A particular type of theft—cargo theft—has been surging in frequency over the past four years, and Outside Online goes deep on one particular incident involving a truckload of shoes. More specifically, "mountain clogs," made by Bedrock Sandals, a small Montana company popular with outdoor enthusiasts. After a small test run of the clogs sold out quickly, the company ordered more than 5,000 pairs from its South Korean factory and had them shipped to a California port last year. They planned a big product launch crucial to the company's fortunes and waited for a truck to deliver the clogs to Montana. And waited. As the story by Scott Yorko explains, the truck never showed. Instead, company exec Matt McAdow started receiving vague messages about mechanical issues and false promises that the clogs would arrive soon.
As it turns out, someone had intercepted the shoes at the port and driven away with them. (Often, such thieves get tipped off by overseas operators about shipments and show up with fake documents, the story explains.) "Large companies receive hundreds of containers per year and will frequently write off any theft after taking the insurance money, but when an entire container is stolen from a small company like Bedrock, it's a big deal," writes Yorko. Insurance takes a while, for one thing, and it doesn't cover lost revenue. In the end, Bedrock had at least partial luck—police in Los Angeles recovered 2,640 of its clogs in a warehouse, though 2,724 pairs remain missing. They've been turning up on eBay and the like. Read the full story, which includes more details on how cargo theft works and on Bedrock's new (and more expensive) shipping strategy going forward. (Check out other longform recaps.)
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