Question for the day: Would you keep it ??

[Clarence Martin]

The news says that the Oceans are littered with stuff that has fallen off of Cargo ships. Sometimes WHOLE CARGO CONTAINERS are found floating in the Oceans.

So........



Hypothetically. :D If you owned a beach house and one of those floating Cargo Containers washed up on the Beach in front of your place and was filled with BRAND NEW WOODWORKING MACHINERY!!!!:cool::D Would you keep it, Assuming they were not water damaged ????:D LOL

[Bryan Rocker]

I am not sure it would be worth anything, keep in mind it has bee bounced around for an unknown period of time and I am willing to bet that it has been beat to death and then some...If it were in good shape I think the law is you get to keep what you find.......

[Leo Graywacz]

If it worked, probably.

[Phil Thien]

I don't really believe in finders keepers. BUT, can you imagine the nightmare of trying to track down the origin of such a thing to return it to the rightful owner.

I was once shipped too many hard drives. I ordered four, they shipped four cases. They only charged me for four.

The he11 I went through returning those still haunts me to this day. I removed the four drives I needed (I needed them right then), and called to get an RMA for the rest. You would think they'd have been delighted by my honesty. Instead, they assumed I was trying to pull some kind of fast one on them (exactly how would that scam benefit ME?).

After I finally got an RMA and sent them back, they credited me for all the drives. That's right, something like $10k of credit. I called and tried to explain that I wasn't supposed to receive a credit, that it was a shipping mistake, and they couldn't get it through their thick heads.

I finally called and asked to speak to the controller of the company. I was told I have to leave a message and asked what this was in regards to, and I said, "I was shipped a box with $10k in cash in it." He returned my call REAL fast. I explained, he got it, he finally fixed it.

Fast forward to a few months later and they shorted me a $40 or $50 part. I called and they pretty much called me a liar. I told them their controller was a friend of mine, and he'd vouch for me. They checked, and then the apologies started flowing.

This is the condensed version. I'd have been better off burning those drives.

[Shawn Pixley]

On the sea, believe it would fall under "low order salvage." You would recover the container and register it with the authorities. If no one claimed it it would beome your property. If someone did claim it, you would be entitled to recovery compensation. Where it gets tricky, it where do you register the claim and which authorities have jurisdiction? In all likelihood you would have 2-3 countries involved and likely an insurance company. It would probbly take years to resolve.

[Judson Green]

I'd rather not have a huge shipping container wash up at my beach house, can't image the trouble trying to get rid of it.

[Moses Yoder]

I am the honest type that would return to owner if possible. That would assume it is possible to determine who owns it and contact them. I actually feel guilty keeping something I didn't work for. If no owner is available, the stuff is mine. My wife works at a credit union and one of the tellers at another branch deposited a $13,000 check into the wrong account number. Easy enough to do when busy. All sorts of care is taken to assure accuracy at banks but to err is human. The guy spent the money that he found in his account. He is now serving jail time for theft because he knew it was not rightfully his.

[Stephen Musial]

I'd rather not have a huge shipping container wash up at my beach house, can't image the trouble trying to get rid of it.

Put it behind my garage, put a roof on it to match the garage pitch, cover it in siding, move all the lawn equipment/generator, bikes, etc into it and I just doubled the size of my shop.

[Judson Green]

Put it behind my garage, put a roof on it to match the garage pitch, cover it in siding, move all the lawn equipment/generator, bikes, etc into it and I just doubled the size of my shop.


what would your snooty beach house neighbors think? Surely there's code restrictions.

[Michael Mahan]

I'd keep the tools but post a recovery notice , then bury the container in the backyard ,instant Nuky shelter :p

[Jim Matthews]

I'd keep the tools but post a recovery notice , then bury the container in the backyard ,instant Nuky shelter :p

Also known as redneck burial chambers.
I can only imagine the puzzled look on future archaeologists,
unearthing these sealed containers.

"Why would you try to ship yourself?"
They may wonder.

"And what's with all the Spam?"

[Jim A Walters]

There was a report on CNN on Feb 22 that a Maersk ship off northern France began to lose containers in 30 foot waves and 60 knot winds. By the time they got to port in Spain the ship had lost 520 containers. The report went on to say that a 20 foot container may float for as long as two months and a 40 foot container may float for three time that. It's unknown how many containers are lost annually but it could fall in the range of several thousand. Keep your eyes peeled. I guess it could happen.

Jim

[Michael Mahan]

Yeah ,
now think about speeding along in your fishing boat & hitting a 40 footer barely floating :eek: EEEK :eek:

That has happened !

[Rick Potter]

Jim Mathews,,

You forgot the last line............"Hey, it's still good!"

Rick P

[Mike McCann]

I work in the container shipping industry for about 30 years now. I actually work for ocean freight carriers. Cntrs do go overboard but not as many as you think. On any give week theree are close to 200000 cntrs arriving on the west coast from asia. The only time cntrs go over are in bad storms. On occasion the crew will cut the lashings to protect the ship. Remember the ships are 3 football fields long and can hold up to 14000 20' cntrs. Once a cntr goes over the owner of the goods puts in a claim so if anything is found it is slavage.

[Rod Sheridan]

The news says that the Oceans are littered with stuff that has fallen off of Cargo ships. Sometimes WHOLE CARGO CONTAINERS are found floating in the Oceans.

So........



Hypothetically. :D If you owned a beach house and one of those floating Cargo Containers washed up on the Beach in front of your place and was filled with BRAND NEW WOODWORKING MACHINERY!!!!:cool::D Would you keep it, Assuming they were not water damaged ????:D LOL

This article sheds some light on that.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/jan/23/pollution.uknews

So to answer your question, yes I would go through the process and hopefully own one legally at the end.

Regards, Rod.