An article in the New York Times (January 17,2013) describes a plan by PurduePharma to hold fake decoy bottles with tracking capability in drugstore shelves. When thieves steal painkiller bottles, they emit tracking signals that the New York City police can use to trace the location of the stolen merchandise. The plan is to distribute these decoys widely across the retail environment to catch the theives. Will such disruptions to the retail inventory continue to protect services required by paying retail consumers ? Will thieves change their modus operandi by incenting retail customers to shop for them, thus increasing the costs of illicit painkillers ? Would a move from tracking bottles to tracking pills possibly increase the effectiveness, and if so how will such tracking efforts coexist with the needs for genuine customers ?