Attention Stolen Knives

Fiddleback Outpost

Fiddleback Outpost

Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
788
I wanted to share a recent experience in the hopes that one of you may catch a thief one day.

You may have noticed that we have stopped offering UPS as an option at the moment for deliveries. We have had 7 packages stolen while in possession of UPS. I won't go into detail as I don't want to give anyone any ideas, but we are 100% certain it is NOT our driver and that the theft is occurring in the Gainesville, GA distribution center where the trucks are unloaded. Again, I can't share exact details of the method...although a few of you here were effected and know at least part of the story.

After almost 2 weeks of hitting UPS at every possible angle, I've finally been able to speak to someone at the local distribution center that it seems to be happening from. But it would be an understatement to say that I've been met with a large amount of skepticism and denial. She is determined to not admit that one of her people is OBVIOUSLY doing this...even when met with overwhelming proof that disproves every angle she tries to adapt to dismiss this. So, it goes without saying that it doesn't look good for us being able to collect anything...or find the thief.

I may risk sharing all the details in the future using our various social media access in hopes that the public embarrassment for UPS may cause some action further up the food chain. Hopefully, I won't have to take this to the mattresses...although...I will.

Of the 7 packages, we lost a total of 5 knives, 9 Diomedes Sheaths, and 1 RLO Rifle Harnessed Sling.

These are the 5 knives that were stolen:

Savage04_1f24a3b3-3ae5-4d32-874d-80ee106f3d6e_1024x.jpg

Ocmulgee Knife Co. Savage - Maple Burl w/ River Resin - Natural Liners - Blue Pinstripes

Lonestar03_b217cd88-04aa-4740-bb13-5f93dd332262_1024x.jpg

Fiddleback Forge Lonestar EDC Knife - Midnight Maple Burl - Black Liners - Yellow Pinstripes

MTTEDC04_6e9ab2a0-87eb-4f35-87f5-4d496e1b7b0c_1024x.jpg

Cohutta Knife Co. Mountaintown EDC - Black Ash - Natural Liners - White Pinstripes

Loner03_8d4a69e8-87cf-4cd3-b445-d7dc153d142c_1024x.jpg

Fiddleback Forge Loner Knife - Natural Burlap - Natural Liners - Red Pinstripes

FullFinger04_6c57ed59-f999-47df-abbc-6f20e3622ad4_1024x.jpg

Fiddleback Forge Full Finger Knife - Cross Cut Natural Canvas - Natural Liners - Lime Pinstripes


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It's pretty easy to do the math and realize how much money this is. We've only been "approved" for about $200 in claims thus far. So, it's a near total loss. And since we only get a small percentage of each item sold...we have to sell multiple times the amount of the loss to actually recoup that loss.

It goes without saying that any help in finding the person responsible would be greatly appreciated. God help them if I do find out who it is.
 
Sorry to hear that. This is actually a well know problem that can affect any freight hub. For UPS to pretend it's not happening is laughable. Stealing the goods is a crime but to throw you under the bus in inexcusable. This is almost always an organized ring inside the company. They can easlily pinpoint the problem location by looking at where the tracking goes dead.

There are a couple things you can do in general to mitigate this. They will all make the freight more expensive but maybe not as expensive as loosing several expensive shipments. You may already be doing this too but here goes.

Ship the knives in hard to open boxes that are way too big to slip under a coat. Those people have to work fast to move the stuff out of sight and out of the building so if the package is awkward they'll leave it alone.

Look at using a non-de-script name on the boxes Something like XYZ tableware. They're search up if they see Fiddleback or Rolex on boxes and note that's what is in there is very desirable.

Look to see if the carrier has a secure or special handling option. That means the freight has a more restricted chain of custody. That heightened level means it's less likely someone will risk their job for a random package they can pawn or take to a fence and second if it is lost it doesn't leave the carrier much room to duck responsibility.
 
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I know you likely do not want to go this route but blank packaging materials can help to make shipments less conspicuous. I have had to actually disguise packaging, description of contents- made vague and, at times hide a valuable inside a non valuable. All this puts me on the fringe of smuggling but it is what it has taken to secure some shipments.

