Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/12/an-anarchist-community-booksto.html
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I don’t know what’s more disappointing, that someone did this, or that there was only $150 in the till.
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I was just here last year! Firestorm kicks ass and I just ordered a book from them a couple weeks ago. Guess I should order more.
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Also, no, we didn’t call the police. There really isn’t anything that law enforcement could do for us that we can’t do for ourselves
The don’t have insurance on the place?
The police may not do anything to solve the crime or recover the damages but their report is kinda needed if one is making a claim for the broken glass and property loss.
Anarchism doesn’t mean that you can’t rely on the services of a company for compensation for one’s likely forms of losses.*
*Nothing says “red flag” for property/casualty claims like either late notice or lack of a police report.
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The don’t have insurance on the place?
Probably the relatively small amount of the loss doesn’t meet their deductible anyway.
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That makes sense. But if they have a major loss the same year, the deductible will be taken from that one.
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Also not a fan of the over-application of incarceration. But part of the point of prosecution is to protect everyone else from falling victim to the same criminal. ‘Crime elsewhere!’ means additional undeserving victims of crime.
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I wouldn’t be completely shocked if they don’t have insurance or if they’d rather not deal with it if they don’t have to. I don’t think there are any other shops in the building and they use the downstairs space under the building for workshops, so they may own it outright.
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My wife and I happened upon this place a couple of years ago when we were visiting Asheville. It’s so lovely to accidentally wander into places like this and feel like you’ve discovered a precious artifact. This response doesn’t surprise me in the least.
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You’ve never had to go into a police station and BEG them to allow you to file a report so that you can take it to the insurance or credit card company as proof? And not always succeed?
If I’ve had repeated problems with that over the years, I can only imagine what it’s like for an anarchist bookstore.
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Not really. I never made a burglary claim. The last time I needed a police report was an auto accident. The police came to the scene.
Full disclosure: I work on the other end of the equation in property/casualty claims. When an auto or homeowner claim comes in without a signed police report and its for a major loss, that starts the whole Special Investigation Unit wheels turning.
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Probably not. With commercial property insurance, you have a per occurrence/per incidence deductible that ranges from $500-2500 on something like property & general liability. It’s not like with an individual’s medical insurance policy, where you have an annual deductible. Generally speaking, most policies like this are relatively inexpensive and very, very, very rarely used (like, we’re talking once every four years). They’re for fires/flooding/big thefts or a customer busting their ass in your store and suing you.
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I’m not sure how I managed to miss this. Firestorm is down the street from me, about a five minute walk from my house. I don’t shop there nearly as much as I should, but it’s such a great spot and I’m always glad it is there.
ETA I guess I need to make some online purchases, since they’re closed to business in the store right now.
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I think anarchists of the communist flavour (which these appear to be) might take issue with that.
I see what you did there?
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So even if you have a major loss that year, the deductible is not going to make a big difference. Fair enough.
I don’t want to pretend to speak for anyone here, but they could arguably take the view that, say, a Starbucks or a Apple store, that avoid paying any taxes and have all kinds of other unethical dealings, do deserve to be robbed.
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No, they deserve to be taxed.
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I agree with you on that. I don’t know what else to say 
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Wait… there’s a book store in Asheville I haven’t been too? Know where we’re going next time we head up there… Also, maybe we’ll order something online from them in the next week or two…
But good on them for living their values.
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Nice to know some businesses are sticking to their guns – like Top Dog in Berkeley, the libertarian/an-cap hot dog stand who refused to take any PPP money.
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