# Why shoplift deodorant? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308 "2017-03-29T20:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/21 "2017-03-30T01:58:32Z")
Mods, please move this thread to the pit. mmm ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/22 "2017-03-30T02:31:55Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Mods, please move this thread to the pit. No sweat. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/23 "2017-03-30T02:37:51Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Deodorant and other personal care items aren’t covered by food stamps. There’s a market for stolen, and therefore very cheap, personal care items among food stamp recipients with little cash. This is possible; maybe even likely. But I still would put my copper down on mental illness. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/24 "2017-03-30T02:59:03Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > This is possible; maybe even likely. But I still would put my copper down on mental illness. You are probably right. I have seen it myself repeatably and even busted people for it. We didn’t usually prosecute except for a few cases be be we did issue lifetime bans. Some of it is just simple kleptomania and it affects mostly women for some reason. They have the money to buy whatever they want but decide to steal anyway (see Winona Ryder). > **[Why do women steal?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/21/gender.uk1)** > > Not everyone who shoplifts is a simple thief. But why does kleptomania affect mostly women - and what is the link with eating disorders? Sarah Boseley investigates. Males tend to steal for different reasons. I busted a coworker who tossed out expensive meat cuts into the dumpster and then came back to retrieve them hours later to support his father’s (very good) BBQ business. He got fired and later apologized. I can almost understand that but I can’t understand casual stealing. I treat stealing roughly the same as murder because it is the ultimate form of disrespect. I had a project manager joke on the phone that I stole a piece of equipment that was lost in transit a year ago. It finally showed up and he he was instantly fired for even insinuating such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/25 "2017-03-30T03:08:01Z")
If the thief was smarter they’d steal Mitchum deodorant, it’s so effective you can skip a week…What’s that you say a day? Well not if you’re that broke Mr. Moneybags!!! ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/26 "2017-03-30T03:22:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Assuming mental illness wasn’t a factor, I’d say easy to steal, easy to sell at flea markets etc. > > Even cheap deodorant is about $3. I agree, pharmacy items tend to be unusually expensive so there is a high weight to value ratio. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/27 "2017-03-30T04:06:07Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I see baby formula locked up (but I haven’t compared prices on that in 10+ years) Around here, meth makers were stealing powdered baby formula to cut the finished product. One grocery store decided to keep it by the pharmacy, in a cubbyhole that could be opened by the manager if the pharmacy was closed. The store still sold the same amount, but immediately started ordering half as much. :eek: Regarding the OP, the person probably had some kind of connection to a gray-marketeer who flips things at the flea market, no questions asked. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/28 "2017-03-30T09:17:56Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Around here, meth makers were stealing powdered baby formula to cut the finished product. One grocery store decided to keep it by the pharmacy, in a cubbyhole that could be opened by the manager if the pharmacy was closed. The store still sold the same amount, but immediately started ordering half as much. > > :eek: > > Regarding the OP, the person probably had some kind of connection to a gray-marketeer who flips things at the flea market, no questions asked. :rolleyes: Hey, I see where we are, but really want to ask for a cite for this old urban legend about drug manufacturers using baby formula. It’s stolen because it’s crazy expensive and shopkeepers prefer to say they’re locking it up to prevent drug dealers from taking it rather than to keep women from stealing it to feed their starving babies. Just think about the economics involved, crystal meth runs around $80,000 a kilogram on the street, baby formula costs $25 a kilogram. People making drugs don’t need to steal baby formula, there’s enough markup in the cut without taking the risk of a shoplifting beef. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/29 "2017-03-30T09:36:22Z")
Several of my local convenience stores have the replacement shaving blades under lock and key. Some have the pink full blades locked but not the others. Some will have Gillete Venuses locked, but not the straight pink ones. It’s like a map of “which stores have seen which blades lifted”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/30 "2017-03-30T10:40:20Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Do they still sell aerosol deodorant? I only see the solid form available. It’s very common in the UK still - although many spray deororants/antiperspirants are now ‘condensed’ cans with a higher load-to-propellant ratio. (the OP’s clarification excluding aerosols noted, but the above is still true) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/31 "2017-03-30T12:50:43Z")
Mom got me one of those Old Spice kits for Christmas (in case she couldn’t get anything else) and it had an aerosol can in it, along with the other varieties. For some reason, the same scent smells very different from the spray, and I didn’t like it. I think it calls itself body spray instead of deodorant, though. But it’s still the same aerosol cans, not like, say, cologne. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308/32 "2017-03-30T16:23:31Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Some of the most popular items to steal these days are things like [Tide laundry detergent](http://nymag.com/news/features/tide-detergent-drugs-2013-1/) and [maple syrup](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/business/arrests-made-in-maple-syrup-theft-from-quebec-warehouse.html). They are practically a currency of their own and have easy street value. And these day’s you’d have to add Elmer’s Glue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shoplift-deodorant/783308.md?page=1)