Now at the local gas-station convenience store...meat being sold out of a car trunk.

[Berry Cool]

On my way from my bus to my apartment today, I stopped off at the neighborhood gas-station convenience mart, which has a Subway inside, to buy a sandwich and a few groceries. Before I could get inside, a woman who bore all the earmarks of a panhandler tried to get my attention right by the door. "Can I ask you a question? Can I ask you a question?"

For some reason, I stopped.

"Do you like steak?"

I said yes, wondering what the heck kind of scam this was. Well, turns out the woman was selling, or claimed to be selling, steaks directly out of her CAR in a parking spot right outside the store! Yes, out of an unrefrigerated car in the parking lot of a gas station convenience store (and it's not that cold right now, either). She claimed to have all kinds of lovely steaks, I could come and see for myself.

I told her I'd think about it (although I had no intention of doing so) and went into the store. When I came back out, she was gone.

Of course, when I got home, I had to try Googling to see whether this is a common scam. I sure never ran across it before. Although I had no intention of buying any of her wares--who knows where she got them from, what quality they were or how well cared for they were, and for all I know selling meat this way is illegal--I couldn't help but wonder whether this was an ordinary scammer or some poor person who maybe had a lot of meat in her freezer, acquired or purchased during a better time in her life, who now for some reason has no source of income, and who saw in her freezer a way to make money she could put to good use. You know--if you eat your steaks you can eat great while they last and when they're gone, they're gone, but if you try to sell them, you can use the money to buy cheaper food you can stretch out a lot longer. Or maybe use to pay bills, or something.

Then again, maybe she (and some other hidden partner) was just using the promise of cheap steaks as a mugger's lure. ("Look, I want to show you these things, but not parked right in front of the store--we might have trouble. Why don't you just get inside and we'll drive around to the back alley here in the dark where no one will see us...")

Anyone else run into this kind of thing? It was freaky.

[emilyg]

1. See this once in a while in Ga.

Never buy or look.

[Cleita]

2. I did a long time ago.

I didn't buy but looked. The steaks were packaged like Omaha steaks that are mail order. Either they stole the genuine article from a warehouse, or I hate to think who's horse disappeared.

[Recursion]

3. I know direct-to-consumer ranchers who sell that way

But generally out of a well-iced cooler in their trunk, and generally at farmer's markets.

Some of the best meat I've ever had, incidentally.

[monmouth]

4. OR, she did have a partner, there were really no steaks and this was

a way to lure you mug and steal your pocketbook. I'm in Florida, originally from Jersey, this is some of the way it's done. Thank God you didn't go with her. OR, check your local news for robberies of meat in the area (Omaha steaks in particular). Glad you're safe.

[rucky]

5. They've been around for years

I've been approached a couple times. Can't say I've ever taken them up on the offer

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. In my area people have been selling homemade tamales

out of their cars in supermarket parking lots for years. I have never indulged as I am not all that comfortable with the sanitation in most restaurants, much less car trunks but they keep selling them so I assume someone buys them.

[Arctic Dave]

20. When I lived in Phoenix I bought a lot of them. Yummy!

However I also eat hot dogs from street vendors in Mexico and ate whatever the neatest street vendor was selling near me when I was hungry in Asia. Sometimes yummy.

[sandnsea]

7. We have a meat truck company

that comes around. It's refrigerated though. I think they keep selling the "business" because it's a new driver every 3 months or so. She may have been trying to sell you a different kind of "steak" though.

[virgogal]

8. I doubt very much if this is some poor soul trying to sell her own

meat to buy cheaper food.

It's a scam,pure and simple.

[izquierdista]

9. The new American economy

In the third world, you can find all sorts of street vendors selling all sorts of stuff in all sorts of places, just trying to make a little to get by to the next day. As America's economy continues the race to the bottom, competing with wages in India and China, expect to find more, not fewer people selling their wares where ever there is an opportune place.

[itsrobert]

10. The meat could of been taken out of a supermarket dumpster

I was on patrol once and went to throw away some trash at a supermarket dumpster and notice it was filled with meat. Of course meat has an "expiration date". I wonder if this woman was dumpster diving and looking to make a quick buck?

