Hacker News Reader

Comment by _cs2017_ | Hacker News Reader

_cs2017_·

In my experience, in major American cities, anything valuable left in plain view in a car is stolen within 30 minutes (and that requires breaking the car window or picking the lock). But you're saying that things dropped on the ground will not be stolen, and instead returned to the nearest police station if only there was one not too far?

Could you provide any arguments or evidence to support your claim?

View on HN

It’s not really something you prove. The stats speak for themselves right?

Anecdotaly, we’ve lost bags, bottles, wallets and phones, and everything has (so far) been returned.

Even a missing hat that had travelled all the way down to the end of the train line.

I also left our $200 Strider unattended in the park for several hours, you really don’t think about it too much.

Some friends and I went to a baseball game 2 hours early to get good unreserved seats in the fan club section. It was hot so we had worn only our jerseys and didn’t have jackets or anything to claim our seats. We left watches and smartphones on our seats, left the stadium for an hour to get food and beer. Our seats and stuff were still there when we returned.

Was all of that in major US cities?

Also when you refer to the stats, which particular statistics do you mean?

I'm pretty sure they're talking about Japan, not the US.

Even that's going to depend on the city you're in, and where you're at in the city.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com