MREInfo.com

Posted: **Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:13 pm**

Guys, let's cool it down on this thread before it gets too heated.

Oddball, as a vendor, we're glad to see you here but sometimes these guys don't pull a lot of punches so it's best if vendors have a thick skin coming in. The guys here will ask a lot of questions and might make some skeptical comments at first, but once all the questions are cleared up, you'll find they're easier to get along with. You've been a great help so far in answering their questions and posting the updated pics.

Everyone else, let's cut Oddball a little bit of slack at least until someone can get their hands on one of these cases and report back. We slam lots of other vendors and especially eBay sellers here when we catch them selling crap but Oddball at least is coming in here and standing up for what he sells and that's a far site more than the other vendors do.

Posted: **Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:27 pm**

To move this topic a little bit back on track, I wanted to pose this next dilemma to Oddball.

This is from one of those recent "Menu C" auctions - these are the MREs that Steve is selling that were reportedly made by Ameriqual for military contractors - they look like real military MREs but don't have the resale restriction. Anyway, in one of the auctions, someone sent Steve a question about the whole "Commercial resale is unlawful" issue. Here's the whole question and Steve's answer:

From: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0199174592

Questions from other members : Case MRE's Military MRE Meal Ready to Eat Disaster Food

Answered On: Dec-17-07

Q: HI, I have NO PROBLEM TELLING ANYBODY WHERE I GOT THE MRE'S I SELL, I buy on ebay like most people and one thing a lot of people do not understand is that they cannot be commercially sold and if you are not a commercial company no one can say they are commercially selling, but you are a commercial company and that is why you are in that catagory. Not the average ebayer. MUST BE A COMMERCIAL COMPANY TO MAKE COMMERCIAL SALES. ( I have checked with my lawyer on this) Any questions just let me know, a lot of mre sellers are try saying the same as you but to try and boost there sales but KEY IS COMMERCIAL SALES NOT AND COMMERCIAL COMPANIES. THANKS

A: Hi; I definitely share your frustration on MRE sales. Sometimes the government cracks down on MRE sales, and sometimes they don’t. We’ve been selling them for almost 11 years now, and unfortunately I hate to have to tell you this, but you have been mislead by your attorney as to what constitutes a commercial sale. The FTC classifies a commercial sale as a transaction between two parties in where money transfers from one party to the other in exchange for goods or services. Nowhere in any legal documents does a transaction made by a private party not qualify as a commercial sale. I would ask your attorney to research this further for you, and provide them with the current language from the Government legal briefs on MRE sales, as they will find that the government defines commercial resale as any sale that takes place outside of government control. Here’s the language from the Dept of Defense website on MRE’s with regard to commercial resale; 1.All Operational Rations are procured by the Defense Logistics Agency and are Government owned property until consumed by authorized personnel or disposed of, if appropriate. Operational Rations are never considered “surplus”. RESALE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, as expressly stated on MRE cases and individual menu bags (U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPERTY COMMERCIAL RESALE IS UNLAWFUL). MRE’s are considered government property when purchased by the government, and I assure you that any resale, whether by a fortune 500 company or a part-time individual, is illegal. Sorry to rain on the parade, but we choose to take the high road when it comes to legal MRE sales – I obviously created trouble for you if folks are e-mailing you prior to spending their hard-earned money on MRE’s and asking why you are selling illegal MRE’s, and for that I honestly am sorry. I wish you the best of luck, -Steven Cyros

That's a lot to read so if you just skimmed it, let me reprint the interesting part of Steve's answer:

MRE’s are considered government property when purchased by the government, and I assure you that any resale, whether by a fortune 500 company or a part-time individual, is illegal.

I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is...and the findings of a GAO investigation (html version) have shown...that at the very least, the resale of MREs that were given to civilians for disaster relief can be resold by those individuals without protest from the government.

But even if that one example is ok, Steve seems to be implying that your sales are illegal. How can he say that and yet still supply you with the MREs you're selling?

This isn't an accusation or anything like that - I'm just genuinely curious about the issue. I think it would be great is we actually had a source for completely legal military MREs so people would have a reliable, non-eBay alternative.

Posted: **Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:00 pm**

"MRE’s are considered government property when purchased by the government"

These were NOT purchased by the government, though they were made 100% MILSPEC so that they could be.

Again: I am legally selling USGI MILSPEC MRE's, but very limited supply. I am it - there is no one else and Steve cannot sell these per his agreement with the Feds.

So get them while you can. You might also check out dehydrated-food.net for the rest of our food stuff.

Posted: **Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:42 am**

Could be he is a good businessman, and has a good PR guy.

Posted: **Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:44 am**

Nada.

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:06 pm**

I wanted to post a summary of what I've learned through my discussions with Oddball and his supplier of these MREs:

On Oddball's website: http://www.mredirect.us/ , he is selling 2006 and 2007 (date packed) MREs. The 2006 MREs for sale are actually real military MREs that were received as surplus from the government.

The 2007 MREs are actually the "Menu C" MREs we discussed on this thread: viewtopic.php?t=1255

I think Oddball had the best of intentions when he says the 2007 (Menu C) MREs are "MILSPEC USGI MRE". The confusion comes because he actually has the 2006 MREs on-hand and he can tell from eyeballing them that they're the real thing. But the 2007 MREs are located at his supplier's warehouse where they're dropped-shipped to customers so he hasn't actually seen them side-by-side with the 2006 military MREs.

As most of you MRE-saavy forum members know, unless you're real familiar with the nitpicky details of MREs, it's easy to get the "MilSpec" Menu C MREs confused with the real military MREs. I think it was an honest confusion on Oddball's part. He's been selling emergency preparedness supplies for a while and seems to run a good store so I wouldn't hold it against it.

The good news here is that there's finally a reliable place online where you can buy genuine military MREs. $70 per case, isn't exactly cheap for MREs, but you don't have to take your chances on eBay.

MREInfo.com

mredirect.us selling real MREs