers and profits. The purpose of a corporation is capitalistic gain. And for what? So their f*cking CEO can get a nice fat bonus so he can afford another private jet?
There were no victims in this robbery. no injuries. So lets examine the losses. Who was hurt? The employees you say. Wow you are shockingly stupid. Have you ever heard of insurance. Their insurance company will cover 100% of their losses and it will be business as usual for best buy. They will restock the stolen items and move on and at the end of the day Best Buy and its insurance company will keep raking in the profits.
Im not condoning stealing. In fact I find it morally repugnant. But the thieves did not steal from from a family or some poor innocent person. They stole from Best Buy. So i find it hard to be as disgusted as yourself.
P.S. Andrew, I would worry about my mother if i were you. I doubt that theres gonna be a huge spike in the prices of CDs at Best Buy any time soon.
First of all, somebody who finds it "morally repugnant" to steal arguing all the reasons why it DOESN'T hurt anybody is a little silly, no?
Fact is, these are expensive goods that nobody on the consumer side paid for. It is still coming out of somebodies pocket. Best Buy, insurance company, whoever, doesn't matter. Somebody pays. And if you think its coming out of the CEO's pocket, YOU ARE WRONG.
Yes, they are a big company. Yes, the insurance company probably covers it, and is a big company also. Who cares? Somebody, somewhere, pays. It gets passed down the line. It is not doing you or I any good that these people stole these things. Best Buy isn't going "Oh damn, consumers don't like paying, lets lower prices and treat them better!" And you won't notice it, but to think things won't be adjusted (insurance rates, overhead costs at stores that install new security) and then prices will be raised, somewhere, to cover those changes, is ignorant.
All corporations and stores like this have a certain amount of inventory loss built in to their budgets. Big heists like that force them to up those estimates. That money will come from somewhere, either in increased prices, or in decreased costs elsewhere, like firing one of the dudes that cleans the floors at night.
If you hate corporations so much, don't shop there. Great. Kudos. A large majority of the rest of the world WILL shop there. This affects those people. Those lost dollars don't disappear, because those fat CEOs you refer to aren't gonna pay them out of pocket. Those costs are headed our way.
In addition, its idiots like you that say "oh they are big, it won't hurt if you steal from them" and thereby encourage this behavior, making it less "morally repugnant" to the rest of the world by endorsing it, that increase the risk of it becoming more commonplace and affecting those of us that notice those small cost increases even more.
And yes, my analogy applies. Steal from me or steal from a millionaire. It hurts me more. Hurts the millionaire less. Who the hell cares? THAT DOES NOT MAKE IT OK. This isn't some robin hood fantasy. This is people taking things that do not belong to them. Just because they took it from Best Buy doesn't mean the average consumer who choses not to steal their stuff won't be affected. And it doesn't make it OK.
Best Buy, you'll recall, has customer types: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FNP/is_10_43/ai_n6039302
Ray is an upper-income male. Buzz is a early adopter. Barry buys the DVDs and CDs. Jill is a soccer mom.
So what's the name for the thieves who want everything to be a loss-leader?
I knew of a few that would use that event to clamp down. But in reality, this loss amounts to about 0.0011% of Best Buy's world wide sales ($400,000 loss out of $35B revenue). I do not know what revenue this store does, but store 221 in Tulsa used to crank out $60M a year (and that was years ago!) Hardly enough to kill labor and clamp down on wage increases.
I have an inside source at Best Buy that said they were in a hiring freeze for a couple of months to improve the numbers that were released last week. This is the REAL reason no one was getting a raise and labor was tight. Any loss is too bad as it eventually impacts all of us in some way or another.
Can people stop crying about best buys loss, lets say they stole $100,000 divide that buy there 1150 stores thats a total loss per store of less than $100 I'm sure the managers do special reductions way above £100 every day...
100k isnt even a drop compared to the $30 Billion ocean...
They got past the three-headed dog? Impressive...
uhh... worked for Best Buy for nearly four years in management. We did in fact send slow moving product to other stores when needed and in fact sent replacement product to store #36 or #37 in KC (sometime in 1998, I think) when they had a drop down through the roof and lost inventory. Only in this case, they used a blow torch to cut the safe open. The DLPM in KC (District 6 at the time), had the safe in his office as a trophy.
Besides, the distribution center keeps a supply of product on hand to send to stores that have an unusual run on a certain product. Best Buy pioneered this format of inventory control to keep store to store transfers to a minimum.
You have never worked in big box retail if you have not seen store to store transfer...
No, changing inventory from one store to another does not solve the problem of a loss in inventory. I know how a store to store transfer works I worked as a manager in the past as well. Loss product is still loss product, a transfer does not make the merchandise magically reappear. It's still a loss for the company, which will have a negative effect on the store. And inventory IS tracked store by store, despite what the distribution guidelines are. Major losses to one store, employee fault or not, will have negative repercussions for the employees of said store.
OK so as long as I focus ALL my efforts on taking a little from someone who has more than me it's ok? So like if I steal your retirement funds from the big corporation that you work for I'm not a criminal? Get a clue! so wait let me guess, Osama hasn't been caught yet so 9/11's not a crime? You children need a serious lesson in life. Your so sheltered that you embrace the most idiotic idealogy! In fact, because they did such a good job stealing this stuff, I know they didn't need it! They could afford the gear, or jobs that would get it for them. So if I come in and shoot you and steal your sneakers and never get caught I should get away with it? Grow up.
I agree with what your saying, but only to a point. The reason that everybody is justifying this in their minds is because they think it is a "victimless crime". In that it doesn't cause direct bodily, or even financial harm. It it still stealing, which is the point I have been trying to make, but you're taking it out of context.
Wow, America has really gone down hill. I cannot believe that this many people think that robbing Best Buy is fine because they supposedly rip off customers who go to their stores voluntarily to voluntarily purchase things. In fact, I cannot believe that this many people think that robbing is fine period. You guys frighten me. Some of you even justify it by saying that the insurance will pay for it. Wow. We really do have a moral crisis here in America.
has nothing to do with morals, has EVERYTHING to do with comeuppance. the crime itself is indefensible, but the result was/is/and always will be beautiful. F best buy!
I did it. I was the one who stole all that stuff.
Please....you can't even get your prepositions straight...it's "you're an idiot" not "your an idiot"...
Labor is based off of SALES, not profit. Profits are NEVER passed down to store employees, unless you have a profit sharing plan (Wal*Mart). Most employees are never even aware if their (notice I didn't say "there" or "they're") store makes a profit or not.
27+ years of retail management (including a Top Gun with Best Buy, if you know what that means) versus your (again, not "you're) 3 months as a "prod"...sure you know all the answers...
As for the raises issue, it is based on a range for your position (at Best Buy). Individual departments may get raises based on performance while the store as a whole performs poorly.
If you had said your labor budget was impacted by the loss of sales (not profit), I might have given you a bone.
Here is an example of why what you have said is wrong and dumb. If Best Buy is selling a four week old laptop $200 below cost to blow them out before a better performing model hits the floor the following Tuesday, using your logic, they should reduce staff because the laptop is going to be a profit bleeder. WRONG! They may increase staff because they may have more traffic to buy the "great" deal.
Another example---Does Best Buy staff more for the day after Thanksgiving or less? Usually the day after is full of loss-leader products to drive traffic and gross margins are usually half of what they normally are. Using your logic, they would staff less for this day. As we all know, that day is staffed to the max. Why? Revenue, baby! It's all about driving REVENUE...
And "you're" still a gimp...
I personally admire the amount of skill and ingenuity it must have taken to pull off such a crime. And I do understand that it is a crime whether it was perpetrated against a big faceless corporation that excels in selling overpriced crap to under-educated consumers or say, my Mom. But I'm quite sure that my Mom's 20" Zenith is safe from thieves of this caliber.
But just because these people do not subscribe to a particular aspect of our societal contract doesn't mean that they don't deserve admiration. They are simply utilizing their ingenuity and intelligence to archive financial gain. How are they any different than Steve Jobs or Bill Gates both of whom have been associated with "stealing." Granted GUI designs and back dated stock options may not be as tangible as flat screen TVs but we don't all have good PR people.
A "particular aspect of our societal contract"? You mean a Law?
Imagine this. Some group of hooligans execute an ingenius and elaborate plan to assassinate someone or someones, or hell, a bunch of people.
(I'm not saying I think *you* would but,) do you think THEY may deserve admiration? Laws against killing are just another "particular aspect of our societal contract".
@ Mike
When I say a "particular aspect of our societal contract" I refer to the wide sweeping rules by which we govern ourselves and each other as human beings. That ranges from the act of politely holding a door open for someone to the other extreme end of the spectrum which you cited, mass murder. Not all laws are created equal and everyone draws their line in the sand in a different place. These particular people chose to to draw their line beyond the laws of Grand Larceny. Does that put them in the same category as Mass Murders? I assume you smart enough not to think so. Just as the time that you may have ran a red light or forgot to put on your seatbelt does not put you in the same category as them.