It's a massive black market yes, if you want to steal something and you cold choose its always power tools. They are expensive and easy to sell. Just talk to working class people who do labour and they will explain you further.

There are organized retail theft groups who hit stores very hard. Then there's the construction site and from the truck theft. Tradespeople invest heavily into their tools and rendering them useless if stolen is a desired feature. Even the toolbox to store them is often very expensive, especially if it's the Milwaukee Packout system that is optimized for jobsite productivity.

> Are there really so many people casually stealing a giant box with a heavy power-tool

Sadly, yes there are.

lol its very meta.. we'll need a right to repair our own tools soon

We should be building our tools that build our own things. This is the only way that humanity can collectively own its own future.

The right to repair is absolutely critical, but we should be using our right to build, to build a fairer future.