Liquid Gold

     I found an interesting article on the internet today regarding the rise in the theft of Tide detergent from retailers.  This is not because there is a rise in the amount of laundry people are doing.  Some authorities are saying this is because of the tough economy and the rise in inflation that has gripped this nation in the last few months.  Thieves are targeting this particular brand of detergent because it is readily identifiable because of the orange bottle and it also the top end of the product line.  There was one thief who stole over $15000 worth of this product before he was apprehended.
     Authorities are saying this might be the new form of drug currency.  Do this mean that the drug market is cleaning up its act?  Just kidding.  Retailers are trying to combat these thefts by locking up the product just like you would for high end electronic products.  Pretty bad when you have to find a store employee to open a cage in order for the average citizen to buy a bottle of Tide in order to go home and wash their clothes.  An average bottle sells for $5-$10 on the black market according to current estimates.  There are also retailers who are putting a security tag on the bottles just like you do for computer games.  If you try to walk out of the doors of the store the alarm would go off.  That doesn't make me any happier about shopping.  I hate it when I go through the checkout lanes and even though they swipe the article over that magnetic thing and yet the alarm goes off when you walk through the door to go to your car.  It is actually pretty frustrating for the average consumer.
     This is becoming a nation wide problem.  When major news networks are carrying this story then we need to start paying better attention to our surroundings.  We as a society don't think nothing of seeing theses bottles being carried around in public.  Drug dealers could very well reuse these empty bottles to transport their product.  Just my observations.