Selling Locksmith Supplies to Non-Smiths

[billdeserthills]

This comes up from time to time in my shop. I know in the time I have joined this forum I have tried to open my thinking to allowing the sale of some things I consider to be Locksmith-Related, over the counter but it hasn't taken yet.
Today someone called, they have kwikset smart-key locks on their home and they wanted to come by my shop and buy a set of 4 pre-cut keys & rekey their own locks. The request almost instantly infuriated me and I let the caller know that short of copying a key off their keyring I would do nothing further for them, concerning the sale of locksmith supplies.

Do any of you working smiths sell sets of pre-cut keys to clients looking to cut You out of the equation?

[Squelchtone]

I wouldn't be mad at the customer in this case, be mad at Kwikset and their 'change your own key any time you want' invention.

If anything I would see it as an opportunity to code cut some Kwikset keys and charge them $5 to $15 per key.

money still made. or maybe tell them there are known issues with that system and for not much more you could upgrade them to much better Grade 1 security. I dont consider it upselling if it is a better product that actually makes them safer. If they had a hollow core bathroom door and I sold them a Medeco Maxum deadbolt, then I'd be questioning my ethics, but drumming up other business is usually fair game.

what do you think?
Squelchtone

[billdeserthills]

I highly doubt anyone in my area will pay $5 for a key, but I strongly suspect the caller was actually a handy-man, attempting to steal locksmith work and I don't like thinking that is going on.
Perhaps I will try your idea of charging double next time, also I was thinking "what fun" it would be if I did code cut a key with a non-standard bitting for the smarty-pants lock?

[2octops]

I don't have a problem with it.

We will code cut a KW key for the same price as any other key and that's $35 for the first key and $3.00 for each additional duplicate, plus sales tax.

We only cut neuter bow blanks for most residential and commercial keyways and they have our name on them.

[victorylocksmith]

Bill, I recommend if they are a legitimate client looking to buy keys for their smart key locks, send them the videos of crappy and insecure the locks are. That should scare them straight and I believe it would be just your style of showing them who knows best!

[globallockytoo]

I wouldn't be mad at the customer in this case, be mad at Kwikset and their 'change your own key any time you want' invention.

If anything I would see it as an opportunity to code cut some Kwikset keys and charge them $5 to $15 per key.

money still made. or maybe tell them there are known issues with that system and for not much more you could upgrade them to much better Grade 1 security. I dont consider it upselling if it is a better product that actually makes them safer. If they had a hollow core bathroom door and I sold them a Medeco Maxum deadbolt, then I'd be questioning my ethics, but drumming up other business is usually fair game.

what do you think?
Squelchtone

I agree. But charge them by the keyhole. Ask them how many keyholes they want to change themselves (to cut you out of the loop) and then charge them your rekey fee x how many keyholes they have and give them the keys. Great profit in that.

But, if they dont have the right size pin to press the change lug, they are gonna have to call you, right?

Almost all smartkey rekeys I have been to, the client has lost the change pin. I still get $15 per keyhole for 3 seconds work. It is not my fault they lost the change pin.

[billdeserthills]

I wouldn't be mad at the customer in this case, be mad at Kwikset and their 'change your own key any time you want' invention.

If anything I would see it as an opportunity to code cut some Kwikset keys and charge them $5 to $15 per key.

money still made. or maybe tell them there are known issues with that system and for not much more you could upgrade them to much better Grade 1 security. I dont consider it upselling if it is a better product that actually makes them safer. If they had a hollow core bathroom door and I sold them a Medeco Maxum deadbolt, then I'd be questioning my ethics, but drumming up other business is usually fair game.

what do you think?
Squelchtone

I agree. But charge them by the keyhole. Ask them how many keyholes they want to change themselves (to cut you out of the loop) and then charge them your rekey fee x how many keyholes they have and give them the keys. Great profit in that.

But, if they dont have the right size pin to press the change lug, they are gonna have to call you, right?

Almost all smartkey rekeys I have been to, the client has lost the change pin. I still get $15 per keyhole for 3 seconds work. It is not my fault they lost the change pin.

