...is not illegal. It's not theft. I learned this from neighborhood email today.
Last night a stranger rummaged through a recycling bin at the curb. When chased down the alley and confronted, he confessed he was looking for charge-card receipts in shopping bags. The FWPD sez it's no crime to be a trash-picker. If it's at the curb, it's not yours any more. I say, "duh" and "oh did you mean to keep it and just threw it away on accident?"
The neighbor's post suggested don't put trash out the night before. I might add, "How hard is it to keep receipts out of your trash?" And "why are you so possessive of your garbage?"
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Trying again to comment... Yes, it's trash, but I think it feels like an invasion of your privacy for someone to dig through your trash bins. Like you, I'm careful with receipts and private info -- be sure to be careful what you put in your paper recycling too. your sis in MD
ReplyDeleteThe rag pickers will always be with us--sometimes they just want the chicken bone or the old t-shirt, sometimes they want ID to steal. I prefer to take care of the ID issue within the confines of my own home (where it would be an actual crime to come in and steal) and allow those who are forced to degrade themselves a chance to pick through my trash.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the neighborhood email seems to assume the worst without actual proof.
Or was this one of those hyperbolic "warnings" forwarded through multiple email addresses, continents and even the time/space continuum?
They usually end with "send this email to everyone you know."
Well, I know a few people who've clothed themselves from the trash of others....
cath
See the excruciating detail a handful of legal minds in our two neighborhoods put into this, which I posted on July 4.
ReplyDeleteYes, Cath, folks in my 'hood (Mistletoe Heights) have tinges of paranoia because they are the "haves" of the world, or appear that way to the "havenots".
Once I wrote a nasty reply to an email warning of a new "scam" in which a man was going around, going up to people, maybe even to front doors and asking for money. I pointed out this is not a scam, the man was a beggar. Not new, people asking for money. Not a scam--it's a straight-up deal. "I need money; will you give me some?" No car-broke-down story. Simply asking for money.
Of course it didn't make the cut with the gatekeeper of email and never saw the light of day.
Claudia