- If you needed proof that eggs have gotten way too expensive, here it is.
Whenever something is expensive, somebody will try to steal it. We’ve seen it play out again and again, with criminals pilfering things each more bizarre than the last.
From luxury cheese to an entire construction crane, thieves will go after anything if they think they can get good money from re-selling it. Lately, eggs have started to seem really tempting to enterprising burglars.
As you’re no doubt aware, egg prices are currently sky-high due to the bird flu devastating the country’s chicken flocks. Due to the spike in egg value, we’ve already seen a couple of large-scale egg thefts take place.
In Seattle, two crooks stole more than 500 eggs from a small local café. They even dared to return to the scene of the crime to try their luck again, only to get chased away by an employee.
Yet, this was nothing compared to what went down in Pennsylvania. There, thieves made away with more than 100,000 eggs, worth dozens of thousands of dollars.
That’s an admittedly impressive criminal feat, but you have to wonder — are the thieves aware they’ll need to refrigerate their haul or it’ll be worthless in a few days?
Returning to the Scene
First, let’s take a look at the Seattle case. According to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), the crime happened on February 5.
Shortly before 5 a.m. on the day, the SPD received a call from the Luna Park Café. The caller was an employee at the business and reported that there was a burglary ongoing at the property.
In plain view of the café’s security cameras, two men broke into a refrigerated storage shed outside the property. They began grabbing boxes of eggs and loading them into a van.
In total, they grabbed some 540 eggs. At the time of the crime, that number of eggs had a total value of $387.
Yet, the thieves weren’t satisfied with just whole eggs. They also took liquid egg products, bacon, ground beef, blueberries… Put together, the haul came to $780.
Maybe they’re planning to cook a breakfast to end all breakfasts.
After loading the van, the criminals took off. And then they came back.
As an employee of the café arrived at the location to inspect the shed, they noticed that the criminals’ van was back in the yard. Noticing they’d been caught red-handed, a man jumped into the vehicle and sped away.
Currently, the SPD is working on finding the men and is asking the public for tips.
Take the Trailer Too, Won’t You?
The larger-scale theft, however, happened in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Here, we find Pete & Gerry’s Organics, an organic egg producer.
On February 2, a distribution trailer was standing in the egg-producing facility’s parking lot. It had just been loaded up, with its eggy cargo destined for parts elsewhere.
However, the eggs never made it there. The facility’s security cameras show that around 8:40 p.m., unauthorized people began emptying the trailer.
And when we say emptying, we mean it. According to Pete & Gerry’s, the thieves took about 8,000 cartons of eggs.
That translates to more than 100,000 eggs. In money terms, that’s worth upward of $40,000.
Despite them being caught on camera, Pennsylvania police are still trying to figure out whodunnit. Meanwhile, Pete & Gerry’s intends to boost their security to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.
“It could happen once, it could happen again. We are putting additional measures in place,” Tom Flocco, the company’s CEO, told ABC News.
There is one silver lining to this case, however. Flocco notes that the stolen eggs must be kept cool at all times.
“They’re transported in a refrigerated truck, they’re brought into a refrigerated warehouse,” he explained.
Unless the thieves have a gigantic, cooled warehouse ready for their enormous egg haul, they may not be able to sell their illegitimate loot in time. After all, nobody is going to buy rotten eggs — no matter how much below market price the thieves would sell them.