Jewelry- personal decoration. Knife- hardened sharp tool.

I hate a thief, as much as a liar(fishing stories excepted).

Bill
 
That sucks. I hate to hear things like this. It's unfortunate that a few losers can ruin things for hard working, honest people. I hope you find the source of this problem. In the meantime I'm sure we'll all have our eyes open for the missing knives. They may not turn up right away but most likely they'll eventually surface. Good luck
 
BEYOND FRUSTRATED for all involved. What a shame to lose such cool knives. Why do people have to be so crooked? Makes me sick to my stomach. Robert and Allison are stand up people. Great to deal with and are making good of this. I commend them and respect them for the way they operate and treat people. Actually, I love those two great peeps!! :) I hope whoever did this comes clean (hopeful at least). As a fiddleback family, let's keep our eyes open for these. They may end up popping up on ebay or some other knife forum.
 
Definitely upset about the whole situation. Some really nice pieces gone. Have had some great support from Robert and Choppaman Choppaman trying to get things straight. Losing a knife that is unable to be duplicated really sucks... but having them stolen stings in a different way. I appreciate the detective work from Fiddleback Outpost Fiddleback Outpost and hope these resurface one day!
 
You guys do beautiful work. Amazing things with micarta and the cohutta grinds Ive handled are amazing.

That said, I would love to see you drip the signature lanyard hole on a couple of knives in lieu of something more traditional.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
You guys do beautiful work. Amazing things with micarta and the cohutta grinds Ive handled are amazing.

That said, I would love to see you drip the signature lanyard hole on a couple of knives in lieu of something more traditional.
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Thereā€™s a lot of other knife makers out there that donā€™t use a lanyard loop. Like you stated itā€™s ā€œSignatureā€ and fyi also patented.
 
Triton said:
I'm wondering why insurance isn't covering this? Ie what is their excuse?
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Only 2 packages were fully insured. Those 2 were never scanned after pickup. So we can't prove UPS ever had them. Since we insure through a 3rd party (when we do it), I have to prove they had possession. Those 2 packages alone were $1600 total...hence why they were insured in the first place.

I won't go into full detail, but I know it's not our driver stealing...although, he did fully drop the ball on us by not scanning them when he picked up. I have camera footage of him walking out with boxes that day...but I can't prove WHICH boxes he had in hand.

Now, there was another package that had tracking, but no local scans...and the woman at UPS said that she could see a scan on THAT package that I can't see on my end of the tracking information. That means they have more data than I can see.

So I'm pushing her to research the "unscanned" packages to see if there is data regarding someone checking status of that package with one of their tools, without actually scanning it INTO the system. In other words, scanning it to see if it's easier to make it disappear completely. She's claiming they don't have that type of data since they use so many types of scanners. But, hopefully she can see any type of handling scan (like the one that DID track) for the "unscanned" packages, MAYBE I can use that as proof to insurance if she'll share it. Likely, it won't happen and I'm not one to rely on hopes...so I'll push knowing it's likely fruitless. I just want to nail the bastard. They seem determined to dismiss this and/or cover their own ass.

She spent a large amount of time trying every angle to disprove me...only to be shot down with hard evidence each time. The last thing she was "checking into" was vehicle GPS to make sure "he actually picked up that day"...even though I showed her another package that scanned that day. Then, I got security camera footage and sent it to her. I was hoping that would move her past the skepticism and actual make her investigate THEMSELVES and not my "claim". But that was 2 days ago...and not a peep.

It looks like our best bet is to see if the knives surface...they're the easiest to spot since they are unique. But that's a long shot to say the least.

I thought about buying some cellular deer cams to get pics when the bastard opens the box...or put a tracker in the boxes of some kind... but I don't know if I have sounded the alarm too much at this point to make that effort (and expense) worth it.

In the meantime, we are not shipping with UPS. We'll also be removing the printed tape from our packaging. We've had a few people with concerns over this in the past...but you have to realize, it hasn't been a problem until now with THOUSANDS of packages shipped with custom tape.

I guess it was only a matter of time, and it sure was a nice run. Prior to this, I could count on one hand how many knives were lost or stolen in transit...and have fingers leftover!

