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The Mean Pettiness Of Theft
I own a travel trailer and use it to take my family on vacations. It is a great way to see the nation while still taking your home with you, it avoids hotels, and it lets you spend your nights in some absolutely gorgeous areas. Only hiking and tent camping will get you further into the wilderness. The downside to the trailer, though, is storing it when it is not in use. I rent a spot at a local storage lot. Last night that lot was raided by a team of thieves.
We got the call this afternoon from the lot manager, telling us that we needed to get down and patch things up, take an inventory, and file a police report on what was stolen. There were around 30 RVs on the lot, and nearly every one had been raided. The thieves moved quickly, smashing the window on the door, slashing the screen within, then letting themselves in. They only stole what they thought they could fence, so they left the sheets and towels, the crock pot, the iron skillet, and (strangely enough) the septic hose fittings. They tried to bust into a side compartment where I keep the hitch ball and tools, but must have deemed it a waste of time (and scrap metal dealers operate under massive scrutiny here).
The only RVs left unmolested were the obviously-older, dingier ones. My in-laws’ RV, for instance, was untouched probably because their rusty old Jeep Cherokee signaled that nothing of value was within. I lost a 21″ flat screen Samsung TV ($150 when new 3 years ago) and a $40 off-brand DVD player. They broke the TV wall mount in the process, so I would not be surprised if the TV itself was busted too. Street value through a fence: maybe $40 in all?
Cost to repair: (1) $15.00 glass panel, plus sealant, plus 2+ hours in the car to get the glass, plus clean up time. Not worth even filing a claim. I was lucky. Some RVs have safety glass in all of the windows (mine included) which made clean up rather easy. Several did not and the owners will have to be rather careful. Vacations have been ruined for many people as the RV dealership garages are booked solid right now. Several units will likely have more expensive repairs (my trailer is pretty cheap).
I’m guessing the likely fence value for everything stolen can’t have been more than $1,000; valuables are just not kept in RVs when in storage. I’m guessing the total damage to be between $3,000 and $4000. Such is always the way of vandalism.
When in high school, my own car was perpetually in the shop, meaning I got to drive my mother’s Chrysler Lebaron convertible. One night I left my $30 off-brand walkman in the car, and some jerk slashed the top for it. That was an $800 repair, for an item with a fence value of maybe $10.
I know the thieves don’t care. $1,000 for an hour’s raid probably seems like a good return to them, but then they don’t have to tell their kids and watch them break down sobbing. They don’t have to clean up the mess. They probably think that this was some sort of social justice, revenge against the fat cats. They might even boast of their munificence at not smashing the whole RV to bits – my parents’ RV was broken into once and the vandals defecated in the shower.
Yet vandalism is always so petty – minuscule and momentary gains for the thieves, at the cost of far greater physical and emotional damage to the victims. The thieves in Baltimore think themselves justified in smashing liquor stores and pharmacies, and burning senior centers to the ground. They got their fun, they had their adrenaline rush, and they got away with it. The thieves here will likely never be caught either, just as they were never caught with the Lebaron.
My expenses here were thankfully minimal, and the physical damage is already repaired. The owner of the storage lot, however, has already lost customers, will see his insurance rates go up, and will have to spend a great deal to upgrade his security and repair his reputation. That sort of damage is long lasting and never totally repairable. If the thieves just needed a quick grand, I would gladly have paid them in cash and spared us all from the mess. Heck, I could have employed them actually making things and adding to the wealth of the community.
Instead, the wealth of our community is diminished tonight, and we have yet more reasons to watch our backs and be wary.
Published in Domestic Policy
The change tray of my car had five slots each for quarters, dimes, and nickels. When it was broken into, the thief only took the quarters. Sure its only an extra 75 cents but seemed odd. Maybe he needed to do laundry or play some arcade games.
Mindless destruction angers me too and at times I think that vandalism should be a capital offense. I currently live in the greater L.A. area and a car wash is being refurbished on one of the main streets. One day I drove by and a new sign was being installed. The next day the sign had graffiti on it.
My daughter is learning about vandalism at too young of an age. She’s two and beginning potty training. Some of the public toilets we use have graffiti etched on the toilet seats. She tells me, ‘someone draw’. I explain yes, bad people draw on property that doesn’t belong to them.
Sorry for your trouble. Not only do you feel violated but then screwed on top of all that by the insurance company.
Had a friend who had stored their RV (much like you did) and one day they got a call that someone had been using the RV as a meth lab. Clean-up and costs were a little different as you can imagine.
Meth lab! Wow, that’s a total loss there, you can’t fix that as the chemicals get embedded in the walls.
I’m not bothering with the insurance, though, as the repairs were well under any deductible.
Maybe someone got a idea? Walter?
I never lock the doors on my wrangler. Those tops are expensive to repair/replace! You want my loose change, phone charger, or sunscreen? Take it.
Thought you were going to end that with “I pick up whatever furniture I can get from other cottages.”
There’s a new pope?
that’s why I keep mine unlocked and nothing of value in it. Not worth it.
Whatever happened to midnight basketball? Wasn’t that going to be the cure-all?
Someone stole all the basketballs.
in our city they shut it down when they started shooting each other.
What? Just for adding some new elements to the game? I can see league potential here – EXTREME ELIMINATION BASKETBALL!
Adds a whole new meaning to “he fakes, he shoots.”
Seawriter
Boy, that really irritates me. I got into an argument on Twitter with someone who made that same assertion. Even worse is the idea that the economy might be helped by destruction.
The broken window fallacy even has appeal to at least one Nobel laureate, who should know better.
I have friends who used to live in Harlem in the bad old days. Their car was broken into. The thief tried to be a “good guy” by breaking only the small, triangular window (remember those?). His arm must not have been long enough to reach the door lock, so he went ahead and broke the large window.
At least he tried.
David Friedman addressed this problem in “Law’s Order”, a great read. A libertarian’s take on existing law – what works and what doesn’t (in real life). Believe it or not, certain libertarians (even anarcho-capitalists like David Friedman) actually do think through real-life consequences.