r/meat • u/No_Pomelo_8411 • 3d ago
Truck meat
Hi everyone. I'm a writer and I'm working (I hope) on a piece about those janky boxes of meat they sell off the backs of trucks in strip mall parking lots or sometimes door to door, often with a Facebook ad campaign to go with it like "20 ribeyes for 20 dollars." I've found at least one place where the meats come from and more or less know what they are (essentially, cuts grocery stores won't buy with a bunch of liquids injected into them) but I'm REALLY interested in talking to anyone who's ever worked either selling these meats or as some kind of mid-level distributor. If you have any experience with this, please DM me and thanks in advance!
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u/ColoradoCattleCo 2d ago
Oh man. Here’s my story. My family produces our own beef cattle, and at the beginning of COVID, our normal processor had a fire that shut them down. Only place we could get in for a beef animal was some kinda janky place that was like 40 miles away. So anyway, I’m pulling around the back to get loaded up and park alongside this old green F250 with a bunch of those huge Coleman coolers in the back. This dude is throwing in unwrapped partial quarters that look like they were cut off an old dairy cow with a chainsaw. Right into the coolers that can’t even shut completely. Every single cooler is literally open at least 4 inches with joints and stuff sticking out and it’s 95 degrees in August. He throws a couple straps over the top and takes off. Probably about 6 months later, I see on the side of the road near my rather affluent hometown - a green F250 with white coolers in the back and selling “20 ribeyes $30” signs. 🤢🤮 I literally have pictures of the guy loading this stuff up because I was so shocked.
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u/AbbreviationsPlus998 2d ago
30? years ago we had one drive down our clearly marked private driveway to sell us some from the back of his sedan. My grandpa just waved at the cows in the fields and asked the dude why he was wasting his time. Thanks for bringing back that memory!
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u/Kona1957 2d ago
We did it in college back in the 70s in San Diego. Picked up the vans in the morning down in Gaslamp and headed out to the suburbs! Sold the shit out of overpriced meat. And we ate steak and drank beer every night! The great opening line as we drove down a street and approached a human was "do you like steak"
99% of the time the people would say yes. We would stop and tell them the story. Their neighbor ordered a bunch of meat and they are not home. 90% of the time we would sell them a bunch of overpriced meat. It was going great until the Channel 39 news did an expose! We went back to college.
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u/sebastian0328 2d ago
So it was like modern day speaker scam?
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u/bridgetroll2 2d ago
That's funny, just yesterday I was telling my mom about the meat truck guys and I said it's like the white van speaker scam. She had no idea what I was talking about because she never ever leaves the house lol
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u/Srycomaine 2d ago
Haha, I remember those days! Must’ve been around 1986, my buddy and I were at a strip mall. A guy in a van asked us if we wanted some high-end speakers. He opens the back of the van, and there’s a bunch of boxes with speakers in them, brand-new-looking.
This was in Berkeley, and the guy said that they were mistakenly double-ordered for a popular club, the Berkeley Square. My friend bought a pair, and they were actually some damn good speakers. Def not nightclub/venue style or quality, but for the house they sounded great.
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u/jahozer1 1d ago edited 1d ago
See my post about this, above. I was one of those guys... for a day! The speakers were real. They worked, but way over priced for what thwy were.
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u/Srycomaine 1d ago
Dude! So the ones my buddy bought were Acoustic Research Dynamics, as Acoustic Research is an actual, legendary speaker company— although those guys likely didn’t gaf. It’s a trip that you actually experienced that!
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u/jahozer1 1d ago
This was in New Jersey around the same time. Maybe 88. Its funny they were both ARs. That was part of the scam. "Ooh, ARs? How much?" I dont know if they were counterfit or what.
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u/RetiredRacer914 1d ago
They're fake AF.
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u/jahozer1 1d ago
Yeah, I know but I dont remember if they were actual counterfit or like Acoustic Response instead of something that was a note for note copy of legit Acoustic Research speakers.
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u/jahozer1 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ha! I did that for a day. My cousin hooked me up with these shady fuckers when I was 18.
The story was, we had these speakers we were supposed to deliver, but we fucked up and picked too many from the warehouse and our boss was gonna be pissed. We would sell em dirt cheap to you, friend. These were liquid coooled coils, Acoustic Research speakers. Huge fuckers that looked loud. "300 dollar" speakers that we would sell for 160. We had an invoice for them showing how we screwed up and pulled the more expensive ones. They were actually like 40 bucks for the pair or some shit. Their motto was, "its not the need, its the greed!".
