Hi bishopmarine;
Thanks for the understanding! I definitely take all the credit (i.e. blame;-) for those MRE’s - no one else to point the finger at. To be honest with you, I’m a bit embarrassed by that period of our history, but back then we didn’t know much better. They really were just an opportunity for us to be able to sell to FEMA, which was a large customer of a basic meal if it was priced right and still had a year of shelf life left at a minimum. And their requirements were only 800 calories per meal, 3 meals per day back then, so the almighty profit won out on trying to maximize the return with the least amount of expense. Although we learned a tough lesson back then because of these MRE’s, we did gain some valuable experience from the whole thing as well as some fantastic vendor relations and government contracts. We’ve never made the mistake again, nor will we I assure you.
Just to change the subject for a minute, any chance you’re the same Bishop Marine (I’m pretty sure that was the name) on the east coast that used to carry our New Zealand canned butter last year? If so, it really is a small world… If not, sorry for the confusion - thought the name was so close that maybe it wasn’t just a coincidence.
Back to eBay, I have never heard of arc or Daniel Lehr, sorry. Sounds like you got stung on those too, I’m sorry about that!! We actually never wholesaled those MRE’s to anyone, but it is always possible that he purchased some from eBay and tried to make a fast buck.
More than likely though, he purchased them from the same place we did back then - Major Surplus and Survival. If you go to their website, you will see that they are still selling the same exact cases even today, complete with 600 calorie millennium bars now instead of the old nutria-grain bars that came in ours back then.
The only thing we did way back when we carried these was to specify that Major add 2 extra meals to our cases to try and add some more value, hence the baker’s dozen name. As far as I know, they never sold those to anyone else (at least they weren’t supposed to). So if your cases had 12 meals per case, they probably came right from Major Surplus, but if they had 14 meals, then this guy most likely did purchase them from us through eBay (sorry;-).
Menu C MREs for sale on eBay
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bishopmarine
- Posts: 423
- Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:50 pm
- Location: virginia
thanks for the response. i am on the east coast but i have never dealt in butter. although that is a major coincidence. i dont know where he got the meals, but here is a description of the box. on the outside in black letters it says mre depot on all six cases. then there is a red stamp on each case that says arc industries. not that big a deal you live and learn. i would just like to get my hands on him so he could live and learn. he even played off my marine sympathies saying he was getting ready to go to basic training. i hope that scum never joined the marines, and i told him that on our last exchange. i basically said marines are honest and he obviously dont fit that criteria. oh well. thanks though.
"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army."
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
I may be mistaken, but I believe Arc Industries (when it relates to MREs) might be this one:
http://www.arc-industries.com/
This is the same same Arc Industries that's associated with MREFoods.com, which is run by dverkamp, a member here. Maybe we can ping him and see if he knows where these MREs might have come from.
http://www.arc-industries.com/
This is the same same Arc Industries that's associated with MREFoods.com, which is run by dverkamp, a member here. Maybe we can ping him and see if he knows where these MREs might have come from.
Thanks kman, I appreciate the warm welcome AND you summarizing the most important questions for me. Sorry that I didn’t think to join a while ago, as MREs are my life and after spending some time on all the posts over the last 48 hours, I pleased to find others as crazy as I am for them. In fact, I think I saw somewhere comparisons on how many MREs some of us eat a week, and I can honestly say I probably have everyone beat on that front. But then I guess if I worked in a warehouse full of ice cream 6 or 7 days a week, I’d probably be eating ice cream a couple of times a day too...
I can hopefully shed some light on these two subjects for everyone, but I do have to be careful what I say to a degree, as I’m kind of in some new and dangerous territory here.
On the Menu C MREs, first off, let me say that we definitely did do some ‘creative embellishing’ in the sales pitch - I’m sure that won’t surprise anyone. In the eBay world, you have to have a story to go with the product, or you risk getting glossed over with the rest of the idiots who don’t play ethically or morally right all the time. But, the facts are all correct;
1) These are contract manufactured for us, and although I am forbidden under the terms of my agreement to say by who, I can tell you that they are a current military supplier.
2) They are 100% real military items - nothing is aftermarket or commercial, right down to the accessory packs, spoons and Tabasco bottles, which believe it or not actually have a different label for the military than commercial ones.
3) They actually average a lot more calories per meal than we advertise - between 1600 and 1800 calories per meal in most cases.
4) They are legal to sell because they have never been government property at any time.
