Interesting extension cord story

[6768rogues]

My son is a contractor and some sales person convinced him to buy a box of 12 gauge extension cords with his company name and phone number printed on them. He left a construction trailer on a job site about 50 miles from home and it was burglarized. They stole a few tools and his extension cords. A couple of weeks later he got a call from the sheriff's department three counties away from the break in site. They stopped a car for speeding and found that the car was packed with construction tools, including his extension cords bearing his phone number. The sheriff's departments in several counties connected the dots and now have charges pending against the perpetrators in at least 4 counties. They have long arrest records and will need soap on a rope where they are going as they will no longer be **** retentive.

 

[rlitman]

NICE! That belongs on the thread of Awesome!

 

[kd3pc]

He should send the salesman a gift card for dinner at a nice place.

Good to hear the good guys gain, every now and then

 

[rlitman]

Agreed and agreed. This story is inspiring me to pull my engraver out of the drawer and spend an evening giving it a workout.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Wow great story!

Agreed and agreed. This story is inspiring me to pull my engraver out of the drawer and spend an evening giving it a workout.

+1 on that. Ive needed to do this for years but never have the time to do more than a hand full of tools at a time

 

[TheEquineFencer]

You should send the salesman a copy of the Police report and tell him he needs to give you something for you letting him use the report for advertisement!

 

[Spudland_Dave]

My brother recently got some new welding cables for his Miller Bobcat and when he did he got them "Custom Colored" (not plain black) and his name printed on them. Smart thing to do.

MUCH easier proving they are yours...he could easily describe to any LEO over the phone exactly what his cords are...good luck proving your Plain Black, unmarked cords are indeed yours.

 

[Thumper68]

I put 2 small blaze orange zip ties on the female end of all my cords, unobtrusive enough for a thief to ignore but easy to describe and to notice by a LEO.

 

[McFarmer]

Excellent.

 

[PelicanPines]

when I was young... i marked my tools with red paint to prevent my coworkers from walking away with them. Sooo my coworkers marked their tools with the same color and the confusion begain.

 

[JBourquin]

I put 2 small blaze orange zip ties on the female end of all my cords, unobtrusive enough for a thief to ignore but easy to describe and to notice by a LEO.

when I was young... i marked my tools with red paint to prevent my coworkers from walking away with them. Sooo my coworkers marked their tools with the same color and the confusion begain.

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

I'm in trades myself. I have been seeing this practice more and more. Really neat idea for obvious reasons.

 

[BJ42LX]

Is he going to get (some of) his stuff back?

 

[Elvenhome21]

when I was young... i marked my tools with red paint to prevent my coworkers from walking away with them. Sooo my coworkers marked their tools with the same color and the confusion begain.

I do the same thing for my work tools. But I only spray one side with paint. It looks kinda dumb but at the same time everybody knows that its my tools because its that obvious.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

My work tools are all marked, but never in an obvious place. Easier to prove it's mine later on.

Tommy

 

[Kevin C]

As long as we are on the subject... Grab your cell phone / camera and take a pictures of the serial numbers of your major tools as well as the entire tool. Way faster than writing it down and helpful to ID the rest of your tools in cases like this. It took me less then 10 minutes to photograph all my major stuff.

A picture of your socket or wrench sets will help the detectives sort through a find....

Also great when you need to order a spare part. No walking out to the shop to get the model number. I did the same thing with my cars VIN. Saves hassles when you go to order parts at the dealer and they need more info than make, model and year.

 

[rockwithjason]

there is a contractor here who is a pos and I hate him but he is smart enough to get custom pink romex with his company name on it. the salvagers are always on the look out for it.

 

[domain]

there is a contractor here who is a pos and I hate him but he is smart enough to get custom pink romex with his company name on it. the salvagers are always on the look out for it.

wow really? never heard of such

 

[6768rogues]

Yes, he will get his stuff back after they are done using it as evidence.
As for pictures, we recently went on an Alaska cruise which required flying to Seattle from upstate NY. When we got to the airport, I put all our luggage down and took a picture. When we returned home, our luggage was lost and they asked me to describe it. I showed them the pic on my phone and told them I took it because I expected them to lose our stuff. Got it back the next day.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

there is a contractor here who is a pos and I hate him but he is smart enough to get custom pink romex with his company name on it. the salvagers are always on the look out for it.

Pink romex? How much does that cost?

 

[m.b.0331]

Pink romex? How much does that cost?

Maybe he means a customized pink drop cord? Seen a few of those, but never heard of customizing any wire or cable that you're going to install on a job, though.

 

[Zeke]

Pink romex? How much does that cost?

Interesting read over on Mike Holt. Post #6 talks about the pink wire and the contractor.

 

[creativecars]

Pink romex? How much does that cost?

You have to be a Victoria Secret model to buy it... State Law.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Interesting read over on Mike Holt. Post #6 talks about the pink wire and the contractor.

Thx for the read. Still wondering about the cost...i now remember seeing pink Romex on an episode of Holmes Makes It Right!

You have to be a Victoria Secret model to buy it... State Law.

 

[Kevin54]

Ditto on giving the salesman a copy of the police report, and give your son a hell of a contractors discount over and above the standard discount.

For what it's worth, I don't know how much extra they charge to put a name and address on it, but our shop uses a shitload of wiring. We have a wire place we order the wire from, and we could have it printed any way that was required. The put the wire on a spool, run it out through an inker that was programmed to print what was entered. We could order it and have it a couple of hours later. Now I'm talking the smaller strands, but the same difference.

And yes, this should be in the Thread of Awesome!!!!

 

[Zeke]

Seems like a lot of product featured on How It's Made have custom lettering.

 

[Tucko]

when I was young... i marked my tools with red paint to prevent my coworkers from walking away with them. Sooo my coworkers marked their tools with the same color and the confusion begain.

I've noticed all the good colors are used up. I've considered painting all my tools a HOT PINK. Ha-ha, steal them now, you *******!!

 

[volleyball]

Maybe plasti dipping the handles would do two things. Not the same as paint. Engrave name under the dip so when you claim it, you just rub off the place where your name is.