Milk crate theft, is it really THAT bad?

Plastic milk crates, that staple of college student dorm room decor, are quite illegal to steal and use for your own purposes. As anyone who has pondered the warning printed on the side of the crate knows. But how bad is it really? Modern Farmer investigated the question and found out the answer is... "pretty bad, actually."

It turns out that theft for personal use is only about 5% of milk crate theft, and it's not a big deal to the industry. A much more serious problem is theft in order to resell the crates to recycling facilities for cash. Crazy!

Image courtesy Flickr/nicolececilia