This isn't what you assume. Inexpensive commodity goods like soap are frequently stolen because they are much easier to fence than expensive goods, since everyo

This isn't what you assume. Inexpensive commodity goods like soap are frequently stolen because they are much easier to fence than expensive goods, since everyone needs them including poor people. Poor people can't afford to buy expensive stolen goods, and non-poor people don't buy fenced goods generally. Non-perishable household commodities are among the most liquid stolen goods to sell, so that is what people steal. I've seen (obviously stolen) soap being peddled by apparently homeless addicts on multiple occasions. In some locales, they've been locking up the soap for a long time.