It’s a dirty job: Police nationwide take on soaring Tide detergent theft

[clearvision]

The Daily:

Law enforcement officials across the country are puzzled over a crime wave targeting an unlikely item: Tide laundry detergent.

 

Theft of Tide detergent has become so rampant that authorities from New York to Oregon are keeping tabs on the soap spree, and some cities are setting up special task forces to stop it. And retailers like CVS are taking special security precautions to lock down the liquid.

 

One Tide taker in West St. Paul, Minn., made off with $25,000 in the product over 15 months before he was busted last year.

 

“That was unique that he stole so much soap,” said West St. Paul Police Chief Bud Shaver. “The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh?”

 

Tide has become a form of currency on the streets. The retail price is steadily high — roughly $10 to $20 a bottle — and it’s a staple in households across socioeconomic classes.

 

Tide can go for $5 to $10 a bottle on the black market, authorities say. Enterprising laundry soap peddlers even resell bottles to stores.

 

“There’s no serial numbers and it’s impossible to track,” said Detective Larry Patterson of the Somerset, Ky., Police Department, where authorities have seen a huge spike in Tide theft. “It’s the item to steal.”

 

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I was checking to see if it was April today.

[clearvision]

Hmmm. Is Tide safety sealed? If not, just collect empties fill with $5 dollar generic and resell to the "street". Very strange story.

[nickydog]

Which reminds me -- how did the bathtub laundry go with the new pods, or whatever they are, @Rokke?

[nickydog]

Hmmm. Is Tide safety sealed? If not, just collect empties fill with $5 dollar generic and resell to the "street". Very strange story.

 

I thought the same thing. I don't think any soap product is safety sealed.

[Draggingtree]

clearvision

If I wasn’t reading this article about Tide here I’ll just laugh and think it was a joke (unbelievable)

[SrWoodchuck]

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”- Bill Shakespeare, 1564-1616

 

[Valin]

PJ Tater: It Must be True. I Read It on the Internets

 

You’ve probably heard the report that has swept the internet in the last 24 hours about how Tide laundry detergent is being stolen off the shelves of our stores in record numbers. The problem has gotten so bad that some cities have set up special task forces to combat the problem.

 

It’s a great story. Too bad it’s not true.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Or maybe that's what they want us to think!

[clearvision]

It certainly seemed too strange to be true. But hate that a major outlet like FOX gets caught.

[SrWoodchuck]

It certainly seemed too strange to be true. But hate that a major outlet like FOX gets caught.

 

@clearvision

 

A comment from your link:

 

1. Buzzsawmonkey

 

I blame the Tides Foundation.

 

March 13, 2012 - 3:09 p

 

It all comes out in the wash........

[nickydog]

I thought it was because everyone saw how well Tide cleaned up the NASCAR mess a couple of weeks ago.