Robert Campbell, owner of Advantage Locksmith in New York City, is teaching his new customers and prospects.  Doing so will keep them safer and more informed about how criminals might try to attack them and their homes.  Theft is a huge problem across the United States and locksmiths from Copper Canyon Texas to New York City to Seattle Washington should follow Campbell’s example of educating their customers.  Locks should be changed anytime someone moves into an apartment or home or moves out, including breakups between romantic partners that end on good terms.  Another good example is that whenever someone is fired from their job, if they had any keys that they were responsible for, the locks should be changed to avoid any future bad situations.  Many of these are precautionary measures that will never be an issue, but you need only one disgruntled employee or jilted lover to destroy lives through assaults, property damage or worse in an attempt to get even for being wronged.

Locksmiths from Lithonia Georgia to Greenwich Village are proud of how exact they have to be when applying their craft.  For example, keys for locks need to be cut accurately to within two widths of a sheet of paper, and most locksmiths can do it in minutes.  Over the years many machines have been created to make the job easier and to be more consistent, but a lot of it comes down to measuring everything and having a keen eye for detail.  Phillip Mortarillo, who owns Greenwich Locksmiths, stated that “all the good locksmiths are the anal-compulsive people.  There’s just something about the trade that attracts them.”  Mortillaro is 58 and has said he will keep his shop open until the day he dies.  It’s his way of spending his retirement.

Locksmiths in Addison Texas and all across the country are trying to better their promotions and advertising in their attempts to drum up more business.  Aside from the service calls they receive to unlock a house or car that someone was forgetful enough to leave their keys inside, locksmiths also will design key systems for large corporate buildings.  Another strategy they use is to be a consultant for both personal and corporate security.  Usually they will point out doors that are unlocked or poorly locked, where to hide and store valuables safely, and what external signs of security to have to discourage criminals from entering the house.  A common point of entry is a patio door, which is usually very weakly locked or is made of glass, which makes a hole large enough to walk through when broken.  With these services alongside their hope is that they can pick up enough business to stay in business during this troubling time.

Sure as the wind, snow and ice come with winter, so does the incident rate increase of people locking themselves out of their warm homes and cars.  Even locksmiths in San Antonio Texas notice an uptick of business as the cold months settle in.  When people start thier cars to warm them up and go back inside their homes to stay warm, a not surprising number of them have their car doors lock automatically as they get out or lock them to prevent auto theft without thinking how they will get back in the car.  With the cold snap this past week, locksmiths across the midwest have been inundated with calls, most of which welcome in this slow economy.

Locksmiths in Dallas Texas are not seeing a very strong downturn as they are kept busy by the real estate agencies in the area.  Not having participated in the housing bubble, Texas has remained a much more stable stat during the past few years compared with the rest of the national economy.  One such example is the Firethorn community near Fulshear Texas, who has announced the addition of the Parkwood Builders to their team.  Firethorn is a new real estate building site that will begin construction shortly.  Located near Houston, the area has good schools, a reasonable price range on homes in the area, and is considered a good community within driving distance of many amenities.  More information is said to be forthcoming.

Even in Ireland, people are noticing the cultural movement from the small local shops to big corporations that can give us a greater discount on the products we want.  This is true for local locksmith shops to mom and pop general stores to novelty ice cream shops.  A small area in Clonakilty called Spiller’s Lane was one such place.  There were several small shops that added color to the town that have been suffering business-wise for the last couple years because of the economy and this trend.  Over the past year, over a quarter of the businesses in that area have closed.  Then a flood came and several more of the stores, not having enough profits to fix up their stores and reopen them, simply folded their businesses then and there.  Similar stories are appearing all over the world, and with the higher taxes on small businesses on the horizon in the United States, many more of the small businesses there will be following in Spiller’s Lane path shortly.

Locksmiths in Minneapolis MN are now also fighting the bad reputations of locksmith scam companies.

20% of calls to Triple A are from drivers locked out of their car.  The investigative team at WCCO look into how some companies are able to charge sometimes three times as much on the spot as they tell the customer over the phone.  There is little oversight from the government in the locksmith business in Minnesota, and companies are legally allowed to not quote the full price over the phone.  There have also been companies that advertise under several local numbers that all forward to the same answering service.  This part is illegal and the government is working to press charges on those grounds.

A local locksmith in Tampa Florida is having a very bad time pleasing a customer.  Eddie Oliver, a retired disabled veteran, needed work done on his only transportation.   It neeeded a new ignition switch, but what he got was a large problem for a hefty price.  After four visits from the company hired and four hundred dollars, his key would not always fit in the ignition and the vehicle would not always start.  Afterwards he called a second company, who ifxed the problem.  The original company has since explained that the technician who worked on the vehicle has been let go and since Mr. Oliver is a veteran, the company has given him a full refund but without admitting any fault.

Another investigative local news team, this time in Virginia, has attempted to expose fake or bad locksmiths in its area.  The beginnings of this story actually started with reputable local locksmiths that asked the local government to help police their ranks by requiring a registration card to prove your trustworthiness.  There are several local numbers advertised in the yellow pages directory for the state that all are answered by an automated message.  This message forwards you to the same person, who is apparently based in New Jersey.  In the investigation a second man, likely a subcontractor, appeared in an unmarked vehicle without an official uniform, without a registration card, and proceeded to take over an hour to open a car door.  One other complaint against these fake locksmiths is that they will do a bait and switch maneuver on pricing, often quoting one price to get the business, then quoting a higher rate once they are on site.

The global downturn may be hurting a lot of people, but for at least one man in England, it has opened the way for him to pursue his dream of being a locksmith serving his local area.  Kevin Cooke of Houghton was an employee of Nissan since he was 17 and has won multiple industry awards through the work with that company, but when the recession hit he saw an opportunity.  He chose to take one of the voluntary redundancy packages and use that as seed money to start working as a locksmith, something he has dreamed of ever since he was six.  The road has been hard but rewarding for Mr. Cooke as there is constant updates in security practices and devices, but there is nothing else he would rather do for a living.