• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Army spouse uses $30 device to track down shady moving truck driver (AirTag)

Tobor

Tobor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,471
Richmond, VA
I saw this article posted by John Gruber. It's interesting. Yes, it's still a person tracking another person with an Airtag. In this case though, I think it's justified as the driver is being paid to deliver her stuff.

She put the Airtag inside a box of her son's toys.

EDIT: They had already been waiting a month for their belongings to arrive.

The mover was supposed to drop off the goods on Friday, January 7, but when that didn't happen, the moving company told McNulty to expect the delivery on Sunday. A few hours after that call, however, the truck driver transporting their belongings called to say that he just picked up their shipment in Colorado and the earliest he could get it to them would be Monday.

McNulty knew better. Using her AirTag, she found out that the driver was not in Colorado, but only a half day's drive south in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

"When we brought up the fact that we knew his exact location he hung up on us," McNulty later recalled. "He then called back several minutes later and said 'well the earliest I can get it to you is Sunday.'"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The kicker:

Even worse, the driver was not in Elizabeth due to a mechanical malfunction or a medical emergency. No, it was simply, "to see his lady," McNulty recalled him saying.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

taskandpurpose.com

Army spouse uses $30 device to track down shady moving truck driver

One Army spouse used an Apple AirTag to track a moving truck driver who lied about how much longer it would take to deliver the goods.
taskandpurpose.com taskandpurpose.com
 
Last edited:
Ambient

Ambient

Member
Dec 23, 2017
7,072
Yes people can use AirTags for nefarious reasons but this, along with a personal experience similar to this regarding movers, I've found them invaluable.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,933
No surprise it's a military move, they pay movers extremely poorly and never tip.
 
djplaeskool

djplaeskool

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,740
They'd already been waiting a month.
Get the job done, then enjoy all the conjugal trips you want.

As a former Army brat, I've been party to my fair share of relocation mishaps due to shoddy moving work and now have a small tolerance for these kind of shenanigans.
 
Daysean

Daysean

Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,392
People getting on the woman like she ain't getting pushed over by the company, not to mention her family is still missing valuable items. She already caught the company trying to fuck her over once, do your job
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,783
Tobor said:
They move a lot. The soldier gets reassigned and the family has to follow.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And the movers who get work contracted out to them by TMO are often late.
I don't know if that is common with regular civilian moves, that the movers are late, but I've know many a military family who has arrived at a new location after taking leave en route and had zero household goods because the movers are who-knows-where with their stuff. People plan their departure date, take time off to allow their items to get to their new location before them, and then have to deal with delays and missed delivery dates.

I imagine this spouse has dealt with sleeping on an apartment floor with nothing to cook with and barely any clothes more than a few times if they are air-tagging their items during a move.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,366
Daysean said:
People getting on the woman like she ain't getting pushed over by the company, not to mention her family is still missing valuable items. She already caught the company trying to fuck her over once, do your job
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yup. I'm 100% on the side of the woman in this case. Having your stuff significantly delayed during a move is disruptive. The driver obviously doesn't give a shit and he got caught. Fuck the driver.
 
TransEuropaExpress

TransEuropaExpress

Member
Dec 6, 2017
10,989
US
As someone who got fucked over by a moving company, I don't hold it against her. I paid a significant sum extra for them to arrive within a three day window of my move-in date and they jerked me around for three weeks after which resulted in having to buy all kinds of shit like a blow-up bed. When my stuff arrived, they had trashed my mattress and the driver tried to strong-arm $200 out of me because my apartment was on a narrow street (which I had informed them of prior). Whole company was a bag o' scumbags
 
krazen

krazen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,142
Gentrified Brooklyn
Sucks. What she did is an issue even though she was 'right' in this circumstance. I can imagine another person using the tool to harass or even confront someone dutifully doing their job.

That said, its another example for as much talk is given to respecting the military America doesn't give a fuck.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,366
FliX said:
The OP mentions Friday and Sunday, so I did not assume it was a month between those two days...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Either way if you skip out on an obligation to a customer, in a way that will massively inconvenience them, to do your own thing for a few days then you're in the wrong.
Don't promise Friday if you're planning to be several days late.
 
