It's for two reasons. One, they are small items that are very easy to steal you could easily walk by and slip one of those into your pocket and run out of the store. Two, you could also very easily walk up open a container use it whether it be spray or rub on deodorant and then put it back on the shelf and no one would be none the wiser. I used to think that it seemed crazy as well but I've also seen people use the spray deodorant at least and I've seen people steal so it's understandable. Though if one really needs to steal the odorant do we really need to treat them as a criminal? LOL