New Trend in Items Reflects the Hard Times Americans are Facing

According to a MSN Money article written by Kim Peterson, thieves are expanding to items that Peterson describes as “strange things thieves steal.” Peterson reports that nine everyday items now have become popular items to steal. Tide detergent is one of the popular items, and is known as ‘“liquid gold’” on the streets. Peterson explains that Tide detergent has “high resale value” and is universal used in most homes despite socioeconomic status.

Another two items on the list, which might come as a shock, are chicken wings and maple syrup. Peterson reports that two workers at a cold storage warehouse in Georgia are accused of stealing $65,000 worth of chicken wings in December around Superbowl time. Peterson reported a similar happening for maple syrup. Last year about 2.7 million kilometers of maple syrup, worth $30 million, was lifted from a warehouse in Quebec who happens to supply 75% of the world’s maple syrup.

Another two items making the list come from the human body: human hair and gold teeth. $230,000 worth of human hair extensions were stolen last year from a Chicago beauty supply store. While in Colorado police arrested a man who pawned dozens of teeth to different pawn shops. The man was a local embalmer police suspected and was removing gold crowns from bodies and gold teeth from cremated remains.

According to Peterson, last summer’s record droughts and grass fires dried up hay supplies nationwide and might be associated to the increase in hay thefts occurring. Some farmers have reported that entire trailer loads of bales are disappearing. It adds up to a lost of $200 per bale. A local sheriff in one Oklahoma town rigged a bale of hay with a GPS tracking device in a successful attempt to track the theif.

Another strange item on the list is tailgates from vehicles. Peterson has explains that tailgates have become “a hot seller on the black market.” A woman in Texas found her stolen tailgate for sale on Craig’s List and brought it back for $350.

Also, topping the list for stolen items are driveways and walkaways. Peterson wrote that last December a farm owner in FL drove home to find her concrete paving stones missing. This kind of thefts been occurring in the United Kingdom for years particularly driveways of highly prized older stone.

I often see these theft as a reflection of the severe economic hardships America continues to face. The methods citizens are turning to meet basic necessities and preserve some sense of normalcy are a reflection of the desperate nature of the times. Peterson reports that “in times of high unemployment, property thefts and other crimes rise.”