When is it stealing?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The water authority here in DC has sent out flyers telling us to fix that dripping faucet because “it’s costing you”. This got me thinking… I believe the water meter really does not detect such a small flow so it is really not costing me, it is costing them.

I figure a dripping faucet wull drain about $4/mo worth of water. Let us assume the meter does not detect the small flow. Which of these actions would you call unethical:

(a) I have a faucet that drips but I do not repair it because that would cost me $50. I just let it drip.
(b) I have a faucet that drips but I use the water usefully (like watering the flowers).
© The faucet does not drip unless I want it to but I let it drip and use the water which means I am saving $4/mo.

Now let’s multiply all the variables like this: I have an industry and the whole thing is multiplied by 100.

(A) I have a water leak that is costing the supplier $400/mo but it costs me $5000 to repair it so i let it leak.
(B) Same thing but instead of letting the water go I use it
© I cause the leak knowing I can get $400 worth of free water.

Does volume make a difference? From the customer’s view he might think so but to the water company 100 homeoner’s at $4/mo are the same as one industry at $400.

Other examples:

The supermarket overcharges you $1 by mistake. You can get it back by claiming it but the hassle is too great and not worth it. Do you feel you can “steal” a $1 item?

You paid for a $10 item but it was not in the bag when you went out. The store manager refuses to reimburse you. Do you feel you are entitled to shoplift it?

The restaurants supply sugar and do not limit how much you can use. Is it wrong to take some home? How about toilet paper or other freebies?

How about tipping? Obviously you do not have a legal obligation to tip but where is the ethical line?

Does my state of need come into it? How badly should I need it?

Why do many people who would not dream of stealing from a friend feel it is OK to take the same value from a big company (like shoplifting), cheating on their taxes, etc. Again where do you draw the line?

Someone suggested in another thread that if you know you will die soon you should go and buy everything you can on credit knowing they can’t get you after you are dead. Is this ethical?

Does it make a difference whether you think the person or entity you are taking it from is good or bad? Would you rather steal $10 from the person you dislike but who needs it more or from the person you like but who does really not need it?

Can you think of other examples?

2

You are paying for your drip…one way or the other. It’s stealing when it doesn’t belong to you and you take it. If you don’t want the hassle of getting your $1 back when you were overcharged that’s your fault. Stealing is stealing no matter how you justify it.

3

My only strong feeling on the water use question is that given the drought conditions that so often affect my particular state letting a leaky faucet drip without putting the water to use is environmentally unsound because it depletes the water table to no purppose.

Your ethical obligation to the water company is to pay for whatever water you use, and the quantity of use is measured by their equipment. If their equipment is inadequate to the task, and they know this, then you are not stealing from them. If you had agred to measure the water usage and report the amount to them, then you would be obligated to do so as accurately as you were reasonably able.

As to your other questions:

The supermarket overcharges you $1 by mistake. You can get it back by claiming it but the hassle is too great and not worth it. Do you feel you can “steal” a $1 item?
No. It is my choice to “give” them the dollar by valuing my time/trouble in the effort to gain recompense more than the dollar itself.

You paid for a $10 item but it was not in the bag when you went out. The store manager refuses to reimburse you. Do you feel you are entitled to shoplift it?
No. I am entitled to seek redress from his superiors, make my complaint against the store public, take my business elsewhere, etc.

The restaurants supply sugar and do not limit how much you can use. Is it wrong to take some home? How about toilet paper or other freebies?
It is wrong to take items from the restaurant which are clearly intended for use inside teh premesis, just as it is wrong to steal the towels from your hosts bathroom at a dinner party.

How about tipping? Obviously you do not have a legal obligation to tip but where is the ethical line?
Where tipping is an accepted and expected part of an employees compensation, it is polite to do so unless the service has been so poor as to warrant withholding the tip. If I plan ahead of time to withhold the tip, then I am taking advantage of the reasonable expectation of another person. While I am hesitant to say that this action is blatantly unethical, it is certainly not setting a high ethical standard.

Does my state of need come into it? How badly should I need it?
Into what? If you are so hungry that you cannot afford a meal and a tip, then you should not be eating at a restaurant.

Why do many people who would not dream of stealing from a friend feel it is OK to take the same value from a big company (like shoplifting), cheating on their taxes, etc. Again where do you draw the line?
I draw the line at stealing.

Someone suggested in another thread that if you know you will die soon you should go and buy everything you can on credit knowing they can’t get you after you are dead. Is this ethical?
No. Borrowing money with the clear intention to never repay the loan is not ethical. It is fraud.

Does it make a difference whether you think the person or entity you are taking it from is good or bad? Would you rather steal $10 from the person you dislike but who needs it more or from the person you like but who does really not need it?
Being human, I would rather injure someone I dislike than someone I like. Being a human who tries to live ethically, I would rather not steal at all. I certainly cannot justify my crime on teh grounds that I dislike my victim. I would imagine that relatively few criminals felt a great emotional attachment to their victims.

4

I shoplifted a WWJD bracelet.

What do I do now?

5

Your logic is faulty here, because by saying it costs the customer $5000 makes the assumption that all 100 customers have leaky faucets, which is highly statistically improbable.