it’s hard to have a moral compass when your stomach is empty. even if that’s not the case you will always have bad actors. always.
the question is: who has the right incentives to stop this kind of behavior?
the question is: who has the right incentives to stop this kind of behavior?
This is far from a "stealing bread to eat" situation. Jessica isn't scamming people for basic needs, she's conning people for luxury items.
If it were about simply putting food on the table, she'd be reselling everything after she reviewed them, instead of leaving them in a pile in some corner.
As opposed to buying food with the money which OP is implying by saying her stomach is empty.
> “I’m pretty sure I’m at a 10% loss. But I’m okay with it, because I’ve gotten a whole bunch of new stuff.”
The cheap crap is the payment. She's not making much on reselling them, either:
> Jessica gives away many of the items she reviews, and she has made about $150 by selling products on Facebook Marketplace. She’s donated clothes that don’t fit and handed off the rest to family members or friends.
However, she should probably be paying income tax on the value of the items she receives because they are payment for her labor in writing fake reviews. If she’s actually paying taxes on the income, then she could easily be losing money.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/model-estimates/impact-itemi...
She could probably resell some of the stuff for money, even at a fraction of the price she's make a little since she got it for free, but it doesn't sound like she's doing that.
She is not doing this because she's starving. Anyone who can front-load $2800 (as she gets paid several weeks, to months, afterward from the sellers) can certainly afford to feed herself. Besides, you can't eat an outdoor plastic bird bath.
To her this is most likely a game... I get it, it's fun, and you get a bunch of random stuff that you don't pay for! As mentioned in the article, "it's Christmas every day". Who doesn't like getting packages?
> “I really don’t think I’m making money on it at all. I’m pretty sure I’m losing money,” Jessica said while looking over her spreadsheet. “I’m pretty sure I’m at a 10% loss. But I’m okay with it, because I’ve gotten a whole bunch of new stuff.”
it’s true that good people are not resolving to this crappy behavior. it’s also true that are a lot of people that do cheat the system.
bottom line, this is a systematic issue and until the right incentives are in place this problem is not going to just fix itself.
If she worked 15 hours/week part-time for minimum wage, she'd have more spendable income (about $6500), than the benefits she gets from $15,000/year worth of merchandise. Of course, if she turns around and ebays this for, say $5,000, she won't have to report the income and can still collect maximum food stamp and housing aid benefits, which no doubt she does.