Lock em all up every day or what?

[Art From De Leon]

i keep mine locked everyday even if i have to go over bady shop which it is down the street... i had few pranks happens in my toolboxes like open the drawer and it is full of foam balls in, other time i found the my snap on box was full of green tapes... so i just lock it and go where i need to go.. BUT every time when my toolboxes locked, techs have to wait for me to arrive then ask me for the tool... right now i have 31mm deep wright impact socket missing... i think i did pull it out but cant remember where did i put it on.. i was used it to pull the Focus's rear brake nuts to pull the drums out... i did asked every techs at my work if they see it or have mine.. they said they did not have it even THEY NEVER SEE OR USE 31MM....

Sounds like the odds have caught up with you, and you have lost one. I would bet that you have not lost very many tools in your career, as you seem to have your **** together.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

i did tried to use 30mm socket but the nut have small metal sheet on it which wont let 30mm socket fit in. so i bought 31mm socket from member who sell wright tool..

Yeah, the stupid **** laminated nuts. Those things ****. I just use a 30mm deep impact socket and a nylon hammer!

 

[Deafautotech]

Sounds like the odds have caught up with you, and you have lost one. I would bet that you have not lost very many tools in your career, as you seem to have your **** together.

I hate to lost the tool! it made me go crazy and i wont work until i find a tool... it is kind of piss me off that i CAN"T remember where did i drop or put it on...

 

[Deafautotech]

Yeah, the stupid **** laminated nuts. Those things ****. I just use a 30mm deep impact socket and a nylon hammer!

yeah.. i would but i dont want damage the nuts so i just spent almost 28 dollars for 31mm deep wright socket(made in usa).. i still figure out where hell i did put it on table or bench???

 

[GDA]

I am just a weekend wrench but I still follow lots of advice in the above posts. I never leave the garage door open unless I am working in it. Yard work and other stuff... same rule applies - unless a car needs to back out, the doors stay closed so drive bys and other nosy people won't see what all is in there.

I just recently added a sliding gate across my driveway and fenced in the entire yard/detached garage but find myself still living by these old habits.

What they don't know about... then they probably won't have the motivation to search out and try to steal.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

I'm the same way if I lose something, all work must stop until it is located!!

If I waited to find it or for it to show up later that would give time to the tool gremlins
to move it farther into the realm of the netherworlds ... or something like that.

Seriously though I do stop and try to find it, if it's on the floor someone might accidentally kick it underneath a bench. I remember leaving a 17mm impact socket on the ground outside the shop for under 5 minutes [parking lot, near the back door, nowhere near a sidewalk or public area] and it was GONE!
DANG IT!!! 10 years now and I'm still jacked about it.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

Words of wisdom GDA.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

Here's a funny. At my former shop there was a KNOWN [by EVERYBODY] tool thief. I wanted to test the theory out as i was new at that time so i marked some new pliers i got and left them on top of my box. Had my day off. So, now, 48 hrs. later i waltz in to work in the am and bam the pliers are gone. Turned out a different tech had them after i asked everyone in the shop iof they had "seen" my xyz type pliers. He at first said no, he hadn't "seen" any xyz pliers ..... i really think he was heisting them but changed his mind, he came up to me a few minutes later and said here are these your xyz? [of course they were].....also he made a weird comment something like "it's fukked up to have someone else's tool" And all this as i was thinking about smackin the known tool theif's noggin.

Things that make us go hmmmmmm.

 

[battlegraduate09]

why would you not lock your toolbox ?

 

[TheCarbideRat]

why would you not lock your toolbox ?

Locking a box is one thing but putting ALL tools away and locking them can take 10 or even 30 minutes to do. That means 10 hours a month in the worst case so 120 hours a year, not exactly small change.

Another aspect is co-use of tools. If i lock my box and go home my buddy or my boss cant use them unless of course they have a key, but just the same it's another level of complexity in the workplace. To me and apparently quite a few others on this thread these aspects of tool security are interesting and important whether we lock some,none, or all on an hourly daily or whatever basis.

