Ok... I'm hoping all you friendly and intelligent orgers can help me figure out something that I just can't wrap my head around.

Within the last few weeks, a few miles from my house, there is a guy who has set up a makeshift stand selling laundry detergent in gallon jugs and 5 gallon buckets.

There are just so many things about this that I don't understand. Does he make his own laundry detergent? Is he buying it and watering it down so he makes a profit? Is he stealing it and reselling it? (I recently heard somewhere that Tide was one of the most stolen items in the US). Also, who stops on a random corner by the gas station to buy "Ken's Laundry Detergent"???

Has anyone seen this before? Can you help me understand?

Ask him how he's making the laundry detergent.

If he's using Borax, Laundry Soap, and natural soaps, buy that shit. It will work wonderfully on everything but your whites.

The shit that is inside your commercial laundry detergent is NASTY and unsafe.

i'm not sure i would trust streetcorner laundrysoap guy with my clothes... get an ingredients list if he'll tell you. if it's from somewhere without safety codes it could have carcinogens etc.

shiloh66 said:

Also, who stops on a random corner by the gas station to buy "Ken's Laundry Detergent"???

That is the real question!

I was jogging around my neighborhood and a man was selling shots of Hennesy!

maybe i should reconsider going to appendectomy lady on the corner near that walmart on lake street. but she has the best rates

So... I have an update on this guy... apparently when he isn't posted up on his corner he's driving around town trying to hustle some folks.

He showed up last week down at the city utilities yard where he apparently knew somebody and a bunch of the guys down there bought his stuff (I guess that answers that question!) and then showed up a few days later complaining that it turned their clothes brown... so whatever it is it must be more than just watered down detergent. Word he was spreading was that he was bringing it up from South Carolina because it was cheaper there. yeah.

about a year ago this man knocks on the door saying he is selling all purpose cleaner to raise money for newly released prisoners wanting to make a 'change' so i bought 2

well he had id and it all looked legit!!!

anyway i packed the cleaner away to use it when the one i had finished.

so a few weeks later it was time to use the cleaner - so i sprayed some onto the bathroom vanity...

and...

omg it stank like urine

it seemed 2 me that the prisoners wanting to make a 'change' f'n pissed in the cleaner bottles and sold them 4 $3!!!

i got ripped off and 2 make matters worse that smell lingered 4 about 2 days

[Edited 6/21/12 5:57am]

Yeah... see, here's the problem... if they really wanted to make some money, they'd actually be better off selling a stolen/watered down/whatever product that works, rather than a crappy product that doesn't work at all because then you can't sell to the same person twice. Mind you, I am NOT endorsing this course of action, but it seems like a much more useful scam if you're trying to make some cash.