doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Update UPS employee stole favorite hunting rifle

UPDATE: Good news.
I filed complaint with local law enforcement when this theft happened. I recently received an email from the investigating officer. Lo and behold, he was able to make an arrest and in fact recovered my rifle. the case is in court now. I was told I would be contacted after the case is adjudicated to get the rifle. The stock blank was not recovered and the suspect stated he "got rid of it" UPS did not do squat with their investigation. they would rather just write it off. the hell with the customer.
Evidently this guy would remove packages that contained guns and would take them to his truck. no cameras in the sorting area. that he got rid of it.
so for the naysayers that felt I jumped the gun on my accusation of theft, I guess i was right !!!

three weeks ago I shipped a Ruger Hawkeye Stainless 338 Federal and a screaming piece of Turkish walnut to my stock maker for a restock.
Insured, with signed receipt from pick up. which UPS requires on anything over $1000 of insured value, (supposedly to assist in accountability and theft prevention)
Package containing rifle and blank (measured 50" x 10" x 4" and weighted 26 lbs) arrived at distribution center (Camdenton, MO) near my dealer.
after that it was tracked as "delayed". Package never got to my dealer. I initiated claim. UPS acts like its n big deal. I asked them if they notified ATF and they said no.

Of course they want me to produce a receipt for a rifle I purchased 15 years or so ago. Now the fight to get my value out of them.
I did file an official report with the Camdenton Police Dept. The officer said he will investigate. Thats better than what UPS will do. No way I am letting UPS sweep this under the rug.

On top of that, my stocker informed me that he had a 5K shotgun he purchased from a Florida dealer stolen at the same location, same circumstances, about 3 months ago. so obviously there is someone with penchant for stealing firearms. And believe it or not, ATF wont take a notification of firearms theft unless its form a dealer, meaning a gun logged in a dealers bound book. this was personal gun. ATF could care less.
So, anyone out in the Missouri area, please keep an eye peeled for a Ruger Hawkeye 338 Federal with a 20" barrel. I cut it down a while ago. Wood Ruger factory stock with crossbolt reinforcement.

im sure the stock blank ended up as firewood or donnage to hold up a broker vehicle in a driveway!!~!!

UPDATE: Good news.
I filed complaint with local law enforcement when this theft happened. I recently received an email from the investigating officer. Lo and behold, he was able to make an arrest and in fact recovered my rifle. the case is in court now. I was told I would be contacted after the case is adjudicated to get the rifle. The stock blank was not recovered and the suspect stated he "got rid of it" UPS did not do squat with their investigation. they would rather just write it off. the hell with the customer.
Evidently this guy would remove packages that contained guns and would take them to his truck. no cameras in the sorting area. that he got rid of it.
so for the naysayers that felt I jumped the gun on my accusation of theft, I guess i was right !!!

Hogwash

Well if you think a 81 year old life time hunter and fisherman (myself) is a yuppie then maybe LL Bean are suppliers of Yuppie catalogues to us yuppies. I have been buying from LL Bean for likely 60 years and well before the name yuppie was dreamed up. Take a look at the knee high LL Bean boots worn by Archibald Rutledge in some of his photos from the 1930's---does ole Archie qualify as a Yuppie? No, he knew what works well in the "FIELD" and mostly in his case the swamps of the South Carolina low country and the grouse hills of Pennsylvania where he lived while teaching.

I like LL Bean clothing so much I have had a LL Bean credit card for years and years. Of course they are going to have to make clothing for the youngsters ---how else are they going to stay in business we eighty year olds are not going to live forever.

Hmmm ........ this is somewhat worrisome.

It seems to me that the Apple Air Tag ($29.00) tracking device is a small price to pay to be able to learn where such a package is. They are being used successfully to locate airline bags that the airlines don't know or maybe do not care to know where their subcontractors have placed them after they stole them.

So, I can partly see the reasons you might feel it could have been stolen, but what is your proof that it is not just "lost in the system" like so many packages are/have been? You made a very strong claim that it has been stolen by a UPS employee.

Do not expect much from local authorities if it was sent over state lines. They did nothing for me.

You have to de diligent and keep after ups.

They use to use an outside insurance company if you insured through ups. Like all insurance companies they are your best friends when the premiums are flowing their way, when the money needs to come your way they don’t know you.

John boyd

Stanton,
My proof is that it got to the final destination before being loaded into a delivery truck and just disappeared. It was scanned in at the facility. A 50" long package doesn't accidently get shoved under a counter. And there is a prior recent history of another high end gun being stolen there. same situation. same dealer destination. so, while there may be, ( as a realist I doubt it) an extremely small chance it was "misplaced" but given the facts and the situation, I will stand by my accusation that it was stolen.

You are required by law to report this to law enforcement. If it involved an Interstate shipment that makes it a Federal issue. Contact the FBI and advise the local UPS delivery office that you have done this. You may be pleasantly surprised how things change. I got a $100,000 double rifle located and delivered in 2 days after it was 4 days overdue.