[Lyric]

11. A lot of times, stuff like that is stolen.

Good meat is expensive, so people shoplift a whole grocery cart worth of steaks, filets, expensive roasts, etc. and then re-sell them from their cars at another store. I used to work at a grocery store; I cannot tell you how many times we caught people trying to leave out the "In" doors with entire cartloads of meat, most with the intention of re-selling rather than using. Those types are sometimes genuinely needy folks looking to make rent money or power bill money, but most of the time they're looking to make drug money fast, and there's no way for us to really know the difference.

Not all shoplifting is for drug money, though. I once saw a woman with three small kids put a relatively inexpensive package of chicken legs into her diaper bag before checking out. I stopped her, and she started crying right away, so I didn't say a word to the store manager. I just gave her a ten dollar bill and let her buy them instead. I've never forgotten her. I sometimes wonder how she's doing.

Times are hard. Crime is always wrong, of course, but I ache for the ones who feel like they have to steal in order to eat or pay rent. *sigh*

[frylock]

14. that's a sad story..

good on you for helping out.

[pitohui]

27. no it isn't stolen, see my post below about the business EOM

,

[alsame]

12. A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from a woman who said she

represented a company that sold 'restaurant quality' meat and seafood directly to consumers and would deliver it to my home.

Well, I'm a vegetarian, so I just said 'no thanks' and didn't get any more details.

But it was very strange, I've never received a call like that before. Could be a scam or it could be stolen food.

[babylonsister]

13. There are legal companies that sell food this way; an older couple

across the street from me used to get a weekly delivery.

[alsame]

16. Well, that's good to know, thanks. I was hoping that it wasn't a

scam that would prey on the elderly or the housebound.

[babylonsister]

17. I just remembered the name; here's their website:

http://www.schwans.com/

[MiniMe]

19. I know somebody who gets things from them. They are legit.

[pitohui]

28. schwans is the biggest co. in that business and they actually DO supply restaurants

the guy knocking on your door is probably NOT schwans but you will see from the side of their truck if they are -- schwan's is by far the biggest company but there are many smaller ones who approach people at their houses, parking lots, etc. -- the schwan's truck is well marked and well signed and if you look somewhere there's a swan on it (punny) but the other trucks are usually just anonymous white trucks, toyotas, what have you, sometimes they are even the salesperson's own car w. a cooler in it!

[tammywammy]

32. Man, I forgot about Schwan's

My mom ordered food from them for years when I was growing up. I loved the orange sherbet Push Ups. yum.

[Obamanaut]

15. In my area we regularly see pick up trucks with a home type

freezer in the back, going door to door selling packaged meat. I don't think I want any of it.

[Kali]

18. Another meat/seafood scam is to tell you they were out making deliveries and the

freezer quit so they will unload for a "bargain". (wouldn't it be better to go back to the warehouse?) I and a friend fell for that one once, the seafood was not too bad (still a rip off) but the steaks were some of the worst meat I ever had in my life.

[robertpaulsen]

21. "Why, in my day, you could buy meat anywhere!"

Yep, we're heading for a Soylent Green future.

[Berry Cool]

22. From what I understand, there are legit door-to-door meat sellers

but of course, you have to be a wise consumer with them and make sure they're not selling you garbage or poorly cared for merchandise.

This is different...someone approaching me in a store parking lot. I had a feeling it was shady, or at least that whatever meat she had would either be stolen or of questionable quality (maybe expired and retrieved from a supermarket dumpster). But part of me wondered, is this the only way this woman can make a buck? In that case, I'd rather just give her money.

[Turbineguy]

23. This supposedly used to happen

during the battle of Stalingrad. Of course it wasn't steak. Or chicken. Or even pork. And all the dogs and cats had been eaten by then.

A few years ago Alton Brown did a show on the Food Network on people selling seafood along the roadside.

