Our new VAN

[Sinifar]

Okay, been busy for the past few weeks. The 2014 Transit Connect is basically a remake of the old Aerostar. For those of you who are thinking of buying one, do it. Just know that up fitting the thing is going to be a headache. It is "meter ready" for a taxi, but has to be worked around for a work truck.

The stuff from American Van came in late, which delayed the work, then we tore the thing apart to get the steel in. I did not include the construction sub photo work, but know I have it and I can tell you what we had to leave in and how we worked around the stupid taxi mounting parts for the seat belts, rear hear and air, and other fun stuff.

In the end, we lost 2 inches on either side due to I could not shove steel up against the outside walls. So had to work with what I had where I could and this was the final work out.

Before the fight, and all the rest, we pulled old steel from the storage lockers, repainted it for the bench. That is the old part. the 9 drawer unit never got the repair, just to show how bad it really was in the day. The curb shelving and the big high cabinet are the new ones.

Everything is anchored to the high rails, floor, and the back walls. It will not shift in this van got hit by a train.

Here are a couple of finished photos...



AND the curb side ..



This is final construction. There are still another light to put up, it hasn't come in yet, carpeting to cut and install, maybe this weekend, and a few other final touches. This is as far as we let people see into our work truck. From here on unless you run into us on the street working, the final details are closed.

Sinifar

[cledry]

Nice but cramped. Do you also use larger vehicles?

[billdeserthills]

Wow, there is almost zero room in there for inventory. I would be driving back to the shop all the time--Better You than me

[dmcintyre86]

I agree...i have been seeing these vans all over the place and have been considering checking them out...but after seeing this post im very concerned about working room and like bill said Inventory space...That thing is uber cramped in there...where do you cut keys???
I think in the end i will stick to the larger vehicles. I like the Sprinters

[Sinifar]

I am not sure how much inventory you intend to carry. From our sales sheets off Quickbooks, we determined the quantities of locks needed for any one or two road trips. Having said that - the closed section, curb side, is stuffed full, as is the lower section below that. All total there in enough "whole locks" to fill almost any order. Other locks, like rim cylinders and mortise cylinders are in the section below the bench. Small parts are stored everywhere. Including the 9 drawer unit which is full of latch bolts and other things like that.

The area in front of the steel below the seats is jammed full of hardware like the Detex units, door closers, we carry two, t handles, and more.

The large (44 inch tall) unit has key machines in it as well as more sub kits of parts and pieces which are needed like the cabinet locks, switch locks and others along that line.

AS FAR AS room. Yes It is cozy in there. But you do have enough room to pin a whole bucket of locks, or wrestle with something which needs to have a go on the bench. Cutting keys is no problem.

Keys are in the Key Can, which has a seat on top. You sit on your inventory. We carry a CC280 which has 280 hooks on it. That is in front of the curb side right now. The chair is a red herring which was put in temporarily until the sail shop gets the new cushion for the Key Can done. Key machines like the Foley hang in the back and are swung onto the bench, then connected up to the inverter for cutting keys. Other keys are cut with the HPC 1200 punch, the A-1 punch, or the Hurdy Gurdy in the 44 inch cabinet. Everything moves in or out as needed.

The Key Can is 14 wide x 13 high x 12 deep. About 2/3 of the size Kennedy tool box. It will sit right in front of that thing.

Every inch of the space has been used in some way. Sitting on the Key Can, you have about an inch above your head to the roof.

Twin florescent lights, 12 volt, provide tons of light. One is on the wall above the bench, and the other is above the rear door, flat on that small overhead part.

Yes it is cozy. But I can move around in it just fine. How much room do you need anyway?

This is the 7th truck we built over the years. It is just about a repeat of the Aerostar, and the interior is just about the same. There was enough room in there to do whatever we needed to do on the job back in 86 - 90. The Econolines had about the same shop built into them.