Wow $15 to rekey a lock, does everyone charge this amount?
I charge $8.50 and I'd feel like a thief if I charged more, as I make a good living at my prices

[cledry]

I wouldn't be mad at the customer in this case, be mad at Kwikset and their 'change your own key any time you want' invention.

If anything I would see it as an opportunity to code cut some Kwikset keys and charge them $5 to $15 per key.

money still made. or maybe tell them there are known issues with that system and for not much more you could upgrade them to much better Grade 1 security. I dont consider it upselling if it is a better product that actually makes them safer. If they had a hollow core bathroom door and I sold them a Medeco Maxum deadbolt, then I'd be questioning my ethics, but drumming up other business is usually fair game.

what do you think?
Squelchtone

I agree. But charge them by the keyhole. Ask them how many keyholes they want to change themselves (to cut you out of the loop) and then charge them your rekey fee x how many keyholes they have and give them the keys. Great profit in that.

But, if they dont have the right size pin to press the change lug, they are gonna have to call you, right?

Almost all smartkey rekeys I have been to, the client has lost the change pin. I still get $15 per keyhole for 3 seconds work. It is not my fault they lost the change pin.

Wow $15 to rekey a lock, does everyone charge this amount?
I charge $8.50 and I'd feel like a thief if I charged more, as I make a good living at my prices

No, we charge $10 but you also charge a lot more than the going rate for your duplicate keys.

[globallockytoo]

Look,

at $15.00 per keyhole, that's including remove and refit. If it takes you 3 minutes to remove and refit, 10 minutes to rekey the cylinder in your truck and 2 minutes to walk to the truck and back, that's 15 minutes.....or $15 labor on site. $1.00 per minute is fair value anywhere. And because you offer a skilled trade that not many others offer (there are not that many locksmiths who actually know what they're doing), shouldnt you get paid a reasonable compensation for your training, product knowledge, business acumen, carrying parts, tools for the job etc? I'm also throwing in the tumblers for that price.

At $8.50, are you charging separate labor on top of that? If not, why not? the customer is paying for your skill and knowledge and your service. I also throw in the first 3 keys with that. Extra keys are $1.00-$1.50 each...if I choose to charge for them. (I figure that if Homo Depot or Lowes or Ace hardware can get $3.00 - $5.00 for a duplicate key...that often will not work....and then there are the vending machines that charge anywhere from $3.00 - $5.00 or more for a dupe....why cant lockmiths (who usually know what they are doing and guarantee their keys) charge equal or better prices?

Are you in the business to make a profit or not?

I have been practising locksmithing for over 30 years on 4 continents and USA is the only country I have ever been in, that the tradies dont value their skills like they should.

[Dan82]

Sell them, be friendly, and hopefully they will refer someone to you some day.

[billdeserthills]

I charge a service call minimum of $45 then the $8.50 per standard lock cyl with an existing key
no key and I charge $10 to shim open or $35 to pick open. Profile cylinders are $18.50 single & $28.50 double sided. Standard keys are $2.75 in the shop $3.25 on the road. I just think if Lowes, home depot, etc can get $3.00 so can I. My keys work so they should be worth more.
The removal labor is in the service call, but I find as much broken stuff to replace as I can. I get $28.50 for a kwikset latch installed & Schlage starts at $38.50. On a standard call I make $100-$150
an hour while I am there working and I think that is plenty good enough. I'm not a congressman or a thief, but then I repeat myself
I think I make up some difference in price with my keys, I stock Emtek, Baldwin, Schlage and Kwikset original keys and those get up to $5.25 apiece for baldwin & emtek. Even the standard keys I sell usually are US Lock security bow and they cost about double what a standard key does. I like to use quality keys that the clients cannot obtain elsewhere, idk if any of them care or not tho really.

[billdeserthills]

Sell them, be friendly, and hopefully they will refer someone to you some day.

You prolly have a good point, but I'm just not that friendly to people on the phone who irritate me

[YouLuckyFox]

I'm not a congressman or a thief, but then I repeat myself

Welcome to the forum, Bill!