Not really
It's an honesty box. No proper sales contract saying how much they are.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:06, 4 replies)

isn't this topic about "sticking it to the man"? As someone else pointed out, most of the stories amount to spending an awful lot of time and effort simply getting what you're entitled to - to actually stick it to the man, shouldn't the "sticker" be the one that comes out on top through means fair or foul?
(clinteastwoodbradfield, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:24, closed)

no
that's not what it means.

It means defying someone who is (or thinks they are) in a position of authority, and getting away with it.

You're just loading up with 10 quids worth of stuff, and paying 2p for it. That doesn't count at all.

And besides that, if the story isn't either amusing or has some charm to it, why bother?
( Not Pineapple anymore, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:30, closed)

Thus spake the internet opinion police.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:32, closed)

Says he who has a response to just about everything he doesn't personally agree with. Often in a nasty tone.
( DeadEyeDick, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:36, closed)

Yeah, but that's because I'm right about everything.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:38, closed)

he is an' all
I advise him on such.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 18:07, closed)

Sod off that was fair comment

(Moominator missing the good stuff cos' the swear filter is on, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 23:36, closed)

Erm,
If you consider WH Smiths to be then 'man' then yes. But What did they do to you, apart from their perceived overcharging? You are not obliged to buy from them, plenty of alternatives. Sorry just a little bored of this QOTW bringing so many stories of plain theft justifying itself as a result 'for the man on the street'. Seems the man on the street is an embittered tosspot.
( DeadEyeDick, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:35, closed)

Really? Because the legal def of "steal"
the wrongful or willful taking of money or property belonging to someone else with intent to deprive the owner of its use or benefit either temporarily or permanently

Sounds like he deprived WHSmith of the benefit of profit on the transaction.

Tell you what, give it a go and see if your defence stands up in court.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:47, closed)

Oh come on,
Yes, you can technically not call it theft.

But lets be honest, it's wrong. plain and simple.
Handing over 2p for a shitload of mags is not the actions of an honest individual.
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:55, closed)

I was saying it was theft

( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:57, closed)

My bad
I replied incorrectly to your post, sorry.

I was bound to fuck up eventually on here.
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 17:05, closed)

No probs

( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 17:07, closed)

.
Where's the proper sales contract when you buy something inside WHSmiths?
( Not Pineapple anymore, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 16:51, closed)

Seeing an item on the shelf
is the "invitation to treat". Picking something up and taking it to the till counts as an offer to enter a contract. It does not have to be in writing or otherwise.
You can then enter a counter offer which will be limited to paying for it, or putting it back on the shelf.

The contract is then acted upon once they take your money for it.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 21 Jun 2010, 18:15, closed)

.
Yeah, I did O level economics too.

The point was, what is the difference between the magazines outside the shop, and those inside, in terms of the requirement to pay for them?
( Not Pineapple anymore, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 8:48, closed)

yeah, there is. It's written on the front of the magazine. you want the magazine, you pay the contracted price.
walking to the honesty box consists just as much as entering into a contract as walking to the till. It's just another method of paying, like self-service tills are. It's still straight theft. The only way you could argue otherwise is if you could successfully claim that you were unaware of the prices of the items concerned. At which point the legal argument is that the onus lies with you, as the purchaser, to establish the cost, nice try son, still theft and have an extra fine/few hours community service for wasting the court's time and trying to be a smug cunt.

Otherwise we could all gleefully walk out of any shop we liked with something and claim that we didn't know the cost and assumed it was free.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 9:25, closed)