Per request, here is the long story...
Hope sprang to life via a random tip:
This story starts off like every other junk pursuit. I've lusted after these cabinets for years with nothing but failure to show for my efforts. If you've read every post in this thread, you already know what I'm referring to. That is, until a hot tip landed in my lap that changed everything.
I was told that not just one, but three pairs of Alemite cabinets were on the market. The catch wast that they were over 1,000 miles away in Minnesota. Undaunted by the logistical complications, I approached the seller via e-mail hoping to get my hands on just one pair of cabinets.
Because of where the tip came from, I knew that big money on the left coast would surely be after all of these cabinets so I dusted off my very best negotiation cap and went right to work. The seller is a very nice lady and from my earliest conversation with her, I could tell that placing the cabinets in the right home was her primary goal. This bit of information was critical in getting the deal done.
After my best audition as a hopeful good home, the seller went silent for a while. I assumed that big money won out as usual and I was just about to give up hope when the seller reached back out to me. WOOHOO!!
Right around the same time, AlienBaby17 also reached out after reading several posts in this thread related to these cabinets for sale. Here is the actual PM that landed him in the role of Alemite logistics coordinator:
Garage Journal 7/31/19:
Let me know if I can help.
I’m not far from where the seller is.
Maybe I can be of help to you somehow. I’d love to see someone complete their dream.
PM me if you want to talk about it.
Of course I PMed and learned that AlienBaby17 was also on the scent of these cabinets. For reasons that I cannot explain, the stars lined up perfectly and I was able to secure great pricing with the seller. Even better, because I now had a local guy on the ground, the seller sealed the deal with us. Big money lost this round and AlienBaby17 and I rode off into the sunset with 3 pairs of cabinets. He even scored a potato recipe and fresh garden vegetables while loading his truck. What a deal!!!
The early steps in this adventure went very smoothly. I'd say so smoothly that both of us were convinced that we could wrap all of this up within a week or two at the latest. Then things got interesting.
Preparing the prizes for travel:
Through constant contact with AlienBaby17, I quickly realized that I was speaking to the mirror image of myself. So much so, that it felt like I've known him my whole life. Being that we're cut from the same cloth, it should be no surprise that his packaging idea for the cabinets was forged from the love of these old relics. He created a beautiful open view wood frame crate from salvaged pallets (pic attached). He left no detail untouched and made sure that the Alemites were properly prepped for their harrowing journey from MN to WV. Many e-mails were exchanged which documented his methodical process of building the crates.
The Fastenal Experience:
I've never used Fastenal before but from what I was told, they are the best and most economical choice for shipping large items. I went to their website and created a shipping quote request. Turns out that they just reorganized their 3rd party logistics business and had a few bugs on their webpage. One specific bug is that you got zero notification that your quote request went through, so I called them on the phone and got the shipping process started. Overall, getting the shipping number was rather painless. I would use Fastenal again but the biggest take-away that I can offer you is that you MUST package your items extremely well otherwise they stand a good chance of getting banged up. More on this later.
Swinging and missing:
AlienBaby17 is like many of us here and has to go to work full time. Fastenal does not accommodate folks like us because they keep bankers hours at their facilities. In the event that you're wondering, 8am-4pm M-F only. Thankfully, AlienBaby17 works a 4 day week which allows him on weekday off. The original plan was to ship the cabinets 3 days after AlienBaby17 finished crating them up. Things just didn't work out that way because of life getting in the way all the way to me completely miscommunicating key details about Fastenal's shipping requirements. Agonizing weeks rolled by but AlienBaby17 kept in constant contact with me, which provided much appreciated assurance that things were going to be just fine. It is during this agonizing wait that we both realized that we each made a new friend. We're both cut from the same cloth as mentioned earlier.
The big day finally arrived:
As my mental pacing reached fever pitch, I received the e-mail that I waited for; the Alemites are on their way home. YES!!! You may think that nothing could be better than hearing this but you'd be wrong. It gets even cooler because the Alemites were hauled to the Fastenal loading docks in the back of a 1955 F-100 (pic attached). Of course nothing ever goes as planned and poor AlienBaby17 ran into bad weather and a slight bit of truck mechanical trouble but still was able to get the Alemites on their way.
It's always darkest before dawn:
We both felt great that the Alemites were on their way but Fastenal does not have online package tracking plus they do not respond to any e-mail tracking requests over the weekend. The process of tracking is the weakest point in their service. You have to e-mail a generic account and then within 24 hours you get a response from one of their employees. I sent two of these e-mails per day but then braced myself for the radio silence over the weekend.
I forwarded all of the tracking information over to AlienBaby17 because I knew he was also pacing the floors over on his end. He was emotionally invested just the same as me and it was the least I could do for a guy who had already done so much for me. For days we tracked and theorized on where the cabinets were and when they might arrive. Tuesday, September 17th was the day the Alemites reached WV.
The eagle has landed:
I was sitting in my office near the north west edge of Washington D.C. when the call arrived. The Alemites had arrived and were awaiting pick up!!!
Rather than boil down the story, I will copy and paste the actual e-mail that I sent to AlienBaby17 that describes the final leg of this harrowing journey.
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9:52AM...The call that I've been agonizing over had finally come...."Hello, this is Fastenal. Your shipment has arrived and is ready for pick up..."
I told my boss that I was expecting something very special and that I would need to leave work when I got the call. From north west D.C., I ran my Challenger as fast as I could up the interstate, arriving at my parents' place about an hour later.
