Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/38457
Dealers’ Domain Question: S everal years ago, we had security cameras and a recorder installed. The system cost about $1,500. We thought they were fine until we realized you could not make out the guy’s face when we had a shoplifter in the parts room. Soon after, we needed a license plate number and could not make that out either. We have now spent the extra money to get good cameras installed and have had the software on the recorder up- dated. I will tell you spend the money on a good system and use a quality installer. It is worth the investment. — Matt Borden, owner Ed & Matt Equipment Greenville, R.I. About 2 years ago, we got robbed. We had 14 chain saws taken in 1 minute. These were professionals as they had a hydraulic splitter to pry the front door open; they Image above ©istockphoto.com/bubaone. Image below ©istockphoto.com/alengo pulled the deadbolt through the door frame. Found out later we were used as a cover, so they could rob the tools from the service center of an auto dealer across town that didn’t have an alarm. Since then, we have beefed up the alarm system we already had in place, and we now cable the handheld equipment together. The alarm did its job, but the cables are to slow them down. Another thing we do is not leave customer units outside overnight. A local repair shop had a customer unit and his trailer stolen this year. Being hit by some professional thieves makes you real- ize you cannot prevent everything, but putting things in place to slow them down helps, as long as you take the steps and follow through with them. — Todd Biddinger, manager T&T Rent-All Rochester, Ind. We have installed security cameras that monitor inside and outside of our buildings. There have been two or three inci- dents since we had them installed about a year-and-a-half ago. They have essentially paid for themselves already, and we couldn’t be happier that we made the decision to incorporate them into our surveillance system, along with a monitored alarm system. — Marsha Thomas, controller Charles S. Snyder Inc., Tamaqua, Pa. We have always had a security system, but I decided a couple years ago to get it updated with motion sensors too. We 16 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com moved the counter to be opposite the door so my employees can see out into the parking lot and see each and every cus- tomer as they enter or leave the main door. All other doors were converted to center-bar push doors per the new fire code, so anyone can exit them, but no one can access them from the outside — which has helped a lot. Also, bar-code guns were installed to keep employees from ringing up the wrong product for non-equipment purchases — this has helped a lot and shown where long-term employees had part numbers wrong in their heads. All purchases now must be “touched and felt” by my employees per SOP so that nothing on a cart is hidden be- hind something else and the correct SKU is written up every time. So far, this has scared away the casual shoplifter because my employees are so involved, as they should be. — Ben Chisholm, sales center manager Horizon Distributors H520 Lakewood, Wash. We have security cameras inside and outside. We are careful not to display equipment, which would be easy to grab and go, near the doors. We also are careful what we put out on the counter. Of course, we have a security system for when we are closed — motion and sound detectors in- side all my buildings and detectors on all entrance doors to all buildings. We have been fortunate and have never been bro- ken into after hours. We are very well lighted after dark as well. — David Vassey Vassey Lawn and Garden Center Cleveland, Tenn. It’s said that, in Wisconsin, we buy a se- curity system for our shop, make sure the cameras are pointed in the right direction, ensure we have plenty of storage on our media center hard drive, check out the power supply, and then when we exit the shop, we leave the doors open. That way, the customers can pick up What security measures have you taken to protect your dealership from burglars and shoplifters?