Best of the web: If it's on the street, is it up for grabs?

The Wairarapa Resource Centre. Photo / File

Online readers fiercely debated whether people were stealing if they took donated goods from outside charity shops.

Trudie Jones, shop manager at the Wairarapa Resource Centre in Masterton, said people were taking the best items from donations dropped off after hours which stopped the opshop from making money.

She also suspected professional thieves were taking donations and selling them on.

Some readers said they shouldn't be left on the street and the people taking the items might be desperate.

Heather Bissett said: "It's hardly stealing. Shouldn't be left in the street."

Tonianne Rose said: "Who the hell in their right mind would 'steal' a second-hand mattress if they didn't need it."

Tulletha Pollett-Scott did not see it as theft and said she donated things so that those who needed it the most, benefited from lower priced goods at opshops.

"I feel that if it was a purchased item, by the business then YES fair call on it being theft, but if it's something given away, I don't see it as being that big a deal,

"I know the Sallys were overwhelmed by stuff after new year so much so they had nowhere to store it anyway, they were practically wanting people to TAKE it away.

"If it all goes back to those IN NEED at the end of the day , what difference does it make?

"I feel the difference in this case is a loss of money (which the business would otherwise not have anyway if it wasn't dropped off in first place)."

Others said it was theft.

Kirsty Helen Lewis said: "If it is not yours to take then it is stealing. These goods are clearly left at the Resource Centre for sale by the centre not anybody else."

Jo Waitoa-Hall said: "These businesses exist to contribute to the community and those in need.

"It's one thing if people are taking things because they need it but another if they're selling them to make a profit."

Ted And Jackie Dalby said: "It's theft because it's not theirs ... worse still if the thieves are selling it ... dirtbags.

"Besides that ... the people are donating it to the resource centre exactly for the reason that they can sell it to make money for helping the community and helping people with work experience ... don't try and justify criminal behaviour."