SAFETY vs. REVENUE

[Harper]

First of all, I would right next store to another computer warehouse. Frankly, i hate it as :-
1. We were there first.
2. Every one seems to mistake my his whare house for mine as they see his warehouse first.

Now last friday, I spent a little time afterwork prepairing a Games Server for the week end. I am in the production room puitting some bits together when I hear some one swearing out side and a car driving off. Nothing unusual there I am normally hear this in at the end of the industrial complex I work in.

15 minutes later, I have a P-IV 3.2 Game Server Reading, and i have $2000 worth of NetGear 1 Gigabit Cards and a Switch in my bag. I am about to leave when I find there are 2 police cars right in front warehouse. And there is a cop yelling at me to tell him who I am? What I doing here? (And later) What am I doing with $4000 worth of computer equipment in my hands.

I quickly explained them the truth what I am doing at work 1/2 hour past closing time. As soon as I show them my business card and some photo ID, they were cool.

SO the next question is.... What happened next store?
It turned out the some one came in a stuck a gun in the face of the owner of our rival computer store and demanded money.
Luckly, no one was hurt in the end.

Anyways, I told the boss what has happened, and right now we are trying to re-evalate out current position.
Now where I work, we are lucky to have more than $100 cash on site.99% of our customers are cheque or electronic.

Now you have the boss that want every one to work in a safe environment. He does not want to explain to my parents that I got shot point blank in the head for just a $100 in petty cash
Face it, if you were robbing some one at gun point and you found that they only had about $100 on them... what would you want to do. (Answer hostenly)

You have the accounts that would rather keep the door closed and locked, and only let people in when we they show up.
(BTW, we have a very bit uninvited sercurity door to our premesis that have stopped the one ram raid and IMO bullets.

And then you have myself who does realy on that door being open so I can have customers walk in (as a lot of people mistake my door as the DISPATCH OFFICE for the Computer Company Next Store.) My suggestion was just to have a sign saying "NO CASH KEPT ON PREMESIS" and "PREMESIS MONITORED 24/7 BY CCTV SURVAILANCE CAMERIAS"
After all, the neibourhood I work is okay. It's would be vary unusual for some one to even mug you in the area. And since I have worked there, we have only had 2 break ins. And one of these break in was an "inside job".

Anyways, we left the problem to thing about over the week end. Help me out on what I should do in this situation.

Should I run the risk of another gun toting loony which is staticially unlikely to happen.

Should I run the rist of loosing business by keep the door shut as my warehouse has all the charm of an illegal gambling club from a chicago ganster film.

Help me out here

 

[Dave]

Have you ever thought about moving the store? It may not be feasible, but then again it may be an option.

It would be nice to have a camera on the door with the door locked so that you could open it to whomever you wanted. The bad thing about that is that you need to be close to the monitor and the unlock/open button so you can readily open the door when a customer comes.

It's a hard decision.

Good luck with your business.

Dave

 

[RyanOldw83]

I used to work at highs for 2 years. I got robbed once by an armed mana and he took the whole scratchoff box and about 23 dollars i had in the drawer, he was pissed but he didnt shoot me. What I'm saying is not to let some bad people ruin it for you. Sure getting robbed is pretty f*d up, but the likelihood of it ever happening again or in your case, happening for the first time is very slim. I'd suggest a NO CASH ON PREMISES sign on all the doors into the store, but you can't spend alot of money trying to safeguard from something as remote as a robbery.

 

[Dave]

Ryan got me thinking about the remoteness of a robbery happening. Where I live, the possibility of it happening may be more remote that where someone else lives. So, you might want to look up the statistics of your area for robberies.

For example, according to CNN, Chicago was listed as the murder capital of the U.S. for 2003. That might make a difference on how secure one might want to make their business. However, the particular location in that city might change you view.

Maybe checking out the statistics in your area may help you make a better decision.

Dave

 

[ekÆsine]

if it were me i'd be tempted to get a license to carry a concealed handgun.

 

[True_Orb]

The last thing a burglar wants to do is shoot somebody, keep that in mind. That automatically puts him in a much worse position, I wouldn't assume he is going to shoot you over not having money.

Secondly, the odds of anyone trying to rob your store are, well, about the same as any other place. A computer store isn't exactly a prime target as far as I know.

I've never been in that situation, but at this point I'd say just forget it, leave the door open. Odds are slim, just throw up some "No Cash on Site" signs or something.

 

[Harper]

Secondly, the odds of anyone trying to rob your store are, well, about the same as any other place. A computer store isn't exactly a prime target as far as I know.

When I was working in the city, I think the worse we ever had was some one trying to shoplift a modem (back in the days when they were about $300). I do remember chasing that guy down the road and crash trackling him.

I think if think if that same thing happened to be know, I will be saying "so... it's only a modem....."

 

[Dave]

A friend of mine was a manager at 7-11. It was around midnight when three armed men came in to rob the place. He unhooked his keys and gave the keys to the men as he walked out of the store. He got in his car and drove off, calling the police as he went. They got caught. I think it was pretty smart not to get hurt and/or killed for that job or the stuff in that store.

Nowadays, I think it would be bad to chase any thief down because of the potential of bodily harm. And even though the last thing a thief might (and who know about all of them) want to do is shoot someone, the potential is still there. That is why they are carrying a weapon, the last resort.

Yeah, let 'em have the stuff. Get their description and let the cops hunt 'em down!

I agree that most computer stores are not prime targets. However, the odds are not the same from business to business and from area to area.

I suggest you thoroughly check it out and not just rely on our opinions.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Dave