ColdDeckEd

ColdDeckEd

Member
Jul 25, 2018
524
Foot said:
It's very obviously creepy to track someone without their knowledge, yes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's not what's happening here. If they were tracking him, they would have said something to him the day he was supposed to be there.

They used it once to see where their things were, and then called him out on his lie.
 
AlexMeloche

AlexMeloche

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,744
I thought she had put it on the guy, but in the box? I'm fine with this. Same reason you would put one in your luggage.
 
Cheesebu

Cheesebu

Wrong About Cheese
Member
Sep 21, 2020
6,177
I'm trying to figure out what her husbands career has to do with this. Army spouse is a really odd way to describe a human who presumably lives her own life.
 
RoadDogg

RoadDogg

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,062
Most moving companies suck for this very reason. I remember one time my dad was moving his small office and the moving company took 12+ hours to drive the 40 minute drive from one location to the other. Tracking people without their knowledge is shitty, but I think she should be allowed to know where her belongings are too.
 
NekoFever

NekoFever

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,009
They're great for this kind of stuff.

I had one in my suitcase when my bag failed to make a connecting flight and the airline was remarkably more straightforward to deal with when they couldn't bullshit me about where it was, which they were trying to do.
 
Desi

Desi

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,210
why use airtag? like there are tons of trackers that wouldn't ping others
Cheesebu said:
I'm trying to figure out what her husbands career has to do with this. Army spouse is a really odd way to describe a human who presumably lives her own life.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
probably has to do with the constant moving. may also just be a homemaker so the title Army Spouse with the moving makes sense to a crowd of people.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,933
Cheesebu said:
I'm trying to figure out what her husbands career has to do with this. Army spouse is a really odd way to describe a human who presumably lives her own life.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's a military website and it's directly relevant to the story because the military handles moving its workers terribly despite doing it more than any other major industry. They refuse to pay well and get the worst drivers as a result, shifting the burden of their frequent moves disproportionately onto their workers.
 
Thorakai

Thorakai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,234
Cheesebu said:
I'm trying to figure out what her husbands career has to do with this. Army spouse is a really odd way to describe a human who presumably lives her own life.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Someone posted earlier that military members move around a lot, with families following suit. The first line in the article establishes how military families in particular share a lot of moving horror stories because of this constant relocation, hence the emphasis on her being an Army spouse.
 
Clefargle

Clefargle

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,123
Limburg
Seems like a clear cut case of breach of contract assuming they had one agreed upon originally which defined terms of delivery. Seems like some people are fine with one party welching on prior agreements
 
SteveWinwood

SteveWinwood

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,681
USA USA USA
Foot said:
And then calling them to say "I know where you are." And we're meant to be scandalized that he spent time with his girlfriend.

People can have time off! Sorry, y'all!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
i can only imagine you moving, not having anything in your house, and a month later on the floor in the fetal position rocking back and forth muttering to yourself "people can have time off"
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,366
SteveWinwood said:
i can only imagine you moving, not having anything in your house, and a month later on the floor in the fetal position rocking back and forth muttering to yourself "people can have time off"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Seriously. Of course the truck driver can have time off. Not while holding all the woman's possessions hostage, however. Take time off in between moves rather than lying about where you are and keeping people from getting their stuff when promised.
 
jaekeem

jaekeem

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,743
Foot said:
And then calling them to say "I know where you are." And we're meant to be scandalized that he spent time with his girlfriend.

People can have time off! Sorry, y'all!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I am certain you would not be this glib if you had been waiting a month already for your own movers
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,255
I really don't think it's justifiable to track someone unsuspectedly even if you suspect they aren't doing their job properly...
 
Shadybiz

Shadybiz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,111
Foot said:
And then calling them to say "I know where you are." And we're meant to be scandalized that he spent time with his girlfriend.

People can have time off! Sorry, y'all!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's a rather short article. They had been waiting for their stuff for a month. And when it was delivered, several high value items were missing.

The couple also has 2 kids, so their bedroom furniture, etc., would be aboard that truck.

A month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.