The Old Switcheroo

Losing a chunk of your exhibit shipment is never easy. But when all signs point toward illegal shenanigans behind the loss, it's time to sound the alarm bells.

That's the catastrophe I faced after the 2006 National Restaurant Association (NRA) show in Chicago's McCormick Place. As the exhibit and marketing coordinator at Vita-Mix Corp., a blender manufacturer in Cleveland, I carefully watch all aspects of installation and dismantle at shows. So after NRA, I watched as the booth was packed to be sent back to our warehouse before our next show in a couple of weeks in Atlanta.

With our booth packed into 17 crates, I made my way to the loading docks, where I made sure my boxes were individually shrink-wrapped in black and had a shipping label affixed to all four vertical sides of each box. So with the crates packed and ready for shipment and the final show paperwork taken care of, I caught a late flight home. Shortly after I left for the airport, our freight company apparently picked up 17 crates as instructed and headed for Cleveland. As I began preparing for our Atlanta trade show, I assumed all was well.

When the truck arrived at our warehouse a couple of days later, however, I immediately noticed something was wrong. While there were 17 crates, only 16 were covered in black shrink-wrap. Worse, the non-black-wrapped container appeared to belong to someone else.

Upon further inspection, I discovered the container was filled with exhibit components that weren't mine. While my shipping labels were affixed to the exterior, they appeared to have been ripped from my container and affixed to this imposter crate instead. I was in shock. It seemed that someone had purposefully changed the labels to re-direct one of our containers.

Once I rummaged through the shipment and examined the contents of the rest of the containers, I deduced that the missing container held our audiovisual equipment, including DVD players, plasma-screen TVs, the actual DVD containing our product video, and various wires and plugs. With the show in Atlanta looming just a week-and-a-half away, I needed to locate my missing container or I'd be forced to rent AV equipment at the next show or two while I made insurance claims and went through the arduous process of replacing my expensive electronics.

In case I couldn't locate the missing crate, I contacted the AV-equipment rental provider at the Atlanta show to line up replacement electronics. However, I really wanted to get my original TVs and DVD players back, not to mention our video. Aside from wanting to avoid the cost of renting in Atlanta, I was also angry at what seemed like an obvious theft of my stuff. So I went to work on recovering my missing items.

Basically, my plan was to badger anyone who could help me track down my container. I figured that if I raised a big enough commotion with show management, McCormick Place security, and even the Chicago Police Department if necessary, everyone would eventually take time from their days to help me out.

My first call went to GES, the show-services provider in Chicago. I arranged for GES to pick up the crate that wasn't mine and find its home. I then asked the GES rep to check if anyone had seen a spare black-wrapped container at the McCormick loading docks after all the other freight had been hauled off after the show. But as I suspected, the answer was, "No."

Since I remembered the South Hall at McCormick Place has security cameras, I placed my next call to the expo center's security office. After explaining my problem, I persuaded a security staffer to pull the security videos and review them with someone from NRA's show-management team. Unfortunately, it seemed the lost crate had been sitting in a blind spot in the security-camera coverage. So no one could see what happened to my missing container.

Finally, with no luck in sight, I called Chicago's finest and reported the theft of my AV equipment. I figured that if I failed to locate the container, a police report would be needed for insurance purposes. Plus, since the cops would have to contact everyone I'd already called as part of their investigation, a call to the cops would also remind everyone involved that I wasn't going to rest until I had some closure on this case.

After spending a week making repeated yet unproductive calls to the police, GES, and show management, I thought all was lost. But with just a few days until move-in for the Atlanta show, I received a phone call out of the blue. An NRA exhibitor from New Jersey had just gotten its crates back, and lo and behold, my missing container was among them.

It seemed my shipping container had suddenly shown up - complete with the incorrect shipping labels stuck over the rather obvious spots where mine had been. When the folks at the New Jersey warehouse had opened the box, they found my business card along with all of the AV equipment inside.

Once we confirmed that the container and its contents were, in fact, mine, I let my GES contact know my container had been found. During this same call, I discovered that after several days of fielding my calls begging for some help, the folks at GES finally had some help to offer. While I was sure that GES hadn't been at fault in the first place, the prospect of ending my problem - and the phone calls that came with it - seemed to inspire a generous spirit in the company. Also, a little pressure from my new friends at show management seemed to spur GES' sympathy, so the rep offered to ship my container to me overnight to make up for it getting lost in the first place. Happily, I accepted the offer. Meanwhile, the company in New Jersey locked my container in its warehouse until the driver arrived and loaded it for the trip to Cleveland.

By the next evening, my wayward equipment was home, and with no time to spare. Needing to ship this same crate overnight to Atlanta the next morning, I checked the contents, which seemed no worse for their East Coast detour, and sent it on its way.

In the end, I had all my original booth components and equipment for the Atlanta show. Though I never did find out how the shipping labels on my wayward container were swapped for four other labels, the police and I still suspect foul play. But by sounding the alarm bells loud and often, the folks at GES went the extra mile to return my property as quickly as possible, and at no extra cost to me. And that, it turns out, was the real steal.

- Rusty Taphous, exhibit and marketing coordinator, Vita-Mix Corp., Cleveland