Tesla victim of a massive theft

The Giga Tesla in Berlin, while being an ultra-modern and secure complex, has not escaped a large-scale theft.

The heist might be amusing if it weren’t of such magnitude that it forced Tesla to respond vigorously. Strikes, harassment, workplace accidents… the daily life of such an industrial unit is anything but calm water, but one would certainly not expect a problem of missing mugs to reach such proportions. Yet we are talking about 65,000 missing mugs! Statistically, that means that on average, each Berlin Tesla employee has five stolen Ikea mugs at home… We all have taken a small item like an ashtray or a pen bearing the insignia of a place we visited. A little innocent theft to leave a small stone in our memories. But for the Berlin mugs, we are not talking about the very nice collector insulated mugs for 35 euros bearing the Tesla logo but rather common containers bought in bulk from IKEA. Models costing just a few cents without any interest.

The Tesla Mug That Hides a Forest of Troubles

During a turbulent staff meeting, the factory director threatened to remove all utensils and supplies from the break rooms if the thefts did not stop. When clumsiness plays a role, it’s never good, as he was understandably hit with a barrage of unyielding criticism from employee representatives who reminded him of the disproportion between the value of the loot and the company’s profits. It makes one wonder if the unions have something to do with this.

This story would be insignificant if it weren’t occurring in a context of very high tensions around the site. A primary target for environmental activists, it has already been shut down for more than a week due to electrical sabotage. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has also revealed his intention to eliminate 10% of the jobs among the approximately 12,000 at the German factory. The threat of losing one’s job carries much more weight than the need to bring one’s own mug to work.

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