This reminds me of a story I highlighted from Spain last year where activists stole food in bulk in order to bring it to a local food kitchen. In this case, a Georgia supermarket that was being evicted was forced to dump all of its fresh food into the trash as hundreds of hungry people watched in shock. Naturally, it was a bank that made the decision to trash the food. SunTrust bank to be specific. We learn:
In the hopes of obtaining free groceries, hundreds of Augusta, Ga. residents gathered in the parking lot of a shuttered supermarket Tuesday only to be pushed back by police overseeing disposal of the food into dumpsters.
Richmond County Marshal Steve Smith said that as a result of the store’s eviction the food belonged to the property’s owner, Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank. The bank asked authorities to dispose of the food that piled up in the store’s parking lot.
Onlookers, many holding plastic bags and storage containers in anticipation of a giveaway, watched in horror as food, furniture, and other household items were discarded like trash into dumpsters.
The merchandise was later disposed into area landfills.
Full article here.
In Liberty,
Mike
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“Sheriff Richard Roundtree told WISTV.com he was surprised a riot didn’t break out.”
I’m not. People have forgotten how to stand up for themselves.
This is also an example of cops being corporate cops. Bank should had to hire their own security if protecting their trash was an issue.
I blame our litigious society for this behavior. Had the bank given away the food, someone could have easily claimed they were sickened by “the bank’s food” and their “blatant disregard for my safety” and pursued “relief” via the deep pockets of the bank and its insurer. Is it a shame that good food went to waste? Absolutely. Would I have done the same thing as the bank employee tasked with the foreclosure? Sadly, yes.
No, not really. That’s what food banks are for, to aggregate “extra food” from disparate sources to disperse to those in need through various methods, agencies and charities, what have you. The good offices and due diligence of the food bank create a screen between the source and the consumer, should they happen to get a bad clam.
That the bank, SunTrust, didn’t have the presence of mind to utilize a food bank/second harvest sort of non-profit in this case is simply mind boggling. The damage to the banks reputation is immeasurable, and with unrest on its way like a train on a track, (destination sure, timing not so much) I sure would hate to be an executive of that sorry organization.
That’s the problem with freedom (in this case private property rights). Sometimes people don’t do what someone else may think is ‘right’. If you want a different outcome, feel free to use your resources to make a voluntary agreement with the present owner regarding the disposition of the property. Just because the property happens to be food rather than, say, diamond rings does not change the rights of the owner to dispose of it as he sees fit. Welcome to freedom.
True, but still a good reflection of the stone heart of bankers.
Actually, it appears they did try to donate the food and apparently they contacted a church.
From the article,
“subsequently offered the food to a local church.
However, the church never showed up to collect the goods Tuesday afternoon.”
I did read the article, earlier: It appears to me by the way it is phrased that the family that owned the failing supermarket, when told it was being evicted, attempted to get the food to a local church. But that the church, as you say, never got its act together to pick it up.
The article doesn’t say, though I am happy to be corrected, that the BANK attempted to utilize a food-pantry/foodbank/church facility. It appears to me that SunnTrust was prepared to let the family do it, but that once the property became theirs–and the food became their problem–they acted as we see.
I used the term mind boggling in a previous comment. Stuff like this goes viral. There’s no excuse for management, from a dollars and sense, community goodwill POV.
Dr. Hare is right: there are more psychopaths in the the executive suite than is representative in society.
Time for a run on SunTrust.
I would be surprised if that sentiment wasn’t expressed at every church service in Georgia this Sunday. Even the more so because Ken, above, is correct. Ownership confers the right of disposal: including the right of Georgians to take the money they own out of SunTrust put it elsewhere … all at once in a freaking flood of disapproval and coordinated shunning.
Were I a preacher I’d ask my congregation, “If not now, when?”
Amen to that!!! (-: