
Why it took three years for the northwest tack shipment to reach Natick consignment
The northwest tack furniture consignment arrived at Natick’s North Coast Depot in November 2014, according to a letter from a Natick dealer to a customer in early December 2015.
It wasn’t until April that the shipment arrived at the depot, where it remained until January.
“The northeast tack is still being processed, and it is scheduled to arrive in January,” wrote Craig Stegemann, the Natick resident who first noticed the shipment on Feb. 6, 2016.
“I’ve called Natick multiple times and the phone is still ringing off the hook.”
Stegeman’s experience, which also appears in a January post on his online business, is the subject of a new investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The agency sent letters to the Natrick company and other consignors in April, asking them for information on the shipment.
They also asked for records on shipments to other Texas cities, and a description of the shipment’s origin and destination.
Natick and other companies in the area have acknowledged that the Northwest Shack furniture consignments arrived at their sites, but have declined to answer questions about whether the consignees had a contract with Natick.
The inquiry also includes a request for an inventory tracking number that could shed light on the company’s operations.
The Natick warehouse is currently full.
“There are currently no active consigners, and no plans to expand our warehousing capacity in the foreseeable future,” the letter from Stegemsann’s dealer says.
The letter also mentions the company will send letters to residents of Natick in an attempt to encourage them to visit their local Natick Consignment Store and to call the company at 1-800-871-4200 to see if they might be interested in receiving the furniture.
“We would appreciate any assistance in locating or purchasing the Northwest Tack furniture,” the dealership wrote.
“If you would like to speak to one of our team members in person or by phone, please reach out to our sales team by emailing [email protected] or by calling our toll-free number at 1/877-821-6332.”
A spokesperson for Natick Waste said in an email that “we are aware of this matter and will continue to work with the commission.”
Natick, like other major cities, is grappling with the fallout from an outbreak of the coronavirus.
The city is also facing an investigation into whether it has violated federal rules by not reporting the shipments of the Northwest Sacks to federal officials, who have been required to keep the items at its sites, even though the shipment came from Natick to Natick from the mainland United States.
The federal Food and Drug Administration said it is reviewing Natick documents and the letter sent to the company.
Naticks response was to say that it “has not found any violations of the federal hazardous waste laws.”
Naticks waste management company, the Northern Waste Co., has also said that it has not received any requests for information about the Northwest tack shipment.