When I checked into a hotel in California, I was starving, so I ate the $6 box of Oreos from the minibar. Later I walked to the corner store, bought an identical box for $2.50, and restocked the minibar. Was this ethical? My view is “no harm, no foul.” In fact, my box was fresher: The Oreos I ate were set to expire three months before the box I replaced them with. —David Latt, New York
I DISAGREE. 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 classic cookies. Then it had to order the Oreos and stock the minibar. You enjoyed that service; you must pay the (ridiculously high) price.
—Adapted from ‘The Ethicist’ in The New York Times Magazine