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

All of you who do not understand should consider looking at the chemical makeup of the product. You have no idea what it can be used for, and if you find out, do not post it here, as it would most likely be a violation of T&C.

Chemistry is key here.

This makes no sense.... Someone had to have come up with a way to break this down for something used to create it. Anyone around here have a chemistry background? What is in Tide..and apparently only Tide as a brand...that can be extracted for use in another application? Drugs? Explosives? Some other chemical use where the real product is MUCH higher than this?

I shook my head over a full blown epidemic of Cargo hijacks and trailer thefts of Enfamil Baby Formula I used to haul to the West Coast. Made no sense...until I finally learned the retail cost of each container in my trailers. That stuff was more valuable than Gold for the ease to sell and need to buy among that segment who wouldn't hesitate getting Baby formula that way.

Tide though?? It's not cheap..and everybody uses it. Everybody doesn't use THAT much of it though...talk about a one trick pony. It's like trying to peddle dish soap. We all NEED it...but how often are we needing MORE of it? Has to be something in the makeup they're extracting.

Edit Added:

Quantum...believe it or not, I really must have been typing this while you were posting yours. lol.... Perhaps you have a good point though. I'd be interested to know if a Chemist has the answer, but detailing the answer likely isn't for the best.

Originally posted by CALGARIAN
It's the powder, correct, not the liquid soap?..

If so, there has been a lot of talk online about people snorting Bath Salt to get the same effects as harder drugs, so maybe the same with powder Tide?

Balth salt was just a labeling change made to get what you are talking about into the country. They were not actualy "bath salts".

People are stealing shampoo here.

That's it.

Clothing shampoo.

They are stealing it because it is valuable.

The human race is dooomed.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
This makes no sense.... Someone had to have come up with a way to break this down for something used to create it. Anyone around here have a chemistry background? What is in Tide..and apparently only Tide as a brand...that can be extracted for use in another application? Drugs? Explosives? Some other chemical use where the real product is MUCH higher than this?

Nothing.

Link to PDF.

Not only is there no rare, hard to get chemicals in the ingredient list, the mixture would be a pain to separate. Even if there was, depending on what you were trying to extract, it would be a headache.

People are stealing laundry soap.

reply to post by Flavian


My thought is that there must be something in the soap that terrorist are stockpiling to use.. im not even a fear monger-er this is just suspicious...

reply to post by CALGARIAN


People do not snort normal bath salt. It is a nickname for stimulants that you can buy at a headshop called "bathsalt" but it is really mephedrone and others..
en.wikipedia.org...

Laundry detergent is a necessity and honestly, Tide does the trick. It gets clothes clean. Don't think I'd steal for it
though. But if its a huge part of your monthly budget and you need to feed your kids...

Originally posted by boncho

People are stealing laundry soap.

You're probably right. I did spend abit trying to look up what is in Tide and it has chemicals. Many many of them. A few that could be reactive if pure...and all by themselves when mixed with something entirely different and... Well, you're making a good point. There is nothing in there that would likely justify the process of pulling it out, that I can see......

I guess I just find it hard to believe we've come to this and stealing at these quantities, It's not like making the stuff is a hard thing or requires some secret ancient knowledge. Heck, for the fun of it, I looked to see if I could find something that didn't even require the more formal steps to make the ingredients themselves.

Hundreds of loads of laundry soap for under $10

We're in serious trouble when people would risk jail and criminal records with all that brings for a lifetime over something any grade schooler could make in their own kitchen for pennies on the dollar.

Originally posted by morder1
How do you make it out of the store with a big jug of tide???

Must be employees stealing it or something... How could security cameras not catch people putting a gallon of tide down their pants?

Cant say ive had anyone trying to sell me tide off the black market

EDIT: Went through and read the whole article... Guess it answers my question

Most thieves load carts with dozens of bottles, then dash out the door. Many have getaway cars waiting outside.

edit on 13-3-2012 by morder1 because: (no reason given)

Our local Wal-Marts have done away with "Greeters" (aka receipt checkers) in an effort to save money, because if there's anything Wal-mart needs to do, it's penny pinch. Since large bottles of Tide don't generally get bagged, people here can walk right out with several bottles and there's no one to stop them. Especially if they make a few normal/smaller purchases through the self-checkout (another unsupervised money saving effort Wal-marts are doing now.)

I'm sure people are able to achieve this same level of simple success in other stores as well.

The question still remains however; why? Are people stocking up for a shtf scenario, or are they using it to make some sort of new "street drug"? Who the hell knows? All I know is there's a lot of "peaceful looting going on around the nation."

reply to post by KillerQueen


I was born and raised in Philadelphia and I've never seen or heard of this and we do have some very dodgy characters in the city.

However I did live in Pittsburgh for a couple years for a job (terrible city by the way, don't recommend it unless you are partying at Pitt) and there were lots of people that would walk around my neighborhood selling toothpaste, razors, qtips, tampons, etc. Out of book bags. First time someone said to me " hey, need to score some toothpaste" I replied " is that some stupid Pittsburgh code for heroin?" but he pulled out a legit tube of aqua fresh.

Weird times we live in.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I had recently moved for work. The city I was in previously used Gillette Fusion replacement blades as currency. Most stores attached alarms to them but I still saw someone attempt to steal and get apprehended. These were valued because something that fits in your pocket was worth $20.

I don't know if we should be giving the laundry mafia any ideas though...

Looking at some more replies I think people let their imaginations run wild. Right now people are desperate for work/money mire so than usual. There are likely less people spending money on street drugs, or more people trying to sell. So people get creative... Why not sell a product that everyone needs, uses, trusts...

I don't think there is any conspiracy here, just good ol' fashioned street entrepreneurship.

15 trillion in bailout money, a bazzilion dollars of opium from Afghanistan, plane loads of coke being flown into the country VIA CIA planes, skids of money in Iraq, several trillion lost the day before 911, trillions of dirty money in the house of lords...

thats a lot of money to launder...what you thought they would BUY the soap???

they are psyco habitual carreer criminals
they got pride too

I have a reliable source that tells me that the Tea Party is behind the recent thefts of Tide. Apparently, they want to wash the OWS cloths, but can not afford the outrageous cost of detergent.

I bet it is somehow being manufactured into some kind of dope. On the other hand However, as expensive as it is no wonder it is being stolen!

Wow
Once your septum is blown out you can put anthing in there

_______________________

The Tides have turned
. . . more than likely an inside job, a trailer load
would be worth thousands, a write-off for insurance,
and profit for another chain-store.

_______________________

It appears to me like Tide is the new underground currency. I can see why they chose an expensive brand, they had to pick something with a strong reputation and solid value, so they decided on the "Tide Standard". However, I'm not really sure why they chose a detergent. It would have been smarter to use an item which is harder to forge. I could buy a bunch of cheap detergent and fill up a bunch of empty Tide bottles, and make a hefty profit. Doing so would mean I've just created fraudulent units of Tide currency, and if the practice became wide spread the value of "street Tide" would quickly drop.

Cant there be something better our tax dollars can pay for instead of soap patrol...i mean cmon....how bogus is this..., but on the second hand...it might be a fun job patrolling the streets in a TIDE PATROL car...lol probably good hours, and great pay...seeing how most of you will be paying for it..

There are some quality puns to be had in this thread.

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