When does being frugal become unethical?

[waffles77]

Returning items to a store where they were not purchased is stealing.

Then to make matters worse, because of people like this stores tighten up their return policies. Those that have a legitimate return may have troubles because of said new policies. It's always the few rule breakers that ruin it for rest....

 

[mondragon]

Sorry this made me laugh. When we are on holidays, let's say WDW, I will let my kids have more junk. So say we had lunch then all afternoon they had ice cream, then pop corn, then a character Apple. They will then split a meal. They don't need more than that. Because my DH and I refrained from the snacks we will get our own meal. My poor starving kids

No this was at lunch time. 2 teenagers fighting for the 4 nuggets in the meal. They were obviously hungry because they must have went through 3 ketchup packets for each nugget. Why would you make 2 grown kids share 1 kids meal. Why not just 2 regular meals because they eat like adults.

 

[cjbcam]

No this was at lunch time. 2 teenagers fighting for the 4 nuggets in the meal. They were obviously hungry because they must have went through 3 ketchup packets for each nugget. Why would you make 2 grown kids share 1 kids meal. Why not just 2 regular meals because they eat like adults.

I just don't think you know the whole situation from a glance. I have 4 kids that are all very active, 3 of them are very skinny while one is on the heavier side. I have to limit what she eats all the time because I don't want her at an unhealthy weight. She can eat a ton of food and still look/act like she's starving. It's also funny you mention ketchup because she will drown everything in ketchup and dips.
My thing with her is portion control. All my kids eat the same food, she just eats more.
So like I said you may not know what the kids have ate previously in the day that their parents decided to make them split.
Another senerio... What if the kids were meeting up with friends to go for lunch and the parents had something else planned so had to eat then. They gave them that to hold them over until they went for their lunch.

 

[MomToOne]

No this was at lunch time. 2 teenagers fighting for the 4 nuggets in the meal. They were obviously hungry because they must have went through 3 ketchup packets for each nugget. Why would you make 2 grown kids share 1 kids meal. Why not just 2 regular meals because they eat like adults.

I'm not sure why the number of ketchup packages they used would be any indication of hunger or not. My daughter wouldn't have used any because she doesn't like ketchup - would that mean she wasn't hungry? No, it wouldn't (as a teenager, she is ALWAYS hungry LOL). My nephew, on the other hand (who is the same age as DD), will drown lots of things in what I think is a disgusting amount of ketchup, extreme hunger or not. And heck, you get a couple of teens together and suddenly you are transported to what I call the "goof zone" - where they think doing things like drowning food in ketchup is HILARIOUS, and they do it just for that reason alone.

I can come up with lots of reasons why two teens may have been splitting a kids meal, none of them bad. For example, maybe the kids had already finished their regular meals and the kids meal was an "extra" bit because the regular meals didn't fill them up - I've actually had to do that with DD sometimes! And there are lots of other reasonable explanations too. It drives me bonkers when people look at a situation like this and jump to conclusions about what the parents were or weren't doing.

 

[mondragon]

I'm not sure why the number of ketchup packages they used would be any indication of hunger or not. My daughter wouldn't have used any because she doesn't like ketchup - would that mean she wasn't hungry? No, it wouldn't (as a teenager, she is ALWAYS hungry LOL). My nephew, on the other hand (who is the same age as DD), will drown lots of things in what I think is a disgusting amount of ketchup, extreme hunger or not. And heck, you get a couple of teens together and suddenly you are transported to what I call the "goof zone" - where they think doing things like drowning food in ketchup is HILARIOUS, and they do it just for that reason alone.

I can come up with lots of reasons why two teens may have been splitting a kids meal, none of them bad. For example, maybe the kids had already finished their regular meals and the kids meal was an "extra" bit because the regular meals didn't fill them up - I've actually had to do that with DD sometimes! And there are lots of other reasonable explanations too. It drives me bonkers when people look at a situation like this and jump to conclusions about what the parents were or weren't doing.

I guess you had to be there. It was sad. The are it like it was their first meal of the day and I figured they were using the ketchup to fill up.

 

[Ngwira]

Not

Why not?

 

[Ngwira]

Ok I am going to throw my own scenario in this tread. This is this man that comes by my work and sells stolen products (bought though id theft). I do not but anything from this man, I know where it comes from, and I could not do it. Some of my co workers do, their excuse is they do not how he gets it only that he does. I don't judge them on this because what they do is their own business. I do tell them not to buy the meat though, that is for safety reasons.
So my question is, would you buy products from a person if you suspect they got them though not so legal means.

I hope most of you know that the vast majority of people who sell household stuff at a flea market (soaps, lotions etc..) got it through shoplifting..or maybe couponing..

 

[Ngwira]

Regarding the purchase of all the loss leader item - my quote messed up.

Not sure about unethical, but it's really rude. Not something I do for sure.

I agree. Nothing like going to a store to get an advertised product to see they are all gone.

 

[Ngwira]

I bought a very nice item at a garage sale.

I then put it on Craigslist for profit. I sold it for about 5 times what I paid for it.