That ONE WEEK of loss by theft was higher than the last 5 YEARS COMBINED.
 
Robert ,
It is not fair that it raises the risk for you to have your packages carry your brand as that is advertising that you are paying for. But sometimes we have to stay in the weeds to avoid the buzzards.

Bill
 
Sorry to hear about your significant loss Robert. The frustration of trying to unravel the Gordian knot of UPS traceability can be almost as painful as the loss itself.

I had much experience with UPS during my 20 year stint working at a small aerospace manufacturing company making very tight tolerance machined parts. I wore several hats there including managing the shipping & receiving department. UPS was our primary carrier for shipped goods. We shipped 10 to 30 boxes a day with them. When the UPS driver came to pick-up late in the afternoon, we printed an "End of the Day" summary with a bar code on it from our account on the UPS database. The EOTD showed how many boxes were in the shipment that day. The UPS driver would count the boxes to pick up and compared that to the number EOTD. If the numbers matched, he would scan the EOTD barcode as received and initial the form. That is supposed to automatically start the tracking for the individual boxes that are covered by the EOTD. We had maybe a couple boxes a year that got temporarily lost or misdirected following this process. They all eventually made it to their destinations.

I am not sure if you use that process or your driver just scans each individual box. You apparently like your UPS driver enough to think it's not him who stole your knives. I can't judge if that trust is well placed or not. What I would do is try to involve the driver in the investigation (if you have not already) by telling him you have security video showing he picked up "XX" number of boxes yet only "X" number show up on the tracking system and asking his help to understand how this is possible. Most of the long term drivers I dealt with very motivated and resourceful when they realized that their reputation was tied to a lost shipment with suspicious circumstances right from the start. If he couldn't figure what happened on his own investigation, he knew who to put me in touch with who wouldn't blow me off. Some lost shipments took a while to figure out, but things were always resolved in the end.

I wish you the best of luck getting your products back or fair insurance coverage if they were in fact stolen.

Phil

P.S. - I think it is wise to eliminate the custom logo tape or other identifiers on the package that alerts potential thieves to the contents of the box. It's too easy for those scumbags to type your company name in a search on their phone and learn about the nice stuff you ship.
 
Comprehensivist said:
Sorry to hear about your significant loss Robert. The frustration of trying to unravel the Gordian knot of UPS traceability can be almost as painful as the loss itself.

I had much experience with UPS during my 20 year stint working at a small aerospace manufacturing company making very tight tolerance machined parts. I wore several hats there including managing the shipping & receiving department. UPS was our primary carrier for shipped goods. We shipped 10 to 30 boxes a day with them. When the UPS driver came to pick-up late in the afternoon, we printed an "End of the Day" summary with a bar code on it from our account on the UPS database. The EOTD showed how many boxes were in the shipment that day. The UPS driver would count the boxes to pick up and compared that to the number EOTD. If the numbers matched, he would scan the EOTD barcode as received and initial the form. That is supposed to automatically start the tracking for the individual boxes that are covered by the EOTD. We had maybe a couple boxes a year that got temporarily lost or misdirected following this process. They all eventually made it to their destinations.

I am not sure if you use that process or your driver just scans each individual box. You apparently like your UPS driver enough to think it's not him who stole your knives. I can't judge if that trust is well placed or not. What I would do is try to involve the driver in the investigation (if you have not already) by telling him you have security video showing he picked up "XX" number of boxes yet only "X" number show up on the tracking system and asking his help to understand how this is possible. Most of the long term drivers I dealt with very motivated and resourceful when they realized that their reputation was tied to a lost shipment with suspicious circumstances right from the start. If he couldn't figure what happened on his own investigation, he knew who to put me in touch with who wouldn't blow me off. Some lost shipments took a while to figure out, but things were always resolved in the end.

I wish you the best of luck getting your products back or fair insurance coverage if they were in fact stolen.

Phil

P.S. - I think it is wise to eliminate the custom logo tape or other identifiers on the package that alerts potential thieves to the contents of the box. It's too easy for those scumbags to type your company name in a search on their phone and learn about the nice stuff you ship.
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Thatā€™s excellent advice!!
 
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