The Importance of a Safe


The other day, I did a job and the customer paid me with cash. Shortly after he went upstairs, I heard the comforting beeps of a safe combination being typed in. It sparked a whole conversation with the customer about just what a good idea it is to have a safe.

Safe
A safe is another layer of hassle for the burglar. Unless they know you have extremely valuable items in that safe, the effort of getting into it will not be worth the possibility there only being a load of legal documents that he/she can’t sell on easily. So having a safe is a really good idea, even if it’s for items that have sentimental value. A piece of costume jewellery handed down from your Grandmother that has a monetary value of £5.00 on a boot sale, but is priceless to you, stands just as much chance of being stolen as a brand new laptop if it is not locked away. Putting everything you want to keep in a safe while leaving out semi-valuable goods that can be replaced through insurance is not ideal, but a lot better than never seeing that heirloom again.


There is another good reason to have a safe as well. That customer I was talking to told me about a small fire he had in his house. Luckily he was in, and he managed to extinguish it before it could do much damage, but there was a big question of what could have been. Important documents such as passports should be kept locked away. We all have password protected online accounts for our banks, credit cards, bills, emails, social media, etc and all those passwords should be different, not obvious and difficult to crack. But if they are not easy to remember dates or mothers’ maiden names, then you are going to have to write them down alongside the particular site they allow you into. That sort of information needs to be locked away in a fireproof safe. If you don’t lock it away, either the burglar could come and have a field day while you are on holiday, or a fire could destroy it all and you would have a rough time getting back the personal information that is yours. In an age when we are all encouraged to switch everything from banks to credit cards to energy supplies, can you remember which ones you are with right now. Would you know where to start if all your documents went up in flames?


Safes don’t have to be expensive. They don’t have to be complicated either. A good local locksmith will help you choose the right safe for you and if it has a battery for digital combination, will check it over on an annual basis for a small service charge.


Should you have any questions regarding the above, or any of my other blogs, please get in touch using any of the methods on my contacts page.


Thanks for reading.

admin May 10, 2018

burglar deterrents / fire proof / safes /

Safes: locks & maintenance

How safe is your safe?

safe

Recently, I have been having a few calls from customers asking me to gain entry to their safes. Either codes have been forgotten, keys have been lost, or batteries (in electronic safes) have been allowed to run down to flat.

Within the locksmithing industry, opening safes is a whole extra level of learning and the courses, along with the correct quality tools are rather expensive. This in turn makes the cost to the customer quite expensive as well. In Norfolk, there are just not enough customers for me to take on the extra expense. To make it worthwhile, I would have to put up my normal prices, and I am trying to keep as competitive as possible. While there are other locksmiths in Norfolk who will gain access to your safe, and I will be happy to guide you to them, safe opening is not something I generally do. There are exceptions, however. If your safe is small, the chances are I can get in through destructive methods and provide a new safe for a similar cost to the safe specialist simply gaining entry (they might also use destructive methods and charge more).

Safe

Better still, good practical maintenance of the safe is always the best course of action. A common scenario is when an elderly relative passes away and the family discover that the safe with all the important documents is battery operated and the batteries have long since gone flat because they were never changed. If you have elderly relatives, remind them to change the batteries yearly. Make sure you have at least two keys and they are stored in places where they cannot be damaged. One key should be kept at another safe location. I have had a case where one key was lost and the spare had been kept….in the safe itself (a common mistake with spare car keys as well – keeping the spare key in the glove compartment is not a good idea)! Simply opening the safe on a regular basis just to make sure all the levers seem to be working good, is also good practice. And always observe the “you get what you pay for rule.” If you buy a cheap safe from the high street, the chances are it will not last.

While I have said I do not generally gain entry to safes, I do provide and install all sizes of safe from the small ones that will hold documents to commercial sizes. I recommend that any household safe be replaced every ten years at the very maximum. I am also happy to arrange annual safe maintenance visits and do the things like battery changes that many people seem to forget. My aim is to make sure you can access your valuables when you need to by having the work done when it is economically convenient, rather than face a high call out fee at a time when you least need it.

Should you require a free consultation about safe installation, or just a question about the above or any of my other blog subjects, please do get in touch via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

 

admin November 2, 2016

Locksmiths norfolk / maintenance / safes /