One man kept emailing me and was quite rude. He kept saying, "Why don't you tell me where you got this?" and then when I was vague, he wrote, "Why don't you tell me where you really got this?"

I am quite sure he was the owner of the garage sale. I just kept responding with, "Are you interested in buying? If so, let me know."

What I did was not unethical, but he obviously was upset about it.

Now, the absolute truth is that I was excited to get the item for myself, but after trying it out realized it was not going to work for my needs and knew I could sell it for far more than I purchased it for.

Dawn

I don't think that's unethical. You purchased it legitimately without the intent to sell it. Now purchasing something that you know is worth 5x the amount from someone who has no way of knowing (incompetent or child etc..) IS unethical.

 

[Ngwira]

What about purchasing a designer "knock-off" because it's a whole lot cheaper than the real thing? Unethical or no?

 

[Mel522]

Yes she is stealing, but the question is a good one. How far would most people go? When I go to a fast food restaurant with my son that has unlimited refills of soda I will only buy one soda rather than pay $2 for another cup. When he is done with his Sprite I'll go back and fill it up with Coke. I also will buy him a kids meal at restaurants even though he is older than the age limit listed.

The drink thing is stealing imo. You bought a drink for your son. Your sons drink came with a free refill for your son. It's no different than bringing a cup from home and filling it up from the soda fountain. You took something you didn't pay for.

 

[smiths02]

Are you talking about Angel Food Ministries? http://onlineathens.com/local-news/...ries-founder-sentenced-7-years-federal-prison

Yes, I think so!
When the message board people suggested it as a cost saving measure, I questioned whether the food was for the needy. I called the ministry directly to find out if it was a fundraiser (so they would want anyone to buy the baskets) or for needy people. The person on the phone said it was for everyone, but I pressed and asked if the food was a donation thing...never got a straight answer, so I didn't participate.
Anyhow, it goes along with ethics of being frugal. Is it okay to take charity (even if the charity is available for all) if you don't need it?

I also now see a lot of people on FB yard sale sites selling tons of personal or home products. My first guess is that they got them by super couponing (I will assume they didn't outright steal). It's one thing to get a bargain with coupons or donate it to charity, but to make a profit off those goods? I don't know.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

Oh, I have a good one! Goes back to my movie theater days. Friday evening. A woman comes up and buys a ticket just for herself. She has a stroller with her, but the cover is down. As she's leaving, I can literally see an adult man huddled up in the stroller. Clearly a stroller for a toddler, too. As she goes past the ticket taker, she waits a bit, and then releases him from the stroller. Just as I suspected: A teenager, maybe about 14 or 15. All this to save $10? Come on, people!

 

[crisi]

What about purchasing a designer "knock-off" because it's a whole lot cheaper than the real thing? Unethical or no?

Not only unethical but illegal.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm still not over "sink water" being some terrible thing you subject your children to. I mean, okay, it's public bathroom water. If it's clean enough to wash your hands in, I don't see why it wouldn't be clean enough to drink. I might not do it, simply because there are other ways of getting water, but "sink water" in and of itself is not some terrible thing.

On airplanes they have signs that the water you use in the restroom to wash your hands is not meant for drinking. So how clean are your hands getting?

 

[kidshop]

What about purchasing a designer "knock-off" because it's a whole lot cheaper than the real thing? Unethical or no?

Do you mean a knock off that has the markings of the original, clearly counterfit, or a knock off without brand names that just looks like the designer? For example I bought a quilted wristlet at a store that is meant to look like Vera. It is not, nor does it have fake tags etc. it is simply a quilted wristlet.

 

[Ngwira]

Do you mean a knock off that has the markings of the original, clearly counterfit, or a knock off without brand names that just looks like the designer? For example I bought a quilted wristlet at a store that is meant to look like Vera. It is not, nor does it have fake tags etc. it is simply a quilted wristlet.

Knock off that looks like the original. Ok so are you saying that only rich people can wear labels?

 

[MillauFr]

What about purchasing a designer "knock-off" because it's a whole lot cheaper than the real thing? Unethical or no?

Not unethical.

 

[Ngwira]

Yes, I think so!
When the message board people suggested it as a cost saving measure, I questioned whether the food was for the needy. I called the ministry directly to find out if it was a fundraiser (so they would want anyone to buy the baskets) or for needy people. The person on the phone said it was for everyone, but I pressed and asked if the food was a donation thing...never got a straight answer, so I didn't participate.
Anyhow, it goes along with ethics of being frugal. Is it okay to take charity (even if the charity is available for all) if you don't need it?

I also now see a lot of people on FB yard sale sites selling tons of personal or home products. My first guess is that they got them by super couponing (I will assume they didn't outright steal). It's one thing to get a bargain with coupons or donate it to charity, but to make a profit off those goods? I don't know.

That's tough because you don't know where they got it from..

 

[Ngwira]

What about a wealthy household shopping at the Goodwill? A coworker said that only poor people should shop at the Goodwill. Is it unethical for someone who can afford "retail" to shop at thrift stores?