"There is already a secondary market for modified AirTags with the speaker disabled for 'stealth mode,'" tweeted Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a leading opponent of cyberstalking, after being told of the muted AirTag reseller pages yesterday (Feb. 2).


https://www.etsy.com/listing/135509...r_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1

I think I'm the one (naysayers) you're referring to, Brian, and I'm very glad you got it back. I also hope the thief is severely punished.

Looking for a crow recipe ......... SRH

As of a few years ago packages w ups (or it was fedex) hit the warehouse and come in and go down the conveyers and driver pulls his boxes onto the floor at the rear of his backed-up truck which sits against the belt. Picture a bunch of trucks parked backed up to the line side by side like soldiers in formation. Driver is required to load up the rear of his truck, sometimes another driver helps but rarely. Driver is required to scan all boxes once in the truck and BEFORE leaving the warehouse property, many do so usually right there at the belt w the packages going in. This will show the item is now on the truck out for delivery.

And that’s the loophole which permits thief drivers to target and steal packages - they know their route has a special address (or there are substitute drivers who happen by chance to take over a valued route, meaning w choice delivery locations). They recognize by name/address the package will be going to a precious metals or auction house or jewelry store - or gun dealer. Given reports of thefts on prized routes, security is going to eventually look to target the problem drivers. So security will send down bait packages along the conveyor belt directed to said route and thief driver. The camera will show the bait package handled by the driver and fake scanned or simply put into the back of the truck.. and the system will show the bait package was NOT scanned, ever, by the driver and certainly not in conformance w policy prior to departing w the truck, but the other packages sent down for that route will have been scanned, Therefore, the package is shown as still at the warehouse and never delivered and lost can’t locate it. The thief pulls out and goes about his route, but drops off the targeted package w a friend conspirator, or wife or girlfriend, along the route. You’d be surprised trucks may or may not have GPS devices to prove to these companies where their trucks are and if they momentarily veer off… and that there may not be uniformity across warehouses in different states as to the capabilities of security to investigate. Thief drivers are not going to keep the package for the entirety of their shift and stuff it under their shirt (unless really small) and walk it to their car in the employee parking lot in possible view of others so as to leave with it at end of shift, so it’s probable it was dropped off to a “friend” while on his/her route.

I did say eventually security will investigate. That’s because unless you are a business with a large account with UPS/FEDEX and you take it to corporate (meaning elevate it above the account manager to counsel for UPS/FEDEX) and threaten a lawsuit and or full press to move your account elsewhere, UPS/FEDEX probably isn’t going to care about several losses of lower value packages by individual sometime customers.

I’d have the same feeling as you - it’s probably stolen from a driver who had your route that shift - you need to report to police (no matter a prospective negative result) just to get an incident report and ask to have it (serial make model and report no.) filed with NCIC. You likely need to first wait some mandated UPs/FEDEX policy time limit set by the co. To expire hence proving the package is totally lost in order to convince police it’s really stolen. Also ask them to enter it into leadsonline.com or whatever service or requirement your locality requires it to be entered into a pawn/second hand dealer system. You need to then take it to your local FBI office and file a complaint of Theft from Interstate Shipment; while it’s low value not suitable for a federal prosecution, explain that you’re likely being one of several victims and request/beg the agency to at least investigate it a little for your loss to determine from UPS the identity of the driver and to confirm the driver is a known problem child, and ask the FBI to go to his residence to interview him and see if the driver spits up the gun. That agency should well know how to handle a consent and search w a UPS driver who claims “didn’t do nothing.” I opine UPS/FEDEX isnt going to recover a stolen article from their driver, they’ll only fire him.

I sent a double off for repair today. I spoke with the gunsmith and he said to send it uninsured. "They won't pay anyway". I sent it USPS Registered uninsured, 3 day priority. Fortunately the shipment is to the FFL license holder in his given name. In a private sale when I send to a gun to an LGS, I always hate addressing it to a shop that has "Guns" in the address. No better heads up to a thief as to what's in the package. I sent a gun to a Charleston "Gunshop" for transfer to a friend's grandson. I live 100 miles from the shop. It went out last Tuesday for delivery Friday. On Friday it went south to Jacksonville, Fl, 110 miles from Savannah, traveling 90 degrees from where it should go and 250 miles from the shop. Today, it is in Atlanta, 345 miles from Jax and 90 degrees in the other direction from me and 300 miles from Charleston. I expect tomorrow it will go to Charlotte, NC to partially enclose the circle with another stop in Wilmington NC then back to Jacksonville, driving past Charleston on I95 before directly going to Charleston. By the time it gets to Charleston it will have traveled over 1000 miles to get to the shop 100 miles from me. Gil

99% of all guns shipped arrive safely. But when it goes off the rails it seems shippers all want to try to cover your their ass and pretend they are not at fault. They are 100% at fault. I pay them to take my gun from point A to point B, safely and timely. I give it to them physically and entrust that will do their job. I pay them money to do a job. It is their job not to lose it. It is their job to police their own employees so they do not deliberately or accidental destroy my property. It is their job to make sure their employee does not steal packages. I hope none here ever have a gun lost or damaged in shipping but when it occurs shippers need to step up and pay their claims or find the gun. Not an unreasonable requirement.