# "Meat from truck" scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268 "2011-12-06T16:43:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/41 "2011-12-07T02:42:11Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Some of my family, who live in rural areas, have paid for photos like that. I haven’t a clue what they paid but the end result was pretty good, especially years later. And a few of them have bought updated ones 20 or more years later. It’s a nice before and after set up. My ex’s parents, from Co. Carlow, have a large aerial photo of their farm framed on the wall from this kind of source. They are very happy with it. > [@An Gadaí](#): > > The last guy who tried selling me anything door to door was a traveller guy who was smoking a cigarette. He tried to sell me pillows, and when I wasn’t interested he tried to throw them in the door at me. It was quite surreal. I had a very similar experience when living in Cabra. This is the kind of anecdote that is so stereotypical that people tend not to believe it. He wanted €16 for the pair. I liked the pillows but told the guy I didn’t have any money, which was true. He went and had a chat with his wife and returned asking the immortal line: “Have you any auld tea?” I did indeed, so I ended up swapping an unopened box of 40 Barry’s Red Label teabags for two rather nice pillows, that I used for the next seven years. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lovely\_Margo\_Lane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@The\_Lovely\_Margo\_Lane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lovely_Margo_Lane)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/42 "2011-12-07T03:01:18Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Some of my family, who live in rural areas, have paid for photos like that. I haven’t a clue what they paid but the end result was pretty good, especially years later. And a few of them have bought updated ones 20 or more years later. It’s a nice before and after set up. My ex in-laws have 5 or 6 nice aerial photos of their farm, each taken maybe 5 years apart. I always liked looking at them and seeing the changes to the land and buildings over the years. I think they told me that the guys who took them would get orders in advance from the neighborhood when they were going to be doing the flyovers. For a normal urban or suburban house I don’t really see the appeal but for a working farm it’s pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/43 "2011-12-07T03:12:12Z")
Believe it or not, [we’ve had this question before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=545452). Even the same time of year – right around Christmas, interestingly enough. Edited to add: and **Bearflag70** posted in that one, too! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/44 "2011-12-07T03:29:57Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > So is it true that Omaha Meats can last a YEAR in a regular fridge??? that seemed so unnatural to us! But what do we know? We don’t eat meat! It’s certainly not at its best quality after a year in a freezer, but it won’t kill anyone. Stuff that stays truly frozen will have halted bacterial growth, but there’s no stopping the enzymes in the meat (or any other food) from slowly breaking down over time. The USDA recommends [4-12 months maximum freezing time](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/index.asp) for the best quality of steaks. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/45 "2011-12-07T03:41:30Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Some of my family, who live in rural areas, have paid for photos like that. I haven’t a clue what they paid but the end result was pretty good, especially years later. And a few of them have bought updated ones 20 or more years later. It’s a nice before and after set up. I suppose that might be interesting for some of the larger properties, maybe a Century Farm or something, but our place is just 5 acres. We can see it all from our upstairs windows for free. I wouldn’t have paid that price for an _actual_ aerial photograph, but the whole idea of the faux aerial photo is what made it so laughable. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/46 "2011-12-07T03:46:49Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > So is it true that Omaha Meats can last a YEAR in a regular fridge??? that seemed so unnatural to us! But what do we know? We don’t eat meat! You said you put it in the freezer, right? Then sure, it’s good for a year. Anything will last a year in the freezer, if it’s vacuum sealed in heavy duty plastic the way Omaha steaks are. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/47 "2011-12-07T14:51:44Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I was in a bar with one of those “fashion shows” where ladies in their undies sold tickets for a drawing. Fellow walked up and asked if I wanted to buy some sausage. I thought this was an unlikely place to find customers for such a transaction, but it turns out he meant meat. Hmmm. Was this in ABQ? I used to hang out at a microbrewery tap room. One of the regulars made sausage in his kitchen. Pretty much sold it by word of mouth, but once a week he would bring in a grill and sell “sandwiches”. ('till another regular siced the health department on him…the asshole) Everyone was pretty dubious until they tried it. REALLY good. The guy had an Italian surname I can’t recall, but nobody else knew it either. He was just “Joe Sausage”. After the deal with the Health Department, he was able to build an approved commercial kitchen, and is doing OK between that and his dog training work. A rather eclectic fellow, our Joe. While he was working on the kitchen, sausage deals would have looked a lot like drug deals to the uninformed. Now I’ve got the Jones for some Joe’s sausage! ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/48 "2011-12-07T14:55:08Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I’m not sure if it would fit the legal definition of a scam in that you could get them in trouble, or anything, but it’s certainly shady and only a sucker would fall for it. Most municipalities require you to be licensed to sell door-to-door. Many states require you to be licensed to sell meat. The Federal Trade Commission requires that door-to-door salesmen notify you in writing about how to cancel the order, with a form that includes their contact info. If the meat is expired or has otherwise been re-labelled, that likely constitutes fraud. And of course, there’s a good likelihood the stuff is stolen. … all kinds of ways to get them in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/49 "2011-12-07T15:38:26Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > You said you put it in the freezer, right? Then sure, it’s good for a year. Anything will last a year in the freezer, if it’s vacuum sealed in heavy duty plastic the way Omaha steaks are. Ok, yes they were heavy duty plastic. I’ve had recipes before that said, for example “good for 2 weeks in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer” so I figured stuff still went bad in the freezer, just more slowly. I was just surprised that something like meat could last so long. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/50 "2011-12-07T15:39:34Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Most municipalities require you to be licensed to sell door-to-door. \*\* Many states require you to be licensed to sell meat.\*\* The Federal Trade Commission requires that door-to-door salesmen notify you in writing about how to cancel the order, with a form that includes their contact info. If the meat is expired or has otherwise been re-labelled, that likely constitutes fraud. And of course, there’s a good likelihood the stuff is stolen. > > …\*\* all kinds of ways to get them in trouble\*\*. (Both boldings mine) The bolded parts make me very glad. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/51 "2011-12-07T15:42:53Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Some guy cold called us years ago. There was no story; he sold meat and sea food off his truck. We tried a box. It was good. Filet steaks, salmon, scallops, all top quality at a reasonable price. A story like, “I couldn’t deliver” would have warned us off. Now he shows up maybe once a month and we buy stuff from him. He has changed suppliers a could of times when he felt their quality was going down. The truck doesn’t say “Purina” on the side, does it? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/52 "2011-12-07T15:46:03Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > It’s certainly not at its best quality after a year in a freezer, but it won’t kill anyone. Stuff that stays truly frozen will have halted bacterial growth, but there’s no stopping the enzymes in the meat (or any other food) from slowly breaking down over time. The USDA recommends [4-12 months maximum freezing time](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/index.asp) for the best quality of steaks. Chilling meat (and other things) doesn’t just kill or immobilize bacteria. It also slows down chemical reactions (which is, essentially, how it slows down bacterial decay, when you get down to it). So it doesn’t _stop_ enzymes breaking down, but it certainly retards it. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/53 "2011-12-07T17:40:08Z")
Related: I used to work at a Trader Joe’s, and a lot of the night crew would hang out at a bar across the street after getting off work. I wasn’t there but one guy walked into the bar with a big freezer bag and was selling halibut and other pricier Trader Joe’s fishes, still in it’s original packaging, for less than retail prices in the bar. In front of all my co-workers who were still wearing their Trader Joe’s uniforms. It’s very grimey but people DO sell stolen meats door to door. ---
**Author:** ![Bloodless\_Turnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Bloodless\_Turnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloodless_Turnip)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/54 "2011-12-07T18:26:04Z")
I had one of them stop by here the other day, I declined. OTOH, my ex regularly bought from the meat truck guy, until the meat truck guys truck was stolen by his assistant. As I recall, the assistant showed up trying to sell meat, but we didn’t need any. A week or so later the truck owner showed up asking if we had seen his assistant who had stolen his truck full of meat. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/55 "2011-12-07T18:27:55Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Chances are the meat was stolen, or couldn’t be sold under regulations, if it exists. One scam is to offer a freezer full of meat, which they will neatly carry in and pack in your freezer down in the basement, carefully following your direct instructions on how to place everything in the freezer, while one of the their confederates ransacks your home. Don’t expect to find real meat in the freezer either. Or they might just be checking to see if you have cash on you before they hit you on the head and take it. The odds of coming out of this situation intact are pretty low. LOL wouldn’t work - my non-chest freezer is in the house, by my front door, actually. [Pretty much the only place it would fit in the house] and they would have to prearrange to drop off the meat, which would mean that my husband would be home, and our roomie would probably be hanging out in the [locked] barn as that is where her studio flat is, and I would be sitting in the living room actually online, and probably chatting on teamspeak, and in addition to the antique gun decorating the wall with the sword and knife collection, pretty much anywhere I am in the house, I am within 5 feet of a loaded gun [I have a stalker and smash and grab home entries are popular in the country] If they have someone try and wander over to the barn, they would run afoul of our small but nasty flock of geese and the dog. You do not want to be lurking around geese unless you are part of the family, they tend to be pretty territorial, and a beak strike can break bones, and a wing buffet can leave bruises. Nasty critters! [I rarely bother answering the door to strangers, and I rarely will allow even requested service people into the house when I am alone. I am pretty antisocial, actually.] ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/56 "2011-12-07T19:03:53Z")
I met a guy in a bar once in college who offered me a box of steaks for $20. There were 6-10 in the box, as I recall. It was about 10 p.m. and he had finished his rounds and was looking to offload the rest of his batch…or so he told me. Something about getting a bonus from the company if he came back steak-less. The difference in my story, though, is 1) he didn’t come to my door, 2) they were cheap as hell, 3) he showed me the steaks beforehand, and 4) he gave me a card and told me to tell all my friends. I bought them, figuring I was gambling $20. I ate them. I generally enjoyed them. I didn’t die or get sick. So…::shrug:: > [@pulykamell](#): > > Now why people want these photos? Your guess is as good as mine. Some people apparently like good pictures of their stuff. My grandfather had a professional portrait done of his one-story, three-bedroom home. Why? Because he and my grandmother built the thing with their own four hands. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/57 "2011-12-07T19:09:36Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > our roomie would probably be hanging out in the [locked] barn Are [these](http://www.spoilertv.co.uk/images/cache/the-walking-dead/season-2/promotional-episode-photos/Episode%202.05%20Chupacabra/episode-5-barn-walkers_595.jpg) your roommates? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/58 "2011-12-07T19:14:35Z")
Of all the things I can think of to sell door to door, I think meat would never, ever have occurred to me, even once my list was into the thousands of items. ETA: > [@aruvqan](#): > > … in addition to the antique gun decorating the wall with the sword and knife collection, pretty much anywhere I am in the house, I am within 5 feet of a loaded gun… \*makes mental not to never, ever, ever break into **aruvqan** ’s house. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/59 "2011-12-07T20:45:10Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Are [these](http://www.spoilertv.co.uk/images/cache/the-walking-dead/season-2/promotional-episode-photos/Episode%202.05%20Chupacabra/episode-5-barn-walkers_595.jpg) your roommates? LOL other than mrAru we only have 1 roomie. Since she is a farrier by trade, she has quite a selection of hammers and iron bar stock. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to sneak up and scare her. > [@OpalCat](#): > > Of all the things I can think of to sell door to door, I think meat would never, ever have occurred to me, even once my list was into the thousands of items. > ETA: > \*makes mental not to never, ever, ever break into **aruvqan** ’s house. Ever. Good choice. Since I am a gimp, I have ‘no reasonable expectation of escape or evasion’ and will shoot when threatened with physical harm. IMHO, it is much better for mrAru to have to bail me out of the slammer than go to the morgue and ID me. The only truck we have bought frozen stuff off of is the Schwanns guy, and back when we had American Frozen Food subscription every now and again the route guy would drop by with samples and see if we wanted to buy more of some new product they were trying. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268/60 "2011-12-08T03:30:43Z")
I found a crumpled-up flyer in the back of my mailbox which must have been from them. It’s a real company called Butcher’s Choice that operates out of Baltimore. The BBB’s site show minimal complaints about them as of a year ago and rates them as A+, but there are other various anecdotal complaints about them. In general the complaints claim high prices for low quality accompanied by a high-pressure, fast-talking sales pitch. [http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=butcher's+choice+of+baltimore&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GPCK\_enUS354US414&ie=UTF-8&aq=0&oq=butcher's+choice+of](http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=butcher%27s+choice+of+baltimore&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GPCK_enUS354US414&ie=UTF-8&aq=0&oq=butcher%27s+choice+of) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-from-truck-scam/605268.md?page=4)