Remember when you would trade a stick of gum for Johnny’s baseball card? Likely not, because it’s not the 1940s anymore… either way, trading goods for goods isn’t that unheard of, but some people are actually stealing gum so it can be used as currency!
Police in England have noticed that hundreds of packs of chewing gum have been stolen from stores and supermarkets around the region of Midlands and West Yorkshire. The police suspect that gangs are stealing the gum and sending it to be used instead of money in Romania.
In Romania, it’s not unlikely for gum and other small candies to be used instead of change. “Usually people use large notes to pay for items and shopkeepers, especially in small shops, don’t have much small change and that is why they use gum or candy when they run out of it.” Ioana, a student from Romania, quoted to the BBC.
Reports of stolen gum are reported coming up in major cities in the UK like Lincoln, London and Cambridge. Earlier this year, two Romanians were charged with stealing over approx. $1200 worth of gum!
Maybe the whole situation will give author Douglas Coupland a new idea for a sequel to his 2007 novel, THE GUM THIEF. He could call it THE GUM THIEF: PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY STEALING GUM.