from Hacker News

The Baby-Formula Crime Ring (2018)

by aleyan on 3/3/21, 2:11 PM with 83 comments

  • by jostmey on 3/3/21, 7:43 PM

    I remember baby formula from Amazon arriving with the tamper seal opened. I immediately realized what happened. Someone purchased baby formula, used it, filled it with powder, sold it at the Amazon market place, and then Amazon shipped it to me (Amazon thought the tampered product was indistinguishable from its factory purchased products). I stopped ordering anything food related from Amazon.

    Pay attention to the tamper seal. That's all I could do. I bought all my formula direct at the grocery store after my Amazon experience

  • by bluedino on 3/3/21, 8:49 PM

    My son had a bad reaction to regular formula, so we're stuck with using Enfamil Nutramigen. It's about $44 a can at Target or Walmart, and he goes through just over a can a week.

    I've went on their website and mailed in the slip to get coupons, but they never send us any for this particular formula, just the other varieties. They are fairly valuable coupons, so we give them friends who can use them.

    We are fortunate enough to be able to afford it, but it'd be nice to get a discount on what's basically $200/month.

    One tip we've found is to ask the pediatrician's office for samples, they'll give us a couple small cans or bottles of ready-to-use formula when we ask.

  • by das4119 on 3/4/21, 1:49 AM

    So the government does its thing via WIC and distorts the market. The price goes up as the price-sensitive portion of the market disappears. Why wouldn't crime take advantage of this?

    Alternative restated question: where are the competitors working to lower the price in a functioning economic dynamic? Enjoying the profits of a distorted market.

  • by mickeypi on 3/3/21, 11:37 PM

    Another reason to breastfeed, if that's a viable option for the parents.

  • by analog31 on 3/4/21, 12:39 AM

    Some years ago, I noticed at my supermarket, that the baby formula was kept under lock and key, next to the cigarettes. I asked myself: "Now who's going to steal baby formula, when anybody who can't afford it is probably on assistance." Then I read this article.

  • by madcaptenor on 3/3/21, 7:58 PM

    Based on the date, it looks like I literally missed this article because I was standing in the aisle of a grocery store trying to decide which formula to buy for my three-day-old baby.

  • by dang on 3/3/21, 11:11 PM

    Discussed at the time:

    The baby formula crime ring - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17009675 - May 2018 (17 comments)

  • by hristov on 3/4/21, 4:00 AM

    It is a bit disappointing, that in what we consider to be an advanced capitalist economy there are these pockets of exorbitantly high prices.

  • by fredrikholm on 3/3/21, 7:52 PM

    Genuine question: Is living in America as horrible as it sounds for the average, non-rich citizen?

    Impression I get from the media:

        * Education sets you in semi-if-not-permanent debt.

    * Housing is impossibly expensive.

    * Single hospital visit can be thousand of dollars.

    * Critical medication is hundreds of dollars a month (or more).

    * Unpaid, (effectively) mandatory overtime. 

    * Many people work several jobs (as adults).

    * No paid vacation.

    * No paid maternal leave.

    * No paid paternal leave.

    * Paternal leave is taboo/strange.

    * Maternal leave is weeks/month or two.
    From the outside, it sounds like your average American is living in 1930s Poland, not the land of the free.

  • by codr7 on 3/3/21, 7:46 PM

    Alternatively, don't feed your baby processed crap food.