Criminals have never been known for their logic, ingenuity maybe, but not logic. So, it was only mildly strange to me as I was driving to work a couple days ago, when I saw three police officers in the driveway of a small suburban subdivision with about ten bottles of Tide on the roof of the suspect’s vehicle. Tide. As in, Tide Laundry Detergent. At first, I was confused; obviously this was a case of Tide theft. But I couldn’t think of any logical reason someone would steal Tide, maybe they’re going to sell it. Wait, who would buy Tide out of the back of a Cutlass? That doesn’t make sense.
Sweeping the Industry – Tide Theft
Then, a couple days ago, I’m reading through a collection of emails from D-D Daily and come across three related stories. Like this one – “The Tide Black Market. Why Criminals Can Sell Tide Detergent for Crack Cocaine” or this one – “Tide Thefts Sweeping the Retail Industry” now the randomness of yesterday’s small town police bust makes sense. I read a couple of the articles and basically, thieves are stealing those giant orange bottles of Tide and either selling them at a laundry mat for around $60 (I’m assuming this is their profit after selling one use portions out of the bottle. I’m not sure of the logistics of Tide trafficking, though,) or their trading them for $5-10 worth of drugs. Retailers are losing between $10-15,000 a month from Tide thefts, and have started using anti-theft devices in an attempt to thwart the theft.
Opportunistic Criminals – It’s Not Just Tide Theft
I thought I had heard it all at this point but then there’s the two men who were arrested in Georgia for stealing $65,000 worth of FROZEN CHICKEN WINGS from a cold storage facility where they worked. I love wings as much as the next girl and I had a ton last weekend during the Super Bowl, but what in the world are two men going to do with that much chicken?! My curiosity peaks and I read the story, I’m such a sucker, and apparently during the Super Bowl the demand and price for chicken wings are so high that there is a “chicken wing black market” for the Mom and Pop shops that can’t fill their orders. The men were arrested not long after the theft was noticed and are currently out on bond. There’s still no word on the whereabouts of the chicken wings.
If you asked me a week ago what the “trending items” for organised retail crime were, I can guarantee you that chicken wings and laundry detergent would have never crossed my mind. Are the Loss Prevention experts out there making theft of high value goods so difficult that thieves are turning their sights to items they think LP won’t notice? Are criminals getting more creative or more desperate?