[pitohui]

29. it's steak, it's just dairy cows, very old steaks

it is not the quality of beef that you get in supermarkets

did you really think they gave elsie a nice burial complete with bagpipes to sing her home? :-)

(see my other post elsewhere, one of my closest friends was in this business so i got a lot of these "steaks" over the years)

[Fumesucker]

24. A guy my brother used to have work for him would dumpster dive and sell the proceeds

Mostly around his trailer park. Out of date meat, bread, veggies, whatever he could get out of the supermarket dumpsters. Sammy had no driver's license and most of the other people in the park didn't either so in a way he was providing a service since it was hard for most residents to get to the store.

We called Sammy "Dumboy" but he really wasn't dumb, in fact if he wasn't constantly looking for some crack or whatever he could probably have been wealthy because he was a hell of a wheeler-dealer.

Sammy made quite a bit of money dumpster diving.

My brother always said he didn't care if Sammy wanted to work only three days a week if only he could get Sammy to tell him *which* three days it was in advance.. :)

[Retrograde]

25. I see occasional street-corner produce vendors

Flats of strawberries in the summer, sacks of oranges a few weeks ago. This is a very urban area, so I doubt they're locally grown (and this isn't orange-growing climate here anyway). we speculate they "fell off the back of the truck" on their way to a supermarket.

[pitohui]

26. my friend used to work in this business & i can tell you about these steaks!

the "steaks" are from old dairy cows, NOT from the regular beef cows, so they have an elevated risk of mad cow disease since this is only found in older dairy cows -- however, i personally do not believe there is a very high risk of mad cow and i ate the steaks anyway and some people say i'm not crazy yet but i do think you should be aware before you buy

it is not a mugger's lure, the steaks are real, they are just not of very good quality -- they will need to be marinated and/or crockpotted

also it is up to the salesman to set the price, so if you want to bargain, go for it, you will very likely get a better deal -- never take the first price offered on these steaks

sometimes if a buyer wanted a lower price, my friend would say OK and lower the price but take some of the steaks out of the package for himself or his friends, so it would work out fine for everyone

there is more than one owner of this kind of business, the owner of my friend's business was ironically a hindu from india and could not himself eat any of the steaks but it was the business he was able to get loans for and to establish when he first came to america, so that's what he did, like it or not!

there's a sales talk they are supposed to give and the first line is indeed, "do you like steak?" isn't that sucky? but i guess it works if they've been using it for over a decade now

[lib2DaBone]

30. Support your local Farmers Market.......

.. find a produce stand near you that has fresh fruits and vegatables.

You can find some wonderful baked breads, jams and fresh poultry.

Buy from people you know. Buy your neighbors eggs... buy your neighbors home made bread.

That is.. if you want to survive.....

[tammywammy]

31. I have a friend that sold meat door-to-door

It really was good meat. He has a freezer in the bed of his truck and he drove it around. I can't remember the name of the company, it's somewhere in Ft Worth.

[LostinVA]

33. It's probably just some wiseguys' wives or GFs selling "fell off the truck" goods

This is strangely not odd to me. I'm from NJ, though.

[-..__...]

34. it's probably safe to assume that they weren't "Trump Steaks".

Seriously though... want to see something obscene?

Check out the prices on these cuts...

http://www.trumpsteaks.com

[chucktaylor]

35. Shoplifted steaks is my guess. Not everyone has a reliable fence for stolen food.

I have worked at a grocery store and seen this before.

[pitohui]

36. no they weren't shoplifted, she knew the line they give you in training to open the sales pitch

do you think shoplifters go to a special training and read from the script to sell shit, no, they just sell it

i'm telling you, it's old dairy cows, even they must die and be slaughtered and they are not tender enough for the grocery store so they end up being sold directly -- it's a tough way to make a living, because most people assume that if you're selling door to door or in parking lots out of cooler in back of your toyota pick-up it's bad from the get-go

[lib2DaBone]

37. In the near future..someone selling food from a truck....

may be all you get. I wouldn't knock it....

[lonestarnot]

38. That would be like the taco lady who used to come regularly with her tacos in the trunk.

mmmm mmmm m!