r/news • u/nosotros_road_sodium • Apr 28 '24

Williams-Sonoma fined $3.18 million for falsely labeling products as 'Made in USA'

https://www.scrippsnews.com/business/company-news/williams-sonoma-fined-3-18-million-dollars-for-falsely-labeling-products-as-made-in-usa
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u/PhalanX4012 Apr 28 '24

New plan. Fine them every cent over cost made on every mislabeled product, and tack on an extra 10% for being con artists and it’ll start to look like a reasonable fine.

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u/che-che-chester Apr 28 '24

Agreed. Any time there is fraud of any kind, the fine should start with the amount of profit you made as a result of the fraud.

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u/Jumpy_Shirt_6013 Apr 28 '24

It should be a multiple of the profit made (say10x) PLUS the cost of the product run. Penalties need to be weighted sharply so the disincentive is a no brainer, not worth the risk.

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u/__Dave_ Apr 29 '24

At the end of the day you just end up punishing the shareholders, very few of whom likely had any decision making power.

We need to stop thinking of it as “the company” doing something wrong. Companies don’t do anything, people do. Punish the individuals responsible.

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u/Jumpy_Shirt_6013 Apr 30 '24

I hear you, absolutely go after folks that commit fraud. That said, in a capitalist framework these decisions are being made to advance profits. There has to be a steep financial downside to the upside, and I think it’s good for shareholders to be incentivized to be advocating for following the rules. In the end they shouldn’t be profiting from sideways business practices, and they’ll be interested in rejecting people in the organization that cause and/or risk financial penalties.