Jonathan Forester Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 The following is a letter I received today. I found out that another distillery has gotten the exact same letter, twice in the past two years. I thought it strange because I haven't finished construction or made t-shirts. JIM SKORUPSKI RACING HERNANDO FL & TRAVERSE CITY MI 6395 North Iris Drive Hemando, FL 34442-2552 352-860-1816 352-347-9100 Fax Jskorupski@embarqmail. corn June 4, 2009 Mr. Jonathan Forester Penobscot Bay Distillery xxx xxx Winterport, ME 04496 Dear Mr. Forester: My name is Jim Skorupski and I am the owner of Jim Skorupski Racing. I am both a drag racer and the owner of a company, but by profession, I am a Quality/Logistics Engineer in charge of an ISO 9000 Program. In my travels both professionally and for my business, I have had the opportunity to view many different companies and disciplines and have found that Penobscot Bay Distillery is truly WORLD CLASS. The reason for this letter is twofold. First I wanted you to know that you are viewed very positively by an outside source and second I have a question. On a recent flight out of Portland, I noticed a gentleman wearing a shirt that carried the Penobscot Bay Distillery name. Unfortunately he was off the aircraft before I could inquire as to how he obtained it. I would very much like to obtain a LARGE size shirt to do a little "promoting" of my own. Would this be possible? Please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Jim Skorupski Owner Jim Scorupski Racing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Carbone Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 I received the exact same letter today. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wineslinger Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Jordan here from Stillwater Spirits in Petaluma, CA. We received the same letter last week requesting a shirt from our inc. name, not our label. We have no shirts with this name. What can the scam possibly be? To collect as many free shirts as possible? Sounds to juvenile to be worth the expense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkbodine Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 The following is a letter I received today. I found out that another distillery has gotten the exact same letter, twice in the past two years. I thought it strange because I haven't finished construction or made t-shirts.JIM SKORUPSKI RACING HERNANDO FL & TRAVERSE CITY MI 6395 North Iris Drive Hemando, FL 34442-2552 352-860-1816 352-347-9100 Fax Jskorupski@embarqmail. corn June 4, 2009 Mr. Jonathan Forester Penobscot Bay Distillery xxx xxx Winterport, ME 04496 Dear Mr. Forester: My name is Jim Skorupski and I am the owner of Jim Skorupski Racing. I am both a drag racer and the owner of a company, but by profession, I am a Quality/Logistics Engineer in charge of an ISO 9000 Program. In my travels both professionally and for my business, I have had the opportunity to view many different companies and disciplines and have found that Penobscot Bay Distillery is truly WORLD CLASS. The reason for this letter is twofold. First I wanted you to know that you are viewed very positively by an outside source and second I have a question. On a recent flight out of Portland, I noticed a gentleman wearing a shirt that carried the Penobscot Bay Distillery name. Unfortunately he was off the aircraft before I could inquire as to how he obtained it. I would very much like to obtain a LARGE size shirt to do a little "promoting" of my own. Would this be possible? Please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Jim Skorupski Owner Jim Scorupski Racing Received it today too. Clearly bogus as we don't have any shirts except custom ones we own and we haven't been on any planes lately. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graham Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Graham from flag hill winery and distillery in NH. I got this letter last week and sent him three shirts just to show how "world class" we are... just kiddin'. interesting scam though, i'd love to hear if anyone did send a shirt and what weird marketing list they ended up on.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonja Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 We really can't imagine what the scam is here, all this effort for free clothes? We got this letter last week, and got one last year asking for a glass with our logo on it from the same guy. Never did send anything, now I'm doubly glad we didn't. I tried to google the person and didn't find much, it's rather strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles@AEppelTreow Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Wineries often get emails that look like some kind of scam. So and so wants to order and have a courier pickup so it be shipped to country X. I don't think anyone has figured out what the scam actually is - but it sure feels like one. And once you get a few dozen, you get used to ignoring them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom's Foolery Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 The shirt request may be to open a dialogue with you for further scamming. I received a series of spams indicating some guy (from overseas) wanted to place a large order of wine for his daughter's wedding, so I know the scammers are getting pretty good at customizing their spam to specific industries. While the shirt request seems juvenile and harmless enough, it may have been sent by somebody with larger plans for scamming ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul G Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Any harm in calling the guy on it? Perhaps asking him what in particular he thought about the tee shirt that made it so "world class?" Maybe ask him whether he got anything from the other people he's solicited. Like Sonja mentioned, I find it curious that somebody of "world class" status in the racing field doesn't register with Mr. Google. Conversely, he could just be a harmless letter writer with too much time on his hands who's out to see just how many tee shirts he can accumulate just by asking. Maybe he's trying to win a bet...or lost one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkbodine Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Any harm in calling the guy on it? Perhaps asking him what in particular he thought about the tee shirt that made it so "world class?" Maybe ask him whether he got