When I checked into a hotel in California, I was starving, so I ate the $6 box of Oreos from the minibar. Later that day, I walked down the street to a convenience store, bought an identical box for $2.50 and replenished the minibar before the hotel had a chance to restock it. Was this proper? My view is “no harm, no foul.” In fact, my box was fresher; the Oreos I ate were going to expire three months before the box I replaced them with.
-DAVID LAT, NEW YORK
Hmmm. David Lat. David Lat. Where have I seen that name before.
Cohen’s view, of course, is that this conduct is reprehensibly wrong.
Cohen’s view, of course, is that this conduct is reprehensibly wrong.
The hotel is providing not just a product but also a service — the convenience of having Oreos available in your room, 24/7. To create this utopia of constant confectionery access, the hotel had to pay someone to travel the world and select the finest vintage cookies, order the Oreos and stock the minibar. You enjoyed that service; you must pay the (ridiculously high) price.Of course, Cohen neglects to take into account the value of Lat’s service of going to the store to replenish the almost-stale Oreos. Or maybe not.
David Lat. That name sounds so familiar.
Update: Lat confesses.
just got slapped down by The Ethicist (Randy Cohen of the New York Times), for Oreo thievery – http://bit.ly/8Olp3K
This is a wonderful example of the difference between the letter of a contract, and the spirit.
On one side, he did eat the cookies, so he in effect purchased them, and the ones he put in the fridge are still legally his. On the other, the fridge’s contents have not changed overall, or if you take the freshness into account, improved. It all boils down to whether the contract forbids this practice, even though it is hardly enforceable.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some hotels start to, or already have, practice some way to tell, like stamping all the items not custom ordered, even though the cost-benefit ratio of “catching” this practice is way out of balance, having to put man-hours into the stamping, as well as having to check the every piece of the contents every time, and errors would surely arise. It’s like bringing your own drink to a restaurant, some would consider it stealing, it’s mildly rude, but there’s no advantage of alienating an otherwise model customer.