[pct-l] Charging in town

[Luce Cruz]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 1:31 PM, Jay Bruins <jbruins at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just so we’re clear, the cost to charge a modern phone is peanuts:
> http://blog.opower.com/2014/09/iphone-6-charging-47-cents/
>
> $0.47/365days * 4 days between towns = $0.0051 per town*. This is no more
> “theft” than finding a penny on the ground and taking it with you.


That is a very weak analogy.
http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/weak-analogy/
The difference is so clear it doesn't even deserve reasoning out, but the
penny that someone could have likely willfully thrown on the ground in
order to be rid of it is much different than the electricity that must be
paid for, every single little watt.

Sure, your own little device might not amount to much, but if a quarter of
the herd did so, at your purported $0.0051/town, and the number of people
stealing the electricity was in the number of say 500, you now have a total
of $2.55. If more than 500 do this, say, double the amount, than it totals
$5.10. Where is the limit before the person that has to pay for the
electricity is allowed to become upset over this theft in your mind? When
does the owner or financially responsible party get to be victimized by
this? $5? $10? $10.01?

This is why these matters are not up to you.

Theft is theft, no matter what it is. That anyone would argue that it is a
meaningless thing is despicable. When all the trail angels and things that
were considered "free" without being explicitly free are gone, we will know
exactly how that came to be. We can blame the same mentality that says that
catching more than the possession limit while fishing isn't hurting anyone,
or that taking a roll of TP out of a bathroom doesn't really cost a
business or trail angel that much. "Restroom is for customers only" means
precisely that, that paying customers are helping to shoulder the burden of
water, electricity, cleaning, maintenance, and repairs.

It might cost us all plenty in the long run. Ask Andrea Dinsmore. That is a
fine example of what happens when someone has had enough of this selfish
mentality. And she is not alone. There may be no telling how many may have
offered kindness in the past and decided that entitlement mentality wasn't
worth dealing with any longer?

If you steal, no matter how small the item in value, even if only
"peanuts", you are a thief. Trying to tell me it's no big deal will say
volumes about you and will do nothing to change anyone's mind about it.

This is my final word on the matter for the season unless this becomes a
glaring problem a few months from now.
-- 
Luce Cruz