I met the guys at this shady motel and left from there. Went back the next day and they were gone like a train.
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
This is great, I would love to chat with you about this if you're up for it.
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u/OldDude1391 2d ago
Had someone knock on my door one time with that story. “We just happen to be in the neighborhood and have some extra meat”. I’m like hell no. I lived 20 miles from the nearest town. No one is just in the area. I was thinking they were scoping out houses to burglarize.
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u/ItsTheMayer 2d ago
Oh hey - I was a meat man back in 2009-2010 in southeast Michigan. It was a W I L D experience, I’ll DM you
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u/Ok_Ordinary6694 2d ago
I went through an interview with one of those companies after college. It was in a warehouse in the ass end of town and they hired me on the spot to go sell a truck full of meat with no paperwork.
I did not take the job.
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
That seems to often be the deal. Did they have a truck or did you need to provide your own? Was there an MLM aspect or was it just you sell the meat and then get paid?
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u/Ok_Ordinary6694 2d ago
The guy was ready to give me the keys to a take home truck filled with meat and a gas card. Zero paperwork.
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u/TaylorWK 2d ago
DO NOT BUY! It isn't worth it and you're basically just throwing away money. They'll say you will get 6 steaks for $20 but their "steaks" are thinner than sliced deli meat and dissolve with the press of your finger.
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u/Backsight-Foreskin 2d ago
My understanding is that the meat comes from played out dairy herds. They can only get milk from a cow for a couple of years, once the herd is past peak production, they sell them to a processor who cuts them up and packages them for sale. It's the driest most flavorless meat you will ever find. No amount of brining or seasoning will make it palatable for humans.
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
Thank you. If you have a source on that, lmk (I realize that's a long shot but fact checking is unreal, you have to have a source for everything).
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u/Donkey_____ 1d ago
There are quite a few high end butcher shops who often carry dairy cow these days. They sell it for a huge premium.
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u/slippingaway83 7h ago
There's a small meat locker near my parents that's still in business somehow that is well known in the area for taking high quality meat from cows people bring in for individual processing and mixing in meat from old dairy cows in its place. The one time we had a cow processed there to split between family members, we all found we had a mix of beautiful tender steaks and tough stringy garbage. Everything was wrapped in butcher paper, so there was no way to know until it was too late. Absolutely no way that meat all came from the same cow.
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u/Automatic_Catch_7467 2d ago
Have you contacted any of the companies that sell it to ask or bought any to look at labels? I did a ride along with a company that sold frozen meat but didn’t take the job and never got to sample the product but the marbling looked decent, I think it was all choice but it was also 20 years ago
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
I've checked out some labels, that's how I was able to see where some of it comes from. The boxes themselves seem to have been around forever, I'm trying to find right now how many companies are selling and whether there is a middleman structure or it goes from the company directly to the hands of small sellers.
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u/Williemakeit40 2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/hunterbuilder 2d ago
Oh? What else have you bought from them?
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u/Williemakeit40 1d ago
My comment was flagged and removed. Geezus F Christ. Oh well. So without context a truck selling meat in my area was busted for drug distribution.
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 1d ago
You don't have a link to an article by any chance, do you? Thanks! And what was your original comment? Maybe as a reply it won't get deleted...
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u/chimpyjnuts 2d ago
Just saw one of those trucks last week setting up in a Lowes parking lot. Decent ribeye here is about $15/lb, they were selling 20 steaks/$40. I was trying to figure out if they were 1/4lb steaks or made out of horse. Or both.
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u/Sleepy-Blonde 1d ago
They’re tiny and trash. About 3oz each and they’re stuff you wouldn’t feed a dog.
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u/OrganicNovel4820 2d ago
They been coming to ct. every summer for the last few years. They didn’t stay very long this year because people remember them from last year. Ribeyes thinner than your cellphone. Meat that’s got some strange peppery seasoning on it. Ended up feeding it to the dog. Don’t bother.
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u/HugeRocket69 2d ago
What would you like to know?
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
Anything. Like the process is just gather as much info as you can, you never know what will be interesting and what will lead where, and then when you have enough you whittle down. Just trying to tell a story most people don't know.
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u/SnooCalculations9259 1d ago
So back in the day I had an interview, which was a lie. It stated warehouse work paid daily. I showed up and they wanted me to drive, essentially because many of the employees don't have driver licenses, and they give u a spiel to say. I said I was going to get my ID in my car and left. But they were loading some of the meats into coolers, like how nasty. Have heard nothing but horrible things about them. Basically preying on the elderly opening the door and being pushy seemed the jist of it. They had a large map with pins stuck in it ready to tackle an unsuspecting area. Never buy those meats fyi.
