High Theft

[Sapphire Silk]

Just curious about something.

I went to the Foode de Leone to pick up some Tylenol. The brand name stuff was in a clear plastic box which was quite clearly an anti theft device.

Right next to it was the generic acetaminophen (paracetamol to our British and Aussie/NZ folks). No anti theft, just plain out in the open with all the other meds. Only the brand name Tylenol was like this.

So I just had to ask why. The clerk told me they were high theft items.

That kinda blew my mind. Why Tylenol and nothing else?

For our members who work in retail: do you find the same thing at your stores?

[CrystalynRose]

My store does that, but never with the Tylenol. At ours, the locked up items are usually condoms and pregnancy tests. But then I live in a college town...

[TheSHAD0W]

I'm thinking name brands sell better at flea markets, etc, and therefore are more valuable money-wise to a thief.

[PepperElf]

Could be. I know in some communities brand name detergents (Tide mostly) are high-theft items cos the thieves were using it to barter for illegal drugs IIRC. The idea was that the expensive brand names have a known value & they are very recognizable. Plus, as the article pointed out... it doesn't spoil either.


and off-topic but...
i originally read the title as "thigh theft".

[ArcticChicken]

Like other's have said, it's about the brand name. Though in the store I used to work at the thing they stole was baby formula. It goes back and forth between being locked up and not.

[Gerrinson]

Instead of anti-theft, it might also be used for anti-tampering. After the Tylenol murders (this was more than a decade ago, I believe, a guy was putting cyanide into the Tylenol capsules of stores in the Chicago(?) area), the brand put a lot of money into making sure their product was much more tamper proof.

[siskaren]

After the Tylenol murders (this was more than a decade ago, I believe, a guy was putting cyanide into the Tylenol capsules of stores in the Chicago(?) area)

Actually, it was 30 years ago, and yes, it was the Chicago area. (I've lived in the Chicago area all my life, and I definitely remember this.)

[PepperElf]

i remember that being on the news. iirc that was why they started doing more anti-tampering devices. however those were foils and plastics, not lockboxes.

[retailworker7]

At my work we have to put security tags on the Head & Shoulders products to stop them from being stolen. There are more expensive items in smaller containers that would be much easier for someone to steal but those products disappear more often.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The clearance swamp's deterrent to baby formula theft was to install sliding plastic flaps on the shelves above the formula, that hang down in front of it.

To grab a can of formula, you simply slide the flaps over until you can reach in and grab the one you want.

IOW, it's not a deterrent at all. Might stop a casual thief because they have to spend more time getting at the goods, but the professional shoplifters wouldn't bat an eye.

[NorthernZel]

Over here, jars of instant coffee are shelved WITHOUT the lids on (but there is a small layer of metal foil to keep the dust and humidity out) - you get the lid handed to you by the cashier once you've paid for it.

Somehow, it has become extremely popular to steal vaste amounts of instant coffee and sell it on the black market.

[ThirdGenRetail]

Excuse me as my brain breaks at some of the stuff stolen INSTANT COFFEE? Really? You can go to most dollar stores and pay $1 + any tax(So here, $1.05). Baby formula I can kinda see...

Though am I weird for thinking it'd be a REALLY good idea to put out bins of free rubbers in college towns? Of all the things that they should give out free...

[NorthernZel]

Excuse me as my brain breaks at some of the stuff stolen INSTANT COFFEE? Really? You can go to most dollar stores and pay $1 + any tax(So here, $1.05). Baby formula I can kinda see...

Though am I weird for thinking it'd be a REALLY good idea to put out bins of free rubbers in college towns? Of all the things that they should give out free...

Well, goods over here in general are heavily taxed (consumables as coffee, alcohol and tobacco especially, and sales tax alone is 25%), so a pound of instant coffee would over here cost just about the equivalent of USD 20.00!

But if you think that is bad, just imagine Sweden. Over there, certain brands of coffee (not just instant ones) have to be purchased at the tobacco counter (again, because of theft).

Oh and BTW, before anyone asks "what about the refill bags?": They're kept close to the tills.

[Crossbow]

Baby formula (powdered, anyway) has two reason for being heavily stolen. The obvious is that it's expensive enough to be valuable for low/no-income mothers. Two, certain street drugs can be mixed with it to be hidden from the police. Same with coffee. The smell of the coffee is *supposed* to mask the scent from drug dogs. How well this actually works, I don't know. And you gotta think the police are on to this tactic by now...


Around here, the one that always gets me for requiring anti-theft devices is deodorant. Men's deodorant. Not women's. That fine. Just the men's.

[CarcinogenCrunchies]

They lock up razors at some stores here. Not just electric ones, but the replaceable-head Venus, Schick, etc. The refill packs are also under lock and key.

Condoms are one product I don't really mind being shoplifted. The people who do that are the people I do NOT want procreating.