Selling picks

[triman247]

My friend wants to make picks and sell them to other people. I tell him it's illegal unlesss you're a liscensed locksmith. He won't believe me. What's your opinion?

[vector40]

Check the Colorado statutes.

[vector40]

Here... just because I'm such an awesome fellow: http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html

[WhiteHat]

my opinion is that if you make a living out of it - it makes you a security industry professional. depending on local licencing laws etc, your friend may need an appropriate licence.

if there is no licence, then it depends on the laws for posession of picks.

[raimundo]

Is this guy going to handmake them on a grinder, or does he have some machinests tools, like a lathe or mill. Does he have a source of material to make them out of? If he is talking about some small operation and his product is good, he should contact varjeal about marketing. Will he be making common picks, or will he have the equipment to make the exotics, starting with tubular, and then the abloy, two in ones, and other things. If the guy is just handmaking them, he can make a little money until his bloody fingers tell him to stop, Its a legitimate business if he is not trying to promote illegal activity.

[triman247]

The proabblem is that he doesn't know very much about lockpicking in general. He wants me to help him make the lockpicks which would be fine with me if he wasn't trying to get money from them. He wants to make them with a table grinder, and other than what I've told him about making them by watching the movies he doesn't know much. I guess he is just in it to make the money. He's just starting, so I don't know if his picks will be any good. He doesn't have much patience for lockpicking. He said he'd start making normal picks like circles, and rakes. I told him to make them out of hacksaw blades as I can't get my hands on street sweeper blades. I don't think he will be trying to promote illegal activity. How hard is it to get a license? I don't want him getting into trouble. He doesn't want to make a living off of making them he just wants to make money.

[Addi]

If your gonna share it 50/50 i would personally do it.
After some time i'd know if there was a good business and then i would decide if i would continue or stop helping him.

Thats what i would personally do...

[digital_blue]

Aside from selling picks to highschool kids (not a good idea) who exactly is going to buy these homemade picks from an inexperienced pick maker? I suspect his plan is to sell them around school because he figures he'll have no trouble making some cash from unknowledgable highschool students. If this is the case, I would strongly advise against this. There is a whole heap of bad that could come of this. If his plan is to sell these picks to serious and knowledgable lockpickers, um.. well... good luck with that. Let's just say I'm not buying any shares in the company.

db

[triman247]

digital_blue, it's worse, we're in middle school. I just talked to him last period, and he sais we would only sell them to a few people that I have already introduced to picking who are in our possie. I think i'll take addi's advice andd just see where it goes. And naturally i'd have him sign a document saying I couldn't take a fall for his actions with the picks.

[Addi]

yeah!

And totally off topic, call me adam, addi is kinda weird ...

[Mad Mick]

Personally, I'd leave this well alone. If he's making picks and distributing them willy-nilly to the 'posse' at school, letting him do it alone leaves you out of the picture. But, if he's using your guidance for the pick shapes, styles etc., then you are his accomplice whether or not you have him sign something to the contrary. For the small amount of cash which is involved in this risky venture, you'd be better served by keeping your nose clean...IMO.

[triman247]

well what should I do? I want to have acess to his gringer to make my own picks for myself. And the only way I see I can do this is to help him out a little. Personally I don't even want any of the money. I just want the experience of making picks. He left for the weekend, but I could tell him you guys say it's not a good idea to sell them to other people. Hows that sound? He might believe me that it's not a good idea if you guys said so.

[stick]

It is NOT a good idea. Grinders can be picked up off eBay for $10, plus shipping, if you don't mind spending a little money.

If he really is your friend, why wouldn't he let you use his grinder without you helping him do something that could land you in some trouble?

[digital_blue]

If he really is your friend, why wouldn't he let you use his grinder without you helping him do something that could land you in some trouble?

This is exactly right. However, the unfortunate answer to the question is because they're in middleschool, and most middleschoolers lack the maturity to figure that simple point out. Triman, stick is absolutely right here. It may be that your friend is not mature enough to understand this, however, and it could be that doing the right thing ends up costing you a friend. If you are to take our advice here, believe me when I say that anybody who would "punish" you because you didn't want to help him do something stupid is not worth the effort anyway.

There is, of course, a greater lesson here. Doing what is right often has a cost. Doing what is wrong always has a cost. The problem is that the cost of doing right is often immediate, and the cost of doing wrong is often delayed. Think about this for a bit triman. I would urge you to not get involved in this.

But in the end we are all responsible for our own actions, and you get to decide what you will do.

db

[triman247]

I should have figured nothing would happen. Almost everything he says he'll do never happens so I never helped him make picks, so he never made any money and so I never got into trouble and now im here not really friends with him anymore because he's an butthole.