Dive Summary:
- Laundry detergent has become a staple of black market currency, being traded for cash and drugs and reportedly causing widespread organized theft of the product from retail shelves across the U.S.
- The National Retail Federation now lists laundry detergent as the second most stolen retail product, second only to baby formula.
- “This is not shoplifting we’re talking about,” says Richard Mellor, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. “It’s a criminal enterprise to make a significant profit.”
From the article:
... Organized retail crime was a hot topic at a National Retail Federation loss-prevention conference in San Diego this month that Mellor organized. He said he was heartened to see 20 law enforcement agencies represented, including some federal agencies and police from as far away as Florida. ...