 

[TheCarbideRat]

On the other hand, if your question is purely rhetorical, it is a good one.

 

[battlegraduate09]

while that was a good answer, it was meant as rhetorical. However, what i do is put everything up as soon as i finish one job at work. Even if im going to have to use the same exact tools on another job, i at least know what, if anything, is missing.

I leave my box unlocked during the work day, i dont mind people borrowing tools, but giving them back dirty is just disrespectful in my opinion, but thats another topic....
Like another member said, locking your toolbox is free. Im only 21, and have ALOT of money invested in tools, it worries me quite often when i think about our shop getting broken into, but its pretty well secured. I just know i couldnt afford to buy those tools again, id have to find a new profession, which is depressing in itself.

My box is locked every night at quitting time, and keys are locked up in my locker, which has a bigger lock on it.

 

[greasemonkey44]

i lock them when i go home; other wise they stay open
but a coworker is always right by them; and no one but me needs to borrow

 

[JKady]

Both my work boxes have wheels, if someone gets in the shop and has time to get the bay doors open before the cops get there I'm screwed boxes locked or not. I consider all the folks I work with trustworthy, and the other R&R guys know that they're welcome to borrow tools so long as they come back at the end of the day. Only time that's EVER been an issue was when one of the service managers swapped engines in his truck on a Saturday I wasn't working, came in monday and both my cart and the head R&R guy's cart were by the stall where he did it, took half an hour to sort each other's tools out and put them in their places.

 

[TwoInch]

Only time that's EVER been an issue was when one of the service managers swapped engines in his truck on a Saturday I wasn't working, came in monday and both my cart and the head R&R guy's cart were by the stall where he did it, took half an hour to sort each other's tools out and put them in their places.

thats not cool. id have some serious words with him for that one...

oh im done with all your guys tools, im just gonna leave them all jumbled in a pile here, see you next week!

uh... nope.

 

[darkk]

Lock my tool box at work? Before I retired, everyone was afraid to go within 10 feet of my box and I liked it that way.....Actually now that I think about it, they even stayed out of my work area altogether...

 

[gsmornot]

I don't lock my box at home but I do like a poster above and keep the garage door closed most of the time. My boxes are in my smaller garage and recently have been moved to the other side of the garage to make it harder to see them from the street when the door is open. I hate that I have to worry about things like that. I have yet to have any issues and don't know if that's because the area is good or if its because I have been so careful. The biggest issue is this time of year it stays hotter in the garage than it needs to because I keep the doors closed all the time. I guess that's the cost to keep the things you spent the time collecting.

 

[4x4gearhead]

I lock both of my boxes at work every day. The other 4 dudes that I work with generally dont. I find that Im the only one here that actually cares about the things that I buy. We have never been robbed as of yet but we are right down the street from Laconia and NH motor speedway so during the big race weekends and during bike week there are a ton of people driving in and out of our yard because everyone is mystified by the fact that we have 40 snowgroomers out back.

 

[Kevin54]

I always locked mine. But when I was off on medical my lock was picked and a few hundred in items came up missing that no one seems to have any idea about. But there are three that always bragged about picking locks. One I have a good idea did it. That's alright. My boxes are home now. I'm retired, and Karma can be a real *****.

 

[Jure]

lol i used to work in shop with 20 people,and there was massive tool stealing,i was 1. day at my new job and someone stole my brand new hazet box wrench set (i took it from the stock that day)...then i was like "man someone stole my tools" other 15 people were like "ahhahahhahahahhahahahhahahha kid who gives a ****,someone was just too lazy to go in room where tools are stocked and took it from your box,are you ******* dumb or what??,go there and take a new set,make sure that you are smart enought to take one for home,if ther's anything left" lol i was like "man are you serious??,if i steal something i will get kicked out" all they said was "you will lose your job for few months anyway...so make sure that you did something smart" lol ofc after 9 months we all lost our jobs becouse that firm bankrupt. god i miss that place lol!

i had problem on other job,too much tool were stolen,i used to work in a store like walmart,we were selling bicycles,i used to work as a bicycles mechanician,and my tool box was in the ******* store,ofc i was lazy to lock it,so customers stole some of my tool becouse it was open 24/7 lol.

