Should I change the lock?

[snugglerclean]

Hey everyone,

we are buying an existing mat, closing date is next Friday. Do you think we need to change all the locks?

Thanks in advance

[William]

Some will say yes no matter what, I say it is a judgement call. I have changed them before, and I have kept them, depending on what I thought of the seller. If you trust the seller, the next question is how many employees or other people have keys as well.

Good luck!

[Ronald]

When I bought my mat I did change all the lock I don;t want anyone to have the keys to my money.

Check out http://monarchcoin.com/ They have good prices on new coin boxes.

Good luck in the laundry Business..

Now would be a good time to become a premium member.

[Rich]

When I bought my mat I felt fine with the old owners. They owned it for over 20 years. I changed the locks on the front and rear doors, And the locks on the 2 change machines. But my place is fully attended. If it was unattended I probably would have changed all locks.

[Anonymous]

I did the same on one store. Changed the front and back door lock but not the machines. One the one we just bought were changeing them all.

[Monarch]

Well, not just to sell you locks, but unless you are positively absolutely certain that all keys are accounted for, you really should consider it. After all, those key represent access to your money!!

As to trusting the seller, that may be fine, but do you know if his son is just as trustworty? You would be surprised. Experience has taught us that there almost as many losses due to an "Insider" taking advantage of the situation as from breakins.

Norman

[Palmyra Jim]

I did not change the locks. The owner has brought me keys from home and we meet weekly to go over business issues. I trust him completely. We worked together better than our attorneys! If that was not the case, I would have changed all the locks.

If I had any doubt, I would have spent the money.

Jim

[goingtoarizona]

First thing to consider is the security of the security (hopefully DVR) system. If there are keys to that room floating around (or unauthorized copies). Someone could steal or erase your security device after taking all your money.

Second, as I understand, all washers, dryers, and replacement coinboxes etc., come with at least one key per machine. If you have 20 washers keyed alike, and have 19 keys, someone has a copy. In the 'mats we bought, we generally only got one copy of each key, in theory, there were dozens of extra keys floating around. One mat of ours was owned by at least two other owners, and ran (collected money) by one of the owner's sons. Who knows how many people have had access to those keys?

Generally we don't recover money after breakins etc,if you don't change keys and lock, you're only encouraging "them".

There are cases of owners finding the preious owners helping themselves to the new owner's earnings. Spend a couple hundred on locks. There are times and opportunities to scrimp and save money, it's my opinion thatthis isn't one of them.

[Monarch]

This is generally a case of "pay me now or pay me later"

It is almost certain that all keys are not accounted for in such a sale.

I do take issue with Arizona in one regard. We do have people who order a whole batch of coin boxes keyed alike but only ask that we ship the order with a limited number of keys. This way they have fewer keys to keep track of or lose. So one key each is not carved in stone.

I did have a fellow order forty boxes, and wanted all forty keys. He then went out and hammered 39 keys into uselessness so no one would get them. A week later he lost the only key he kept and had to drill out all the boxes!!

KNOW WHERE ALL KEYS ARE. And who is carrying them. And periodically check to make sure what you think you know is true!

ALWAYS KEEP SPARES Never get down to one key, as they can somtimes be difficult or even impossible to get.

DO NOT USE YOUR CHANGER AS A "SAFE" to lock up spares. Guess what machines the theives break into first?

KEEP TWO SPARES IN DIFFERENT PLACES. Preferrably one at home or other off premise location, and one in a saftey deposit box (most banks offer the small ones with your account. If they don't, the boxes are still worth the annual charge) If nothing else, duct tape spare keys under the basement steps at your Mother-in-law's or something.

KEEP TRACK OF THE KEY CODES AND WHO THEY CAME FROM We cannot do GI, or ESD. THey cannot do ours. And no one, anywhere can furnish a key without the code.

DO NOT COUNT ON A LOCKSMITH TO CUT NEW KEYS Laundry keys are proprietary to the orginal source, as note just above. Other than tubular keys, locksmiths do not have access to blanks for Sentinel, XD, Cobra, Nova, or any other common laundry keys. SO PLAN AHEAD AND HAVE SPARES!!

We sometimes make more sales because of an owners lack of forethought, or the desire to get off cheaply than we do from taking care of breakins and vandalism. Please read through some of the earlier posts that I have sent to coinwash (see link to my meanderings below) to get an insight into some of the issues that may not be obvious.

Also check out http://www.monarchcoin.com/laundry-support-keys.asp

AND ALWAY REMEMBER -
THE KEYS TO YOUR MACHINES ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR MONEY!!!!

JMHO

Norman

[pete f]

>> DO NOT USE YOUR CHANGER AS A "SAFE" to lock up spares. Guess what machines the theives break into first?<<


This is true, I had a changer ripped out of the wall this week. only had cash in it.

[Ronald]

>> DO NOT USE YOUR CHANGER AS A "SAFE" to lock up spares. Guess what machines the theives break into first?<<


This is true, I had a changer ripped out of the wall this week. only had cash in it.


I had a changer removed from the wall also. Insurance bought me a new one it is in a concrete wall would be hard to get it out..

[Amex]

Had changer stolen also. Only had cash in it, keep extra keys at home.