Curtailing Coin Theft

Courtesy of the Coin Laundry News

We’ve all heard the horror stories. Laundry owners who have been ripped off secretly and without their knowledge for years and years. In some laundromats a series of owners have suffered from the same thieves for decades.

So, how do you really know that the keys to your coin vaults are safe and that your laundry’s money is secure?

Listed below are some suggestions that have proven to work. Most are inexpensive and easy. A couple are a bit more expensive and require a bit more time.

At the minimum, each coin laundry should be equipped with a security system and armed with a coded entry pad along with door opening sensors and motion detectors. That way, even if someone has a set of keys, they can not enter your laundry after hours and get at the coin boxes. For them to be successful they will have to know the correct code to keep the alarm from calling the security company, then you and the cops.

To keep the entry pad codes safe, make sure you change them every time you either have to let someone go, or the employee takes another job. By re-coding periodically you’ll feel safer. These types of security systems are easy to use and in the range of forty to fifty dollars per month. They are usually part of a simple alarm system. That is a very low price for the electronic equipment they install to make your business safer, and for all of the peace of mind alarm systems do provide.

One example of a somewhat more expensive method of security is the addition of video security cameras with a recording system that will let you review images to see who enters your laundry and lets you see if they are doing anything suspicious. With these new recorders everything is electronic and there are no tapes and images are time stamped.

Cameras are particularly important where it is possible for someone with keys to enter the coin laundry business when it’s open to the public, and skim the coin boxes without being noticed. With cameras and recordings, the thieves are discouraged by the chances of being caught, with actual pictures of them doing a crime if they go to criminal court. It’s tough to deny doing theft if there is a picture showing you while you are doing it.

There are other tricks of the trade which may take a little time and cunning on the part of the laundry owner, but these have been proven by time to work well. You just need to figure out which one works best for you.

One is to lay a roll of quarters on its side and run a yellow marking pen all over the serrated edges of the coins. It can barely be seen, unless you are looking for it. Open up coin boxes at random. Drop in a specific number of marked quarters in each box and make sure you keep a note of which boxes you have salted with coins. If that exact number isn’t there in the boxes when you collect, you’ve probably got a silent partner.

Some owners will open and count the coins only in certain boxes. They make a note of those amounts. While collecting the laundry they pause and count the coins in those boxes. When there are fewer coins than in previous counts, again they know they may have a silent partner.

One variation of that technique is to place the coins from those boxes into separate bags or containers, and then count those apart from the others. This actually takes less time than checking for the marked coins in the individual boxes, but it can be a little less accurate.

It is important for security purposes that laundry operator keep tight control of keys, and even those who have tight control salt their coin boxes to be sure and doubly certain that they are not victimized by strangers. Even with the tightest security on the keys, it is still possible for others to make picks which can open certain styles of locks.

Your silent partners may be someone who has learned to pick locks. It might also be someone who has somehow acquired a variety of coin box keys that they keep trying out in different laundries until they find one where the keys work. If it’s your place, you will then have a silent partner.

So even if you are 100% confident about your keys, keep checking to be certain. Just a few minutes, a few times a month doing a review of your coin laundry’s coin vaults can save you all manner of problems. If your laundry is not attended, and does not have a security camera system installed, you could already be in trouble. Spend the time or someone else may be doing the crime in your place of business.

Skilled thieves can skim coin boxes for years without even being noticed. In one case the attendant had worked at this laundry for years. She had an accident at home and could not come back to work for a few weeks. Dollar volume at the laundry jumped remarkably, and it never went back down again. The laundry’s owner figured things out, never said a thing, except to send a message she needn’t come back to work. Wonder why?

Your laundry’s future success could depend on keeping others from secretly sharing your laundry’s income with you.

Date:-12/07/2011
By:-Laundrywizard@aol.com


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	Curtailing Coin Theft Courtesy of the Coin Laundry News We’ve all heard the horror stories. Laundry owners who have been ripped off secretly and without their knowledge for years and years. In some laundromats a series of owners have suffered from the same thieves for decades. So, how do you really know that the keys to your coin vaults are safe and that your laundry’s money is secure? Listed below are some suggestions that have proven to work. Most are inexpensive and easy. A couple are a bit more expensive and require a bit more time. At the minimum, each coin laundry should be equipped with a security system and armed with a coded entry pad along with door opening sensors and motion detectors. That way, even if someone has a set of keys, they can not enter your laundry after hours and get at the coin boxes. For them to be successful they will have to know the correct code to keep the alarm from calling the security company, then you and the cops. To keep the entry pad codes safe, make sure you change them every time you either have to let someone go, or the employee takes another job. By re-coding periodically you’ll feel safer. These types of security systems are easy to use and in the range of forty to fifty dollars per month. They are usually part of a simple alarm system. That is a very low price for the electronic equipment they install to make your business safer, and for all of the peace of mind alarm systems do provide. One example of a somewhat more expensive method of security is the addition of video security cameras with a recording system that will let you review images to see who enters your laundry and lets you see if they are doing anything suspicious. With these new recorders everything is electronic and there are no tapes and images are time stamped. Cameras are particularly important where it is possible for someone with keys to enter the coin laundry business when it’s open to the public, and skim the coin boxes without being noticed. With cameras and recordings, the thieves are discouraged by the chances of being caught, with actual pictures of them doing a crime if they go to criminal court. It’s tough to deny doing theft if there is a picture showing you while you are doing it. There are other tricks of the trade which may take a little time and cunning on the part of the laundry owner, but these have been proven by time to work well. You just need to figure out which one works best for you. One is to lay a roll of quarters on its side and run a yellow marking pen all over the serrated edges of the coins. It can barely be seen, unless you are looking for it. Open up coin boxes at random. Drop in a specific number of marked quarters in each box and make sure you keep a note of which boxes you have salted with coins. If that exact number isn’t there in the boxes when you collect, you’ve probably got a silent partner. Some owners will open and count the coins only in certain boxes. They make a note of those amounts. While collecting the laundry they pause and count the coins in those boxes. When there are fewer coins than in previous counts, again they know they may have a silent partner. One variation of that technique is to place the coins from those boxes into separate bags or containers, and then count those apart from the others. This actually takes less time than checking for the marked coins in the individual boxes, but it can be a little less accurate. It is important for security purposes that laundry operator keep tight control of keys, and even those who have tight control salt their coin boxes to be sure and doubly certain that they are not victimized by strangers. Even with the tightest security on the keys, it is still possible for others to make picks which can open certain styles of locks. Your silent partners may be someone who has learned to pick locks. It might also be someone who has somehow acquired a variety of coin box keys that they keep trying out in different laundries until they find one where the keys work. If it’s your place, you will then have a silent partner. So even if you are 100% confident about your keys, keep checking to be certain. Just a few minutes, a few times a month doing a review of your coin laundry’s coin vaults can save you all manner of problems. If your laundry is not attended, and does not have a security camera system installed, you could already be in trouble. Spend the time or someone else may be doing the crime in your place of business. Skilled thieves can skim coin boxes for years without even being noticed. In one case the attendant had worked at this laundry for years. She had an accident at home and could not come back to work for a few weeks. Dollar volume at the laundry jumped remarkably, and it never went back down again. The laundry’s owner figured things out, never said a thing, except to send a message she needn’t come back to work. Wonder why? Your laundry’s future success could depend on keeping others from secretly sharing your laundry’s income with you. Date:-12/07/2011 By:-Laundrywizard@aol.com