If I catch you walking out with a case of soda unpunished, my morale is already "ruined" and that $20 is just an insult. That's not how you see things? Too bad. Morale is subjective.
The point here, which you missed, is that all these perks only work if everyone plays by a sane set of rules and doesn't try to stretch things to their advantage. Having free soda is fine. Playing games with what you're allowed to get away with wrecks things for all of us even if you never get punished.
But if they do catch the person taking the soda, is that the kind of person that you want working with you? Maybe it depends for you, but some people would be uncomfortable with that.
I've worked with psychopaths. Like, straight up would slaughter you in your sleep for your last dollar. So yeah, smuggling pop? I couldn't give less fucks.
And if you were working with clones of yourself, that would be a sensible argument. As it is, we're talking about the workplace as a whole. And dismissing the people who give more fucks as "whiners" is hardly helping. Basically: you're part of the problem, and one of the reasons companies find it hard to offer perks like this.
Cans of soda. That's what we're arguing about. Its a rounding error on a balance sheet. If you can't offer perks because you're worried you're going to lose less than what a decent cellphone plan for 1 person costs monthly, find somewhere else to work than tech. People are people, and getting bent out of shape over soda is insane.
The point here, which you missed, is that all these perks only work if everyone plays by a sane set of rules and doesn't try to stretch things to their advantage. Having free soda is fine. Playing games with what you're allowed to get away with wrecks things for all of us even if you never get punished.