We have seen some HDR packaging on a few items (specifically the crackers, raisins and oatmeal cookies), but they appear to be sporadic. We’ve opened some cases have only seen tan packages, and then other cases may have a mix of tan and silver crackers. Rest assured though that any HDR items are the exact same as the military items - same contents, same packaging, same quality just in a silver pouch.
We’ve also seen some Sopakco and some Wornick items mixed it, but I’m not surprised by that too much, as I have seen that happen before. They all work with each other when they have to, but don’t make a regular practice out of it because it is better for the bottom line to produce it in house and make the full margin. But you don’t hold up the delivery of a $10 Million Dollar contract because your out of stock on 1 or 2 entrée’s that aren’t schedule for product for another 3 or 4 weeks. Plus, they are used to subbing most of a meal out today to different subcontractors, and for the most part only make the entrée’s themselves nowadays and do the final assembly. The snacks, sides and accessories all come from different companies.
The packaging was differentiated slightly on purpose in order to make the manufacturer comfortable with them being different enough from military packing as to avoid any confusion. This was intentionally done in most cases (solder logo, US Govt Property disclaimer missing, different fonts), and in a couple of cases surplus/overruns were added to the mix rather than throwing them out (specifically on some of the boxes). We have noticed 3 different boxes all with slight variations, so they must have used some leftovers, but they are all pretty similar.
Now, on the story behind them. They were actually contracted for by a private military contractor who backed out last minute, although not in the kind of quantity we have agreed to. Menu C MREs have been produced before for a number of different reasons - most of them non-government related. We actually agreed to take a lot that was already manufactured IF they would guarantee 2 more runs of equal or greater size for us in the next 12 months. In addition to that, we have another option for a future 4th run over the next 24 months if we exercise it before the end of June this year with a firm delivery date no more than 18 months out.
We are breaking new ground here with this. Never before have have any of the manufacturers ever considered doing something along these lines. This is a first time that I am aware of. The big three are all businesses first and foremost, and their primary goal has been to make a profit like any other business. They are often hard to work with on the commercial sector because they don’t want to jeopardize their business with their biggest cash cow, the government. But for a large enough opportunity they will work with you - it just has to be a large enough opportunity to be worth their while. Plus, with two hurricane seasons now coming in much lighter than forecasted, they are not as backed up as they have been used to in the recent past, so they are always looking for ways to keep the production lines busy.
We have taken delivery of the first run, which was three 53-foot rail cars of 144 pallets, or about 5800 cases. That run is half gone now (a lot on eBay for sure, but mostly to a couple of municipal customers), and probably will be completely sold out in the next 3 or 4 weeks. The second run is schedule to go to production next week and the following week. Those will be 2008’s, but pretty similar we’re expect to the 2007 in menus, and should hit our doorstep around the second week in February if all goes as planned. For the future runs, we are trying to see if we can have some influence on menus as we’d like to fine tune them a bit, but there are no guarantee’s.
On the Oddball MRE issue (and USGI MREs in general), you could call them surplus, but technically the government doesn’t ‘sell’ them as surplus. We will get opportunities once or twice a month to pick up odd lots - often as bulk buys that include a lot of other items, and we take every one that comes across our doorstep without hesitation. Because our agreement prohibits us from retailing them ourselves, we either sell them on eBay as surplus, or in the case of Oddball, sell them the entire lot wholesale. So, the MREs you see on Oddball’s website are actual military/USGI MREs, menus A and B - not the ‘Menu C’ MREs that are on eBay right now.
I hope that helps clear a few things up - sorry for all the confusion on these. Let me know we missed anything or if you need some more detail.
Thanks!
-Steven
I can hopefully shed some light on these two subjects for everyone, but I do have to be careful what I say to a degree, as I’m kind of in some new and dangerous territory here.
On the Menu C MREs, first off, let me say that we definitely did do some ‘creative embellishing’ in the sales pitch - I’m sure that won’t surprise anyone. In the eBay world, you have to have a story to go with the product, or you risk getting glossed over with the rest of the idiots who don’t play ethically or morally right all the time. But, the facts are all correct;
1) These are contract manufactured for us, and although I am forbidden under the terms of my agreement to say by who, I can tell you that they are a current military supplier.
2) They are 100% real military items - nothing is aftermarket or commercial, right down to the accessory packs, spoons and Tabasco bottles, which believe it or not actually have a different label for the military than commercial ones.
3) They actually average a lot more calories per meal than we advertise - between 1600 and 1800 calories per meal in most cases.
4) They are legal to sell because they have never been government property at any time.
