They Are Trying to Put Us Out Of Busines

by **J.T.Z.** » 24 Dec 2006 23:14

Hello Merry Christmas everyone
I saw something odd today at Homedepot. In the lock section they had two repining kits. Kwikset and schlage . They both had the removal tool , a follower and enough pins to do six locks. The key I looked at the depth was 33533 . the ad said why use a locksmith when you can do it your self.
What is next ?
J.T.Z.

by **Krypos** » 24 Dec 2006 23:22

enough pins to do six locks and a new key? hmmm. how much did it cost? who makes it?

by **Grudge** » 24 Dec 2006 23:48

These have been around for a while (at least a couple of year) at my HomeDepot. The good news is, most people see locks as 'magic boxes'. They don't understand them and probably would never think of repinning their own locks. The same lack of understanding keeps them from realizing the security flaws that exist in the locks they buy and install. This is slowly changing, however and even places like this site are part of that change.

by **nezumi** » 24 Dec 2006 23:53

I don't know, what sort of call makes you more money, repinning a lock or someone needing a lock replaced because he somehow stuffed three pins and a spring into one slot?

Letting people pin their own locks is just an excuse for them to break stuff more fantastically.

by **HeadHunterCEO** » 25 Dec 2006 2:37

most people will still call you.
they want it done right and done professionally
you can buy autoparts at pepboys but all the auto service places are still packed out daily anyway

by **webidiot2** » 25 Dec 2006 3:52

yea professional outweighs diy on almost everything. like us how many locksmiths are there compared to lockies?

by **Raccoon** » 25 Dec 2006 4:32

webidiot2 wrote:yea professional outweighs diy on almost everything. like us how many locksmiths are there compared to lockies?

aren't they one in the same?

it really depends though, whether a professional is always better than diy. there is some truth to the adage: "if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself." This is especially true of anyone your landlord hires to "fix" things.

by **J.T.Z.** » 25 Dec 2006 12:14

The sets of repinning supplies cost 9.99 each. I would of got them but I am fully tooled up and I think the Quaility of my tools is better .As for who made them it appeared as though Kwikset and Schalge made them

by **linty** » 25 Dec 2006 16:24

they definitely aren't cutting into our business i'd think. if anything from what i've seen people who mess this up and have to come to us have even more respect for what we do as a profession.

by **Johnny P** » 26 Dec 2006 3:57

My local HD has had these for at least 7 years.

I wrote down the name of the manufacturer one time and googled it. Turns out, in that case, at least, a retired locksmith had put the kit together. That burned me a tad more than the kit being out there.

It hasn't cut into mu business at all. Even if they have all the needed tools, chances are pretty good they'll forget to use the plug follower, panic when all the pins and springs fly out, and wind up calling us anyway.

by **plot** » 26 Dec 2006 11:40

Wow, two entirely different perspectives in this thread!

As a hobbyist, I was thinking "cool, an easy way to pick up a simple repinning kit for us to learn on or mess around with"

But from all the replies, everyone in the thread seems to be a locksmith and see's it as pure competition (or a nice try anyways).

by **mrdan** » 26 Dec 2006 12:01

I use them to re pin my locks when I get good at picking them. (It is waaayy less expensive than a repining kit and comes with the same stuff (just less of it and quality is a bit less) But for the hobbyist, I think it is good. (I don't think I would consider breaking into (pardon the pun) the business with these though.

by **maxxed** » 26 Dec 2006 18:14

With the number of hardware places that offer rekeying service already I don't think that the diy kits are going to affect buisiness alot.

by **LockNewbie21** » 27 Dec 2006 8:15

Haha I woulnd't count on it. Try working construction for four years, in this short time i have seen the most slothful people, sad part i did work on my own house :lol:

many friend and you will nto belive what people are to lazy to do.

For example caulking an old shower that took 15 minutes and cost them, well i don't want to know.

Until you enter a ture trade like locksmithing auto repair construction, you will never realise how lazy and stupid people are, especially when you have to fix there screw up

by **pauly003** » 27 Dec 2006 15:04

i Made a post about this about 2 months ago. If you search you will find it.