 

[2fat2fly]

Just interested in how many of us lock up all or some of our tools / equipment on a daily basis at the workplace.

I lock up everything [9 locks] each day when I leave work, sometimes even when I leave for lunch... amazingly very few tools have sprouted legs.

On the downside it takes 15 - 20 minutes to do it. For lunch I do a 5 minute deal.

I lock everything up every night.

 

[Bob-B]

Work boxes got locked every night before leaving. My problem was I worked nights (machinery builder)and the owner would re-arrange the shop almost daily. I never knew where I'd find my box when I came in.

Home boxes get locked when we go away on vacation. Garage shop is attached to the house, so the garage door seldom gets opened.

 

[Reality Sucks]

I lock mine every day.I've lost tools so to speak while someone else was using them. You can tell who goes in your box. Because the next day they want to know why its locked. My boss had his box cleaned out 10 years ago from not being looked. its a big investment protect it. as my boss says if you don't watch your money ie.someone else will.

 

[canuckian]

All my tools are in my shop at home and the box, cart and doors are locked and monitored alarm is set if we're not home. they are also locked every night and all tools put away. We live in a good neighborhood but all it takes is for one person with less than honorable intentions to ruin your day and cause you some big headaches.

 

[Brownsfan]

I worked in a big box car electronics install bay years ago. The salesman around the store in other departments thought that our tools were community tools. And managers would let them in to the LOCKED shop before we got in and let them "borrow" our tools. I came in and was walking to the restroom and saw my drill sitting on a shelf no one around no one using it. I grabbed it and walked back to the bay. No one ever noticed it was gone and no one said a wotd to me. From that day on I locked EVERYTHING UP. At the next morning meeting I told everyone in the store that the installer tools are NOT bought by the company and are not for "store" use. If you need to borrow something you will have to leave cash or collateral of equal value before you can walk away. Never had that issue again

 

[bobcatdan]

I havn't locked any tool box in years other then moving it. My top chest is so full of stuff, I couldn't close without moving stuff. I live close to work, so I don't bring the work truck home often unless it just make sense at the end of day, like I am closer to home then work. Last week I brought it home and the girlfriend was outside and she was a amazed when I lock the truck up. She is always on me for that, I dont' lock anything, keys in the ign of everthing. When she first moved in, I had to find the house keys, lived there over a year and never locked the door. House I lived at before, didn't even shut the back door from spring to fall, just the screen door. And she is the one who has locked herself out twice.

 

[Jagmandave]

When at work I absolutely had to lock my box when I left, or I'd come back and find my tools all over the plant..........since the production people weren't supposed to be working on the machinery in the first place, I started locking everything up.

Next thing you know I'm getting complaints right and left - so the company bought the production manager a basic set of hand tools, pliers, crescent wrench, hammer, allen keys etc. Within a month they were almost all gone....

From that time on I didn't loan any of my tools, period - and I never left my tool box unlocked if I wasn't there.

 

[Brownsfan]

Same thing happened. All the salesman complained what are we supposed to do when new tvs come in. I said bring your own tools in then. It ws not in my job description to loan tools that are REQUIRED for me to have to do my job. They just did not understand why I was upset. Then the store bought a store tool set. They were all lost in 2 months. I told everyone in the store after that my tools are not being loaned out under any circumstances so dont bother asking. My box will be locked even if I have to go tothe bathroom

 

[KEH]

Was at a junkyard shop on business a few years ago, and I noticed a mechanic locking his box back after taking tools out. His works station was next to his box. Didn't ask what kind of problems he was having.

KEH