Forget iPads, Tide Laundry Detergent is the New Hotness For Theives

Who knew there was a thriving black market for premium detergent like Tide?

If you’re the laundry handler in your household, you probably know the stuff doesn’t come cheap- I recently balked at spending $20 on Tide (which admittedly smells like fairy dust, sunshine and sparkling meadow clippings) at Costco, and it seems another contingent aside from mommy bloggers has caught on to Tide’s charms- thieves. A new report indicates that along with razors and pregnancy tests, Tide detergent may be the next item retailers place in plastic security shelves in order to deter thievery- which kind of makes you wonder how anyone could boost the stuff, being as it’s so freaking heavy.

The New York Post reports that thefts of Tide are way up, outstripping many other frequently-lifted items as a major source of loss for retailers. And more interestingly, the thieves are all brand loyal to the recognizable detergent, as West St. Paul, Minnesota police chief Bud Shaver tells the Post, remarking upon one brazen soap-robber who shoplifted $25,000 worth of Tide:

“That was unique that he stole so much soap… The name brand is [all] Tide. Amazing, huh?”

Weirdly, cops tell the paper that the black market for Tide detergent is heavily linked up with the drug trade, though the connection is not necessarily clear to readers:

“They’ll do it right in front of a cop car — buying heroin or methamphetamine with Tide,” said Detective Rick Blake of the Gresham Police Department. “We would see people walking down the road with six, seven bottles of Tide. They were so blatant about it.”

Is theft of Tide detergent a problem in your area?