possessing milk crates?
If so, I should be doing time
I suspect yes FOR having milk crates (i.e: if they were stolen property), but, to the best of my knowledge mere posession of a milk crate is not illegal anywhere (except possibly in Afghanistahn).
Walrus
As a child, my brother was arrested for stealing milk crates from behind a supermarket.
Yes, arrested, and taken downtown. He was maybe 14 at the time. This was kind of an exceptional case though. Unbeknownst to my brother, the supermarket had been robbed twice in the past two nites. And two cop cars were watching the place closely in case it happened again. Along comes Mr. Crate Thief and down he goes.
Although, this is stealing, not posessing, and this was a weird exceptional case.
Was that your brother’s new family nickname.
In California, it used to be the Department of Agriculture’s responsibility to track down milk crate thiefs (the state Department, not USDA). I believe they tried to concentrate on people who stole a lot of them.
The delivery men for the milk companies did keep track of how many crates were delivered and how many were picked up. They didn’t charge the store owner for any losses, or at least my father was never charged. I suppose if many were found missing, the dairy would have called the State to look into the matter.
I suppose the introduction of CD’s brought the incidents of crate theft way, way down.
I seem to recall that in the seventies (dating myself) milk crates were redesigned to NOT fit record albums (vinyl) as well as thaey used to.
I dated myself a lot in the seventies, too.
I had a friend who’s art installation of “modular furniture” constructed from milk-crates was shut down because she had acquired the materials illegally. Worked out for the best, all things considered.
I’ve got a similar one, blue painted “leased” pallets. They sit behind most grocery stores, and are always made of good 2x4 lumber, not the twisted knotty kind in regular pallets. They have some sort of “Leased from…” stamp on them.
Convicted? Not sure, but I do know the truck drivers who scrounge regular ones from stores don’t want to touch the blue ones.
That would be one embarrassing day in court…
Judge: Mr. Tzu, our records indicate you’ve had SEVERAL run-ins with the law. In '94 for jay-walking, in '86, for pulling the tags off your mattresses, and in '75 for riding your bicycle on the sidewalk.
Lao: But i was only 7 at the time…?
Judge: Your behavior is inexcusable! You are what we call a “carreer criminal”. You don’t seem to take our laws seriously, do you Mr. Tzu?
Lao: [sobbing] I’m sorry, your honor… Can i do community service, like with the mattress tags?
Judge. No, Mr. Tzu. Due to your extensive criminal record, i’m afraid you’re going to have to do some time… Let’s see here [thumbs through law book]… according to the 1932 Milk Crate Act [wipes dust off page] section 49, you’re looking at 18 months in a correctional facility.
Lao: You mean prison, your honor?
Judge: No, on a dairy farm – of COURSE in prison!
[Lao’s family begins sobbing. His friends are laughing hysterically].
“He was a wise man who invented beer.” – Plato.
Actually, if I recall correctly, it was when they switched from cartons to jugs. An ‘old’ crate held nine cartons, a ‘new’ crate held four jugs.
Or something like that. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t done specifically to put a halt to record storing. 
Hmm. I’m surprised to hear this happened in the States. Up here in Canada, the Great Milk Crate Size Shift was another fallout of the switch to the metric system.
Which we did, by the way, because that’s what the Americans were supposedly going to do! :rolleyes:
trail off like that? It’s kind of annoying.
Anyway, I don’t know about possessing, but taking them is illegal. It’s called “stealing.” Look on the crate’s side, and in most cases you’ll find some writing that says “Property of XXXXX Dairies.” The milk delivery men leave them outside stores while running their route, cos they know they’ll be back latter to pick up the empties. Ditto for the flat plastic trays used by bread delivery men. I know; I used to be a breadman.
Speaking of theft of plastic, I heard this story way back when I was delivering bread (early 80’s) in Houston. Seems the local bakery had noticed an abrupt increase in missing trays, so they stationed someone outside a couple of stores to see who was taking them. Turns out some guy was loading up his truck with trays and crates, after which he’d drive down south to Mexico. The trays were melted down into liquid plastic, then turned into those cheap plastic toys you can buy at the dollar store. No wonder they can sell them for so cheap!