Originally I had a box truck lined up but that opportunity came and went. Plan B was to take my father's farm truck to Fastenal and grab the Alemites. Like all well thought out plans, they have a way of not going exactly right. When I arrived to get the truck, I found it on jack stands without wheels. When I asked my mom what happened she told me that my father took the wheels down to the local tire shop to get new ones. Thinking back, I did say that I would be coming to get the truck on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. My mom didn't want me riding on worn out tires so she sent my dad down to the tire place in the morning thinking that I wouldn't be there until well after lunch. Plan B was sunk...on to plan C. As a side note, my dad is a cheapskate. If you bring in your wheels already off the vehicle, they mount and balance your new tires for free.
I raced over to Home Depot hoping to find an hourly truck rental and to my good fortune (so I thought) they had just one left. When I walked up to the truck, I immediately noticed that the dually rear tires looked like Mickey Thompson racing slicks. When I started the truck, I was greeted with a list of messages. Tire pressure low, service engine and oil change due. I decided to go for broke and send this filthy mess down the highway. It rode like a stage coach but made it to Fastenal without incident.
When I walked into Fastenal, two kids processed the paperwork very quickly. Then the large one said, "Your two packages are in the back, let's go have a look at them...". This struck me as odd because I know that Fastenal was supposed to combine the two as a single item on a pallet. As we were walking back there he said, "Whoever crated these things did a damn good job."
We got to the loading dock and sure enough, there they were laying horizontally on a pallet (pic attached). The gangly kid, who couldn't weigh more than 90 pounds soaking wet, offered to help me load them into the truck. I politely tried to explain to him that they are heavier than they appear and that he should grab the cabinet by the bottom. About half way through telling me how he is just as strong as the Hulk, he grabs the shipping crate at the top and hoists it about even with his knees. In slow motion I watched the wood shatter like glass and the crate fell back down on the pallet. By the look on his face, mine must have been a combination of fear and rage but I didn't say anything. The large kid shoed the gangly skinny kid off and we loaded up the Alemites without further issue. But the question still sat uncomfortably in my mind...why did seemingly solid wood shatter like glass? The answer will come later.
With 400 pounds loaded up, the rental truck began showing a new issue. The transmission slipped when starting from a dead stop. On top of that, the rain showers were moving in quickly. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the thing would make it home and ahead of the rain coming in. (pic attached)
I won the race against the rain, and when I arrived home, I used my shop dolly that I told you about to get the Alemites into the garage. This went off without a hitch as did the return of the rental truck. They only charged me 9 bucks plus fuel because the manager said that the truck was supposed to be serviced two months ago. I didn't complain to get this discount, rather, the manager asked me specifically if this was the truck that had all the service lights on and a bad transmission. A simple, "Yes and thank you." was all I coughed up.
Here is where things get interesting. I got out my power drill and started removing the screws. I found this part of the adventure particularly fun because it was like reverse engineering your thought process. I could see why you did things the way you did when you crated the Alemites. Then I found some unusual artifacts. The first was 4 large black zip ties, one of which was broken, and then a black bungee cord. Hmmmmm….what the heck could this stuff be for? Then it dawned on me that Fastenal used 4 zip ties and a bungee cord to bind the two crates together on the pallet. But why did I find them horizontally on a pallet at Fastenal instead of standing upright? It then dawned on me what had happened. The cabinets must have fallen off the pallet during shipment!!!
I began looking for signs of damage and sure enough, I found the top of one of the crates had splintered wood, bent screws and a chunk of missing wood right where the gangly kid lifted the crate. By the appearance, the crate hit the ground at about a negative 5 degree angle because it originally was about 4 inches up off the floor on the pallet. This amplifies the force and directs it at a much smaller surface area than if it landed flat. The great news here is that your outstanding crating job absorbed the entire shock of the fall. My guess is that when Fastenal found them tumbled over they decided to just leave them horizontal on the pallet for the remainder of the trip. (pic attached)
It took me about an hour to completely uncrate both cabinets. In case you're wondering, it took the complete charge of one 18v battery and then some more of a second one to power out all of the screws. (pic attached) I piled up the usable crate lumber and screws which will be repurposed into building wooden flower planters on my wife's sun porch.
Once the Alemites were standing on their own, I looked them over and found zero damage. Upon further detailed inspection, I think I may try to clean these up and then just shoot a new black kick stripe on them and blend the paint on the white areas that need work. The original finish is in better shape than I expected and I know that I can get these looking 90% new just with elbow grease, rust eater and some minor respray/body work. This is the current plan for the Alemites and if this doesn't go well, then it will be a full on complete restoration job.
I can't thank you enough for making this dream come true. Without all of your help, none of this would have come to pass. I'm grateful that we both got ourselves some great cabinets, a new friendship and an adventure tale to tell for the rest of our lives.
In closing, I showed Damon a picture of the cabinets and revealed that you and I were the ones who bought the Alemites out in MN. He was really happy for us both and of course reminded me that all of us should continue working together to find these beautiful objects.
I have some updates on, "The Fords" but I will save that for next time.
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If you've read this far, I thank you for the time you've spent reading about this adventure. If I've missed anything, I know that AlienBaby17 will flesh out anything that I missed.
The next chapter is about to begin. The search for the middle section of this Alemite setup will be documented here. I'm on the final stretch of this multi-year adventure!
