Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowboy89
I can certianly see the impact difference. However I really do not like the size generalization because it's the thin edge of the wedge of a slippery slope.
I work in finance, and I wouldn't hire anyone who rationalized things in that way. Every major fraud in history has people implicated who fit two categories:
1) Sociopath. Ultimately they are out there and the best thing we can do is attempt to root them out to expose them to others as people to stay away from.
2) People who rationalize things in that way, except as time goes on the numbers get bigger. They ultimately are the enablers whose morals get compromised and bought off by the spoils of fraud.
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The numbers are used as an illustration, I didn't have Wal-Marts quarterly reports on hand.
I get your point on the slippery slope to rationalizing bigger and bigger moral departures, but I'd say that a pretty sizable number of people share this moral outlook on this particular issue, I just don't see it as a road to ruin.
I don't think it's necessarily based on the numbers either, I think it has more to do with seeing small shops as part of the community, friends almost, and large stores as simply profit earning corporations. It seems pretty logical to me that people would look at the corner store and think 'I don't want to take money out of that guys pocket', in fact most of the posts in this thread seem to have that view. When you get to a large corporation that impact isn't there, who's pocket are you taking money from? Shareholders? the Waltons? It either gets incredibly abstract, or it's coming from the pockets of the insanely rich. I don't blame people for treating those situations as opportunities to get back some of the profits they've paid over. It seems like a perfectly logical response to me.
Side note: In your first post you made the point that "business is business", I'd say that it can be argued that part of business is making correct charges to customers and absorbing the cost of screw-ups.
As for the original question, I typically use a card and generally don't look at the receipt. Seems that when I do check it I get ripped off for often than I save, but it usually evens itself out.