This is designed to work up to 150 miles from our base, without having to return for stuff. In 43 years running this biz, this sort of set up has worked for us without tying up cash in excess inventory which gets shelf worn fast. There is more down here in the shop, if needed, and you should know from the call what you need (approximately) so just take more along when going out if you don't think you have enough with you going out.

Everything is tied down, locked up, or other wise secured. It works for us.

Your mileage may vary,

Sinifar

[dmcintyre86]

humm, I retract my previous statements...haha

I think it just comes down to personal preference. For a skinny guy like me...i think the set up would work great. but if i was any bigger i could see it being a problem.

Set-ups all vary on the business dynamics too...if this set up has worked for you over the last 30 years then i tip my hat! Congrats on the new Van and wishes of good business to you!

-Dave

[cledry]

So do you have larger vehicles as well?

We need a larger vehicle or two because we do doors and deliver safes. We often pull a trailer with 4 doors and frames on it or a large safe trailer. If we were just doing locks though I can see how your vehicle would work well, especially as you also have a shop.

[hjlocks]

Wow that is cramped. I'd need reconstructive knee surgery within a year working in there.

I'm also entirely mobile though. If I didn't spend all day in my van, I may have a different view.

[Sinifar]

So do you have larger vehicles as well?

We need a larger vehicle or two because we do doors and deliver safes. We often pull a trailer with 4 doors and frames on it or a large safe trailer. If we were just doing locks though I can see how your vehicle would work well, especially as you also have a shop.

No, I haven't sold a safe in 20 years ever since we closed our last shop. In 1988 I moved the shops, we had three at one time, down here to the basement of our condo. It cramped down here with machine tools, the locksmith tools, our large key stock, and office, and I managed to stuff in a small showroom as well. Not that anyone will come down into our "dungeon" to see what we sell. So today we are mainly a mobile only shop, but know we do have a large back house to do anything you could imagine.

From our experience I can stage jobs down here and take along what I think from the call I will need out of the house stock. Road stock is 30% of our inventory, and it fills in missing items. We carry things as our sales records have indicated, things in twos, or threes as needed.

People around here are impossible to sell almost anything to. When we did sell safes, the common response was "I don't have any money - Besides I have a bank safe deposit box." When we tried to sell them alarm systems / components - "I got me a gun and a dawg, I don't need no alarm.". You put up with these back hills people. Most of them today are now gone and the properties are sold off for McMansions. For safe delivery YES you do need a large vehicle to pull a trailers, although this unit can pull quite a large one, I am not sure on the size, but there is about 20 pages in the owners manual for towing.

For our needs, the Aerostar worked on the Food Store accounts with state wide servicing. As that grew, I needed more room for both Alarm Lock Model 11 parts, and Detex parts. In time I bought parts by the dozen. One day they would not sell individual parts then we had to buy sub assemblies, finally near the end of the account, they would not sell any parts at all and I had to rely on carrying around tons of old locks to cannibalize. Both Sentry Foods and Kohls Foods are now gone, all 84 stores. A few independents are left, and those we retain. A small shadow of the $45,000 a year account which went away.

As far as today, I am just basically holding it together with mechanics wire and duck tape. We have picked up a few new accounts so far this year, but in the main, old accounts stay as long as they remain in business, it is the 80 - 20 rule. We do get 80% of our business from 20% of our clients.

This new unit was something I had been looking for ever since the 96 Econoline went into the yard. With the changing demographics around this neighborhood, I needed to "hide" the unit overnight. Therefore it had to go into a locked garage. The 14 Transit Connect fits like an old shoe. Now with brass, tools, and other assets securely stored I can sleep at night and not worry about loss. This is a "Black and Spanish Harlem" - the 3rd ward of the 'Sha. It has changed over the 35 years we have lived here and I can't see moving any time soon. Just find ways to live in this increasingly diverse and sometimes dangerous neighborhood.

This isn't the life I expected back in 72 when I started this firm, nor when we opened our stores in Pewaukee and Oconomowoc. At one time we were a big player in this field, with three stores on the street, 4 trucks on the road and 12 employees. Economic recessions, plants closing, chain stores dying, stock market crashes, big boxes opening and other fun things have been hard to work thru - but we have done it so far.

