Parcel theft with new precision – Freight trains are now being looted in the USA

You only believe some things when you see them with your own eyes; And then you no longer believe those eyes because what you see there is so wild and unimaginable that your mind tells you: No, such a thing cannot happen! You’re standing on this bridge in downtown Los Angeles, with freight train tracks underneath, and there it is: tens of thousands of packages, stolen from trains passing here, looted and dumped away.

“What a sight,” says someone who also stands on the bridge and also sees the contrast – miles of hills made of empty parcel boxes in front of palm trees and the Los Angeles skyline: “Please don’t forget: this is not a third world country. This is the USA This, the letter says, is a country that loves to celebrate itself for its greatness and seldom sticks to that claim.

The spectacle symbolizes the situation in this country and perhaps capitalism itself, and it all gets worse when you come down to the railways; You can then see what gets stolen: Rapid Covid tests, for example, There is currently a shortage in Los Angeles, parents of schoolchildren paying up to $35 per test. Medicines torn from the package. clothes. jewelry. Electronic equipment. Thieves leave behind other things: toilet paper, dog food, shampoo. There, among the empty cans. Apparently not worth it.

“It’s just things from before Christmas to now,” Luis Barrosas says. He works for the Union Pacific railroad company. On Sunday afternoons, he and his colleagues clear out trash tracks and load everything into the vehicles. They do this every month, most recently on December 14, and that makes this scene even more dramatic: Everything lying there has only been dumped in the past 35 days. The day before, a freight train of 17 cars derailed at this point; It is still not clear if this is caused by litter on the rails, but it is very possible.