We have seen some HDR packaging on a few items (specifically the crackers, raisins and oatmeal cookies), but they appear to be sporadic. We’ve opened some cases have only seen tan packages, and then other cases may have a mix of tan and silver crackers. Rest assured though that any HDR items are the exact same as the military items - same contents, same packaging, same quality just in a silver pouch.
We’ve also seen some Sopakco and some Wornick items mixed it, but I’m not surprised by that too much, as I have seen that happen before. They all work with each other when they have to, but don’t make a regular practice out of it because it is better for the bottom line to produce it in house and make the full margin. But you don’t hold up the delivery of a $10 Million Dollar contract because your out of stock on 1 or 2 entrée’s that aren’t schedule for product for another 3 or 4 weeks. Plus, they are used to subbing most of a meal out today to different subcontractors, and for the most part only make the entrée’s themselves nowadays and do the final assembly. The snacks, sides and accessories all come from different companies.
The packaging was differentiated slightly on purpose in order to make the manufacturer comfortable with them being different enough from military packing as to avoid any confusion. This was intentionally done in most cases (solder logo, US Govt Property disclaimer missing, different fonts), and in a couple of cases surplus/overruns were added to the mix rather than throwing them out (specifically on some of the boxes). We have noticed 3 different boxes all with slight variations, so they must have used some leftovers, but they are all pretty similar.
Now, on the story behind them. They were actually contracted for by a private military contractor who backed out last minute, although not in the kind of quantity we have agreed to. Menu C MREs have been produced before for a number of different reasons - most of them non-government related. We actually agreed to take a lot that was already manufactured IF they would guarantee 2 more runs of equal or greater size for us in the next 12 months. In addition to that, we have another option for a future 4th run over the next 24 months if we exercise it before the end of June this year with a firm delivery date no more than 18 months out.
We are breaking new ground here with this. Never before have have any of the manufacturers ever considered doing something along these lines. This is a first time that I am aware of. The big three are all businesses first and foremost, and their primary goal has been to make a profit like any other business. They are often hard to work with on the commercial sector because they don’t want to jeopardize their business with their biggest cash cow, the government. But for a large enough opportunity they will work with you - it just has to be a large enough opportunity to be worth their while. Plus, with two hurricane seasons now coming in much lighter than forecasted, they are not as backed up as they have been used to in the recent past, so they are always looking for ways to keep the production lines busy.
We have taken delivery of the first run, which was three 53-foot rail cars of 144 pallets, or about 5800 cases. That run is half gone now (a lot on eBay for sure, but mostly to a couple of municipal customers), and probably will be completely sold out in the next 3 or 4 weeks. The second run is schedule to go to production next week and the following week. Those will be 2008’s, but pretty similar we’re expect to the 2007 in menus, and should hit our doorstep around the second week in February if all goes as planned. For the future runs, we are trying to see if we can have some influence on menus as we’d like to fine tune them a bit, but there are no guarantee’s.
On the Oddball MRE issue (and USGI MREs in general), you could call them surplus, but technically the government doesn’t ‘sell’ them as surplus. We will get opportunities once or twice a month to pick up odd lots - often as bulk buys that include a lot of other items, and we take every one that comes across our doorstep without hesitation. Because our agreement prohibits us from retailing them ourselves, we either sell them on eBay as surplus, or in the case of Oddball, sell them the entire lot wholesale. So, the MREs you see on Oddball’s website are actual military/USGI MREs, menus A and B - not the ‘Menu C’ MREs that are on eBay right now.
I hope that helps clear a few things up - sorry for all the confusion on these. Let me know we missed anything or if you need some more detail.
Thanks!
-Steven
Remember; "When Disaster Strikes, the Time to Prepare has Passed"
Excellent and very thorough response, Steven! Thanks for clearing all that up. I don't know about the rest of the guys, but this definitely puts the Menu C MREs in a much better light for me.
I was definitely impressed by the calorie count in those things. My wife and I dined on two of them a couple of nights ago and there were enough leftover parts and pieces that she's been eating that stuff for breakfast and lunch for the past two days.
I was definitely impressed by the calorie count in those things. My wife and I dined on two of them a couple of nights ago and there were enough leftover parts and pieces that she's been eating that stuff for breakfast and lunch for the past two days.
Bishipmarine; Sorry, I new it was a slim chance you were one in the same, but thought it was worth a try. I didn’t realize that the marine was for the corps, ‘former’ Marine myself - Semper Fi!!