anything from the other people he's solicited. Like Sonja mentioned, I find it curious that somebody of "world class" status in the racing field doesn't register with Mr. Google.Conversely, he could just be a harmless letter writer with too much time on his hands who's out to see just how many tee shirts he can accumulate just by asking. Maybe he's trying to win a bet...or lost one I emailed him directly. He played innocent like he just wanted to buy a shirt. But why go to all the trouble of writing a false story? No response to that last question. On a related topic: The wine shipping scam works like this. They get you to quote the price and tell you to contact their "shipping agent" who gives you a shipping cost. The fake buyer emails you stolen credit card numbers and asks you to charge them in increments adding up to the total plus shipping. Then they want you to Western Union the shipping payment to the "shipping agent". The WU money can be picked up anywhere in the world at any WU office. They generally don't pick up any product. In a variation of the scam they do want you to Fedex it but supply falsified labels so they do take receipt. Want more info just email me. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWFiggins Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWFiggins Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 How many more people have been Skorupskied? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grehorst Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Wow, I'm kinda disappointed that he never requested a shirt from me. Although I am about to get a 40 percent cut of $34 million being transfered to my bank account by a wealthy Nigerian oil ministers widow! Imagine my surprise! I can't even remember meeting her trusted friend at that trade show in Bahrain! Good thing I sent her that account number! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I got an actual letter from Skorupski in the USPS mail. Exact same lingo the rest of y'all have seen. We passed on sending him a shirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beauport Bob Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Guy, I am also concerned. What mailing list is he using that we are not on it? What else are we missing? Cheers, Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coop Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Guy, I am also concerned. What mailing list is he using that we are not on it? What else are we missing?Cheers, Bob Got our letter yesterday, we do sell shirts and hats but none for him. Coop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coop Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Got our letter yesterday, we do sell shirts and hats but none for him. Coop Forgot to list this, he no doubt is using the list of distillers from the ADI home page site. Coop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timoteo Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I got a letter from him last week and laughed because just yesterday I gave the ok on my first t-shirt proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palmetto Coast Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Just curious if any of you have offered to trade one of your shirts for one with his racing team logo? That way you, too, could do a little promoting for him... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonja Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 It really is strange... I wonder why he didn't contact some of us, even though the ones he didn't contact (e.g., Rehorst/Great Lakes) should be on any list that we're on (at least any list that you WANT to be on). And although he claimed to Jonathan that he wanted to buy a shirt, at least some of us (including us) sell shirts on our website, so he could've just ordered one. Maybe he is just a cheapskate and thought he found a cheap way to get a bunch of shirts that no one in his area would have, or he is a collector with a penchant for distillery t-shirts? There are definitely those mini-bottle collectors out there who try to get minis of every spirit, so maybe it's something akin to that. Of course those people usually offer to pay for them, at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rum Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I received a letter in the mail from him as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodka Rob Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Sorry for the late reply. We got a letter as well. My guess is that the mailing list came from the ADI or could be the TTB list of licensed distilleries on their website. It does have all of our addresses. http://www.ttb.gov/foia/frl.shtml It reminds me of a neighbor I had growing up that sent a letter to a bunch (100's) of celebrities telling them that the autographed picture he got from them at such and such a place got ruined in the Des Moines floods of the late 90's. The guy had good success getting a bunch of autographed pics. He also had way too much time on his hands. Some peoples kids eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles@AEppelTreow Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I got this letter, at my business address, but directed to Charles McGonegal of Great Lakes Distillery. Hmmm.... next thing i know Doug and Guy will take up hard cider production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grehorst Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Over two years later now and finally Jim think's I'm "WORLD CLASS" too. So, what does he do? get breweries and distilleries to send him free stuff and sell it at flea markets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimSkorupski Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Here is a blog dedicated to these letters from Jim Skorupski: http://jim-skorupski.blogspot.com If you read the comments, you'll see that he sends these letters to all kinds of industry and then sells any free merchandise that he receives on ebay. Classy. Did you receive a strange letter from a drag racer and Quality/Logistics Engineer named Jim Skorupski? Wanna help me post a sweet online collection of his ridiculous requests for free stuff (which Skorupski then sells on Ebay)? Snap a quick photo of your letter and send it to me right here: sorry.about.skorupski@gmail.com (Feel free to black out any personal info if you want to remain anonymous) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now