Today, it is just me, one truck, and the basement full of memories of what was, just think what could have been if the world had not gotten so greedy, if, if, if -----

One day at a time, one client at a time, one job at a time, I service them all. This is the way into the future, although I am not sure if there is a future. Everything today is going electronic and in that field we got muscled out by the big boys. I can't compete with "FREE" with these people around here. So I carry on the best I can.

Sinifar

[cledry]

It is amazing how different business can be in different regions, even within the same state. We sell perhaps 2 safes a week if we are lucky, but another shop 250 miles south of us sells at least 2 or 3 safes a day. He has over 300 safes on hand at any one time.

[billdeserthills]

That sucks Sinifar, I have seen business slow a lot as well, but I still keep my shop open six days a week from 10am to 10:45am. I really think if I closed my shop it would invite a competitor to come to my town & open a shop of their own, and I'm only paying $450 a month for my little shop, so if it doesn't pay for itself (it doesn't) at least it doesn't cost much. I do stock some safes but it has been years since the last time anyone bought a safe or hired me to install an in the floor safe. I never did safe deliveries, well that isn't exactly true, I won't stock any safe that weighs over 300 lbs. That way I don't hafta have special equipment to carry it around, besides a hand truck. I feel mostly lost in the 70's era as I only service low voltage and mechanical type-locks. I can't see the point of learning anything newer, like mag-locks or installing a keypad, as none of my clients are gonna spend more than $200 or so on a lock anyhow. The way I get more business is I have been stealing it back from my competitors, with internet advertising & I hope it keeps on working too.

I like to thank the big box store clients by charging obscene amounts of money for the many keys hardware stores won't stock. For example I get $5.85 for an AB62ER abus key. Trimark got all smart and now sells almost 20 different key blanks, I charge $5.25 for one of those, I.C. Core keys are $6.25. Of course keys the hardware stores sell are much lower, like $2.75- We don't sell many of those in the shop anymore tho

[cledry]

Your shop is open 45 minutes a day?

[billdeserthills]

Your shop is open 45 minutes a day?

Yes & those have been my shop hours for over 15 years
In the beginning, I would put up the "will return" sign. Turned out I never seemed to make it back at the appointed time. I got tired of hearing people complain, people who were gonna spent $3 were mad cause I was out making $100. So I set aside a little time when I could be at the shop. People who can't make it in at 10am -10:45am call ahead and if I have time later in the day, I will maybe meet them later.
On slow days I will sit in the shop till 12 or 1 and then go home. This way I get the exposure a shop gives and the easy money the mobile service provides. Cheap bast@rds, I mean folks who don't wanna pay a service call can bring their locks in at 10am, or make the long drive into phoenix or scottsdale to find my competition's stores.

[cledry]

Hey, if it works.... I thought it was a misprint as I have never heard of a shop open less than 6 hours a day.

[billdeserthills]

Hey, if it works.... I thought it was a misprint as I have never heard of a shop open less than 6 hours a day.

I get calls everyday from people who think my hours are a big, funny joke. Many times folks will show up at 10am and tell me how they sure wished they could have my hours, hardy har har. Then I have to spoil their funny joke by carefully explaining that making a dollar cutting keys in the shop won't feed me or pay my rent. Today I worked more hours than I wanted to, especially cause I spent a couple of hours outside in the 108 degree heat. I would go broke if I worked in the shop all day, to say nothing of my sanity.

I did work today for a resort with kaba peaks locks on much of it. They don't like the kaba peaks lock guy though so I get to do most of their work. I wound up rebuilding what was left of a kaba peaks lock, after the retainer nut came off and someone put their key in the cylinder.
Looks like it was quite a sproing! I was digging broken springs out of the keyway even. My National cam lock pin tumbler kit was a big help, as the peak's tumblers are smaller than the standard .115 pins.