Why tide theft

And some enterprising thieves even make money by reselling the bottles to stores. Manufacturers are considering using radio frequency identification chips, so stolen bottles can be tracked.

You can help, too. If you see a vendor at a swap meet with bottles of Tide, or 50 boxes of fabric softener, or any other new product, shop elsewhere. And if fewer people buy stolen goods, the thieves will have fewer reasons to steal it. Search Results Sorry about that, no articles matching ' ' were found.

Health Most Stolen Item? Most of the people stealing the detergent, Sergeant Thompson points out, are the same criminals who used to break into houses or mug pedestrians—male addicts whose need to feed their habits can foster a kind of innovative streak. They are creative. Theft convictions can come with a maximum fifteen-year prison sentence, but the penalty for shoplifting is often just a small fine, with no jail time.

For stores, stopping Tide shoplifting presents unique challenges. Most frequently stolen goods—GPS devices, smartphones, and other consumer electronics—are pricey, light, and easily concealed. Nor is relying on clerks to head off suspected thieves a realistic option. Cashiers and stockists, working for low pay, are often disinclined to confront a potential criminal.

Some stores have tried attaching tracking stickers to bottles to establish their provenance, only to find that thieves just wash them off. In his investigation, Thompson realized that since the supply of Tide would be hard to curb, he had to figure out how to stem the illicit demand. Working from leads provided by inmates and parolees offering to share details about their own Tide dealings in exchange for a good word with their judge or parole officer, he and his fellow officers pieced together a loose network of middlemen—barbershops, nail salons, and drug houses that were taking in bottles to either sell on the side to their clients or at a deep discount to willing corner stores and pawn shops.

Despite its popularity, Tide is not a big moneymaker for stores. Only so much of that can be passed on to customers. In general, a retailer clears just a few percentage points on a Tide purchase. Chain stores also wind up in resale schemes. Rather than stock large surpluses of popular items, those businesses often rely on so-called perpetual-inventory systems to electronically record sales data and relay it to manufacturers, which stagger deliveries accordingly.

When a bottle of Tide is taken from a store without being rung up, a crucial step gets skipped, leading to shipment delays. And when that happens, some store managers place stopgap orders with local wholesalers who may be less than rigorous about where they obtain their products or from fencing rings that employ their own sales teams and maintain legitimate-looking websites.

Plenty are just looking to fill their shelves. Our Network. In-Depth Coverage. Cyberattacks are surging. These banks are merging.