Question:
Lichvod HaRav
In Eretz Yisroel in many areas there is something called Mishnas Yosef. It is a special sale at discounted price, many people use it.
The way it works is, you order in advance what you want, and on Wednesday you go and pick it up.
The sale officially starts at 7:15pm, however, often the food is already there from earlier on in the day.
Is it considered stealing to take before the official start time?
Please advise, and if it is considered stealing, what teshuvah can be done.
Good Shabbos
Answer:
Hello,
You should not take from the sale before the correct time, and yes it is geneiva. The reason is because the products are owned by the seller until the buyer makes a kinyan on it, and the seller does not allow the buyer to take it yet, until the specified and agreed time.
As a side point, I am very familiar with Mishnas Yosef, and when people take their order early, it causes hurt the seller in a number of ways. First of all, when the head of the "tachana" takes inventory, they will get a wrong count, causing irtems to get lost in the inventory. Secondly, the order has to be done specifically with the paper that Mishnas Yosef gives out, as very often people make mistakes. When people take their order without their paper, Mishnas Yosef ends up losing money from products that weren't taken, or when someone takes items that weren't ordered. Another problem that this causes, is that when taking one's order early, the boxes and products get mixed up, and it causes difficulty to the manager of the tachana. Additionally you won't always find everything that you ordered, as often not everything has yet arrived and therefore you won't take everything, and later the person will even ask for a refund.
In short, while the customer doesn't realize, what he is causing, taking one's order early causes a number of difficulties to those running the tachana, and therefore to Mishnas Yosef.
Regarding teshuva, from now on don't take you order early, unless you have specific permission.
Best wishes
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