That definitely wasn’t one of our MRE’s, as ours never had our name on it. They just said MRE’s. Attached is a picture from my files so you can see them (this will probably trigger unhappy flashbacks for BigMark - sorry in advance BM);
Plus, we haven’t sold them since probably 2003 to 2004-ish if I had to guess.
But, you bring up a scary point - if it says MREdepot on the case, someone is using our name without our permission. Any chance you have a picture of them from the auction that you can post? I’d really like to see these. If you have a difital camera and can snap a shot of our name on the box, I would really appreciate it! I’d really like to put a stop to that, and can even use our attorney to help you out if we can track this gentleman down...
That definitely wasn’t one of our MRE’s, as ours never had our name on it. They just said MRE’s. Attached is a picture from my files so you can see them (this will probably trigger unhappy flashbacks for BigMark - sorry in advance BM);
Plus, we haven’t sold them since probably 2003 to 2004-ish if I had to guess.
But, you bring up a scary point - if it says MREdepot on the case, someone is using our name without our permission. Any chance you have a picture of them from the auction that you can post? I’d really like to see these. If you have a difital camera and can snap a shot of our name on the box, I would really appreciate it! I’d really like to put a stop to that, and can even use our attorney to help you out if we can track this gentleman down...
Remember; "When Disaster Strikes, the Time to Prepare has Passed"
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bishopmarine
- Posts: 423
- Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:50 pm
- Location: virginia
okay just called my wife it had been a while since i have seen the mre boxes. still had some in storage had my wife go look. the box just says mre's-mre's then it has the marking i described earlier after researching the link that kman put up i found pictures of the exact meals i got. here is the description from their website quote
"You receive 12 high-quality MRE Full Meals with Heaters! Each meal is packaged in a clear, durable plastic bag.
The variety pack includes at least three different MRE Entrees, and each meal includes an MRE Entrée, MRE Side Dish, Nutritional Bar, Spork, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Wet nap, Coffee, Creamer, and Heater.
Production Date: Mid-to-late 2005 "
that is exactly what mine were even the nutritional bar and coffee are the exact brand that i got. when i get home i will be checking the adress that it shipped from with the adress they have listed on their website. so it basically boils down to this the mre's i got are from mre foods. it will be interesting to see what adress they came from i know it was evansville indiana. i will update you guys once i verify. steven i apologize for affiliating you with this mix up it turns out your company was in no way involved and i was just mixed up on the names.
"You receive 12 high-quality MRE Full Meals with Heaters! Each meal is packaged in a clear, durable plastic bag.
The variety pack includes at least three different MRE Entrees, and each meal includes an MRE Entrée, MRE Side Dish, Nutritional Bar, Spork, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Wet nap, Coffee, Creamer, and Heater.
Production Date: Mid-to-late 2005 "
that is exactly what mine were even the nutritional bar and coffee are the exact brand that i got. when i get home i will be checking the adress that it shipped from with the adress they have listed on their website. so it basically boils down to this the mre's i got are from mre foods. it will be interesting to see what adress they came from i know it was evansville indiana. i will update you guys once i verify. steven i apologize for affiliating you with this mix up it turns out your company was in no way involved and i was just mixed up on the names.
"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army."
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
MREfoods.com is a division of ARC Industries, and ARC Industries is a division of Evansville ARC (non-profit organization). Net proceeds from MREfoods.com go toward funding programs for individuals with disabilities.
MREfoods.com sells on EBay under MREfoods, through our website (www.mrefoods.com), and through Amazon stores.
When items ship for MREfoods.com, the return address will show as ARC Industries because that is the way our UPS account is setup.
If you have any questions let me know.
Thanks,
Darren
MREfoods.com sells on EBay under MREfoods, through our website (www.mrefoods.com), and through Amazon stores.
When items ship for MREfoods.com, the return address will show as ARC Industries because that is the way our UPS account is setup.
If you have any questions let me know.
Thanks,
Darren
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bishopmarine
- Posts: 423
- Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:50 pm
- Location: virginia
ok i will check when i get home to see what adress they actually shipped from. the seller said he was from arizona so if they shipped from indiana that will be a little odd. i will find out at 07:30 tonight.
"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army."
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
-
bishopmarine
- Posts: 423
- Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:50 pm
- Location: virginia
after speaking with mre foods it looks like they knew the person whom sold me my items. he did not work for them at all. and they have not heard from him for a while. so its not there fault no more than someone who buys something at wal-mart and misrepresents in on ebay. just an unfortunate event for me.
"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army."
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.