Suds for Drugs - Liquid Gold - The story behind the Tide push
Tide detergent: Works on tough stains. Can now also be traded for crack. A case study in American ingenuity, legal and otherwise. March 2011 - the ORC Unit of Prince George County Police receives it's first Tide ORC call. Where $10k to $15k was being stolen monthly from one Safewy store by more than two dozen thieves working in crews. As others heard about the case more retailers joined the investigation with reporting their loses as well. Since then, the oddly brand-loyal crime wave has gone national, striking bodegas, supermarkets, and big-box discounters from Austin to West St. Paul, Minnesota. In New York, employees at the Penn Station Duane Reade nabbed a man trying to abscond with Tide bottles he’d stuffed into a suitcase. In Orange County, an attempted Tide theft led to a high-speed chase that included the thief crashing his SUV into an ambulance. Last year, for the first time, detergent made the National Retail Federation’s list of most-targeted items. Says Joseph LaRocca, founder of the trade group RetailPartners, who helped compile the report: “Tide was specifically called out.”

Tide bottles have become ad hoc street currency, with a 150-ounce bottle going for either $5 cash or $10 worth of weed or crack cocaine. On certain corners, the detergent has earned a new nickname: “Liquid gold.” The Tide people would never sanction that tag line, of course. But this unlikely black market would not have formed if they weren’t so good at pushing their product. (Source nymag.com)

Two women stealing cart loads of merchandise from two Lincoln, Nebraska Walmarts.  The two suspects were apprehended by Lincoln Police as they attempted to push two carts full of merchandise valued at $2000 out of the Walmart store. Police and Walmart loss prevention were tipped off to the suspects because they had hit another area Walmart two hours earlier for approximately $1500 in merchandise. (Source 1011now.com)