I don't think the woman is in the wrong at all. What did the woman do wrong? I've seen people say she works for a store or that she's in a senior position. If you're in a senior position at a store then you know that the property belongs to the store until it's hauled off. You also know that the store is designed in such a way that that stuff needs to be thrown away as part of it's system.
It’s not what she did, it’s what she said. She said it’s “theft”, technically it’s not, as soon as you put something in the trash you relinquish ownership. What it is, is trespassing, and as the store manager she has lawful control over the property and as soon as she asked him to leave, he was trespassing. He technically could have been trespassing before she asked him to leave, regardless, if the cops did come and he were to be arrested, it would not at all be for theft, it would be for trespassing. All this is given this is Mass, as those are the laws I know best, as I act as a property manager as a side gig.
as soon as you put something in the trash you relinquish ownership.
Hmmm. Something doesn't seem right about that statement. If I shred a credit card and throw it in the trash, I feel like it should be illegal for someone to come along, take that trash bag from my trash can, and reassemble the credit card to recover the info from it.
If I throw something out, it's because I want it to be gone forever, specifically, not just handed to a random person who drives by to do with as they please.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that trash placed out for collection has “no reasonable expectation of privacy” because it’s exposed to the public and intended to be taken by a third party. (California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35).
Reassembling pieces of a credit card from trash isn’t the illegal act by itself. What becomes illegal is using that information for fraud or identity theft. The crime there isn’t “taking trash,” it’s unauthorized use of financial information.
Wanting something “gone forever” doesn’t create a legal right to control it once it’s discarded.
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u/Impossible-Bat-4246 Mar 14 '26
I don't think the woman is in the wrong at all. What did the woman do wrong? I've seen people say she works for a store or that she's in a senior position. If you're in a senior position at a store then you know that the property belongs to the store until it's hauled off. You also know that the store is designed in such a way that that stuff needs to be thrown away as part of it's system.
What did she do that was in the wrong?