"Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
...
> "Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote:
> > "Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
> > > Serene Vannoy > wrote:
> > > > Gregory Morrow wrote:
> > > > > Gloria P wrote:
> > > > >> wrote:
> > > [ . . . ]
> > > > > I get boxes from the Post Office, you can order these from
> > www.usps.com
> > > > > ...I get the 12x12x8 inch Priority Mail boxes...no dividers but
> > > > > they are very strong. They are totally free, as is the shipping.
> > > > > I've ordered them online and they've come in as little as two
day's
> > > > > time. They've got a nice variety of free shipping boxes/materials,
> > > > > all free and deliverable right to yer door.
> > > []
> > > > They're not intended for uses other than mailing through the USPS,
so
> > > > I would consider it unethical to do this. There's no reason my tax
> > > > dollars should pay for your canning supplies.
> > >
> > > I also get boxes and envelopes free from the USPS. I use them for
> > > mailing. I also reuse packages that merchandise comes in. I agree with
> > > you, Serene.
> > >
> > Geeze, just how old are you two fossils? ;-)
>
> I'm a 73 year old moron, thank you kind sir. Earliest memory is of 3¢
First
> Class, 2-1/2¢ Second Class and penny postals. I was also taught not to
> cheat or steal. Real old-fashioned, eh?
>
Well, I regard what USPS is doing as a form of theft myself. Of course,
a lot of companies do it. Take for example, Coca-Cola.
I drink Coke, always have, can't stand the taste of Pepsi. If every Coke
advert went off the television tomorrow I would not stop drinking it.
I regard it as theft when Coke increases the price of a can of Coke by
50 cents or whatever, so as to display a 200 million dollar advert on
television, that is absolutely no use whatsoever to me.
Since I'm a loyal Coke drinker, why can't I pay 10 cents a can, and
the other people who -need to see- the Coke advert on the telly to
buy it, pay the hyper-inflated advertising-price? I don't even watch
telly much, anyway.
When I package something to ship out on Ebay in a cardboard box
that I got from my basement, and take it to USPS, isn't it theft when
I have to pay extra postage to cover the cost of the free boxes that
USPS gives to the next bozo in line to ship his stuff because he's
too lazy to bother saving a cardboard box? Why should I have to
pay for the other shipper's cardboard when I supply my own?
Do you see where this is going?
Theft isn't an absolute, never has been, never will be. It simply
depends on the point of view you hold. The big companies that
force customers to pay for crap that they don't need - like obnoxious
advertising - don't regard it as theft. The customers who lose
hours of their lifetime when they watch a few hours of TV a night,
due to watching the innumerable commercials stuffed in the shows,
certainly regard it as theft. Who is right?
You and I probably have similar values, and probably regard most of
the same kinds of theft, as theft. But, I do understand that other people
have different points of view, and from their POV there's going to be
some things that I regard as theft, that they don't. And, when they are
taking from an organization that ALSO doesen't regard some of the
things that IT does that are directly related to their stealing as theft -
things that -I- consider theft - then things get very grey and blurry very
quick.
Speaking of ethics - your old enough to have been alive during many
wars this country has been involved in. Do you think that the
baldfaced lying that the US Government has done through every
war it's been involved in, to further it's goals, was ethical? If
you have ever been in an army, can you say with a straight face
that every single time you ever saw another serviceman stealing -
perhaps the sargent lying on a requisition to get extra ammo
for his platoon - that you reported it? Or is faking service reports
OK in the military when it's for a "good cause"? Was it OK for
the military to engineer the fake story of Jessica Lynch a few years
back to drum up popular support for the Iraq war?
Obviously, the OP's comment about her tax dollars supporting
the packing materials was nothing more than a justification excuse.
Laughable to me since besides being an excuse, the reality is
that nobody's tax dollars were paying for the boxes, and in fact,
the actual people paying for the boxes are doing so of their own
free will - as they can choose to use a different shipper anytime,
and thus not have to pay for boxes that someone else is using for
storage. Thus, from one point-of-view, a justification excuse isn't
even needed.
In closing I'll leave you to ponder "Let him cast the first stone
who is without sin"
Ted