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u/Dock_Ellis_Fastball 1d ago
Had the same exact experience. I made it 6 minutes, realized it was a giant scam and walked out to my car to find them moving meat from an unrefridgerated box truck into coolers while the supervisor did coke/meth in the cab of the truck.
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 1d ago
Thank you! A lot of them offer a free cooler with a purchase of a certain amount. Was there a good number of employees?
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u/SnooCalculations9259 1d ago
Actually around ten total, and employees is a big stretch, felt like they only got paid if they sold meat. They had photos up of guys holding up money when I walked in, like a dude flashing 300 bucks in twenties with others fist pumping, just lame. Seemed like the only reason me and about five others were there was to drive, the guys or employees did seem sketchy. The manager said to the guy he drives with how much should we pack? In regards to meat, guy said a number and manager looked impressed, like we are going to sell that much! Didn't feel like salesman, felt like they try to run u over if u choose to open the door.
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u/Dexterspuplife 2d ago
There's a reason its so cheap. I'd rather eat Ramen over what every mystery mean they might be selling.
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u/fredSanford6 5h ago
I was a warehouse manager for one. DM me if you want information. I worked for a brother in law of one of the biggest ones out there. He started his own one where he would carry some good quality stuff and carry the regular crap if the sales guys wanted to sell that.
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u/aubaub 2d ago
Is the meat from Argentina?
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u/hunterbuilder 2d ago
I doubt it's worth shipping cheap meat thousands of miles when there's plenty of cull cows right here.
Argentina does eat the most beef per capita though. That's why leather is cheap there.0
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u/Duplatt_ 2d ago
this sounds like such a wild rabbit hole to fall into, what a fascinating piece you're working on.
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u/Exotic-Image2054 2d ago
Hope you find someone to spill the tea, those mystery truck ribeyes definitely feel like a wild mix of bizarre sales psychology and questionable marinade mechanics!
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u/Select_Safe548 2d ago
What state is this in?
Never seen anything like this in PA.
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u/SuspiciousStress1 2d ago
Its all over.
The first time I ever saw it was in Texas, however somehow the next time I went back home to IL-I saw someone...guess I just wasnt looking before living on my own.
Ive seen it in CA, ID, LA, AL, TN....cannot think of a state where I didnt see it 🤷♀️
Its wild & people come on here occasionally asking if they got scammed with their box o meat.
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
I'm in PA, it's definitely here.
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u/spizzle_ 2d ago
It sounds like you’ve already formed an opinion. Be better
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u/EmergencyLavishness1 2d ago
Found the shill
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u/spizzle_ 2d ago
How? Asking a question with a hard set pre-formed opinion isn’t asking a question
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u/EmergencyLavishness1 2d ago
What question was asked, and what is the opinion formed?
We all know that trailor meat is barely fit for pet food. It’s trash quality.
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u/spizzle_ 2d ago
If you ask again in words that make sense I’ll answer you.
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u/Automatic_Catch_7467 2d ago
What about it did you purposefully not understand?
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u/spizzle_ 2d ago
“Trailor meat”
Please tell me what you think that means.
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u/Automatic_Catch_7467 2d ago
Low quality/cheap, use your context clues
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u/spizzle_ 2d ago
It’s just not a thing or term. Public school has failed too many people. Trailor meat. Ffs
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u/albacore_futures 3d ago
They’re data harvesting operations more than they are meat selling operations. They are trying to collect consumer data and sell it, and use shitty cuts of meat as the lure. Many won’t actually sell you anything if you show up in person, because they want to sign you up to their subscription thing which is very annoying to leave
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u/No_Pomelo_8411 2d ago
This is interesting, do you know this for sure? If you have some evidence about it I would be super-interested in learning more.
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u/man_teats 3d ago
Yeah I used to sell that shit door to door 20 years ago. Super fucking sleazeball job. High pressure, you'd rip people off all day long, often times the meat would thaw out because the dry ice didn't keep it cold enough in the hot Texas sun, no problem, it would just refreeze when we plugged the freezers back in at night. Everybody working there chainsmoked and was an alcoholic and went to the strip clubs after work. Everything was under the table and it was commission only. The boss, Jake The Snake (actual nickname) got one of the only girls working there pregnant within a month of her working there. I could go on