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I think this is where we’re all supposed to say: “Wow, I can’t believe it’s already January!” This New Year comes with a lot of changes moving forward. There is a new administration in Washington, and the country is going to be moving in a different direction than the path that we’ve been on for the last 4 years. But, with all of those changes coming up, there are some things that should never change. Our industry is unlike any other industry in the world. We face threats and challenges that are unique to us. Below are a few things that should never change.
Lock your doors at home – always
When I started jewelry school in late 1800s (at least it seems that long ago), one of the very first things they started drilling into our DNA was our personal safety, and the safety and security of the jewelry that was under our care and control. Something they used to tell us was that one of the easiest places to gain access to the valuables that criminals want to take away from you is at your house – at about 2:00 in the morning.
While at work, most of us always have our heads on a swivel. We’re always paying attention to what is happening in our places of business. But, once we set the alarm, lock the door, and get about a mile away, we all tend to relax those tendencies a little bit. The one thing they drilled into us was to get in the habit of always locking your doors at home because that is where you are most vulnerable. It’s an easy thing to do, but a hard thing to get in the habit of doing.
Always keep jewelry on your person when transporting
Yeah, I know, you don’t want to carry it around while you run a few errands before you get to your final destination to drop it off somewhere. I’ve heard people say things like, “But I hide it so well in my car that no one would ever find it.” Yes, I understand. But what happens if your car gets stolen? The car thief probably won’t find the jewelry either. But the jewelry is still just as gone as your car. And, most of the time, that is not an insured loss. If it’s taken from your person, it is usually covered by your insurance.
Never leave jewelry unattended on the counter
This is another one of those things that they drilled into us on day one, and every day after that as well. It seems like a no brainer. It’s expensive stuff that should never be left just laying around. But, believe it or not, I actually did that very thing the other day. I was in my showroom waiting on a couple that have been my customers for decades. The wife had never been to my current location, so I gave her and her husband a quick tour of the place. My showroom is small, but the rest of the place is pretty spacious, and she was impressed. As we were walking back into the showroom, I noticed that I had left her 3 carat diamond solitaire just sitting on the front counter.
The fact that we were the only three people in the store at the time, and the front door was locked, didn’t matter. I couldn’t believe that I had done that. I don’t remember ever doing that before. Oops.
Never let anyone see your safe
I know this is not possible in some circumstances, but if you can keep your safe out of sight, you should. And here’s why. Most safes have a TR-TL designation, followed by a couple of letters and numbers. TR stands for ‘torch resistant’, and TL stands for ‘tool latency’. The numbers that follow are usually 15 or 30. Those are actually the number of minutes the safe is designed to resist an attack by torch or tool.
Safes that were manufactured in the last 20 years or so, usually have an ‘x’ followed by a number as well. This is the number of sides the safe is reinforced. Most new safes are now ‘x6’, which means ‘times 6 sides’. So, a ‘TR-TL 30×6’ rating means that all 6 six sides of the safe are TR-TL rated to resist an attack for 30 minutes before being defeated. But, that’s not the real story here.
Those ratings and times, designated by the safe manufacturer, are based on several factors. The main factor being the attack on the safe is conducted by someone who knows how to breach the safe with very specific tools and torches. The safe is placed in a controlled environment, with access to all sides, and all of those tools and torches on hand. Then, the safe has to resist that attack for at least 30 minutes.
In the real world, your safe is inside a secure location, with alarms and cameras, and no tools or torches are on hand. In order to breach your safe, the bad guys need to first overcome your alarm system, and then drag in all of the tools and equipment that will be needed to get inside the safe.
If the bad guys know what kind of safe you have, then they know exactly what kind of equipment they need to bring. If they don’t know what kind of safe you have, they have to guess. The bad guys are good, really good. But one simple thing you can do to protect yourself, and make it harder on the bad guys, is to never let them see what kind of safe they need to breach in the first place.
Never using post-it-notes
This one is not specific to our industry; it’s just a pet peeve of mine I thought I’d pass along. Every person that has ever worked for me was given their own notebook on their first day at work. If I need them to write something down, I want them to write it in that notebook, not on a post-it-note. Trust me, there is a method to my madness here.
As a rule, if I’m asking someone to ‘write something down’, it means I’m probably going to need that information at some point in the future. If it’s on a post-it-note, there is no telling where it will be when I need to find it. If it’s in a notebook, then I only need to find that notebook. It’s easier to find a notebook than it is to find a post-it-note that was probably thrown away 2 months ago. Like I said, it’s just a weird quirk of mine I thought I’d pass along. If you have a habit of using post-it-notes, then you know what it’s like to not be able to find it at a later date when you really need that info – that was so important that you wrote it down.
If you have any tips or tricks that you’d like to pass along, my contact info is below. I’ll compile them and include them in a future column.
It’s a new year, with a lot of changes that will be coming to the country, starting on the 20th of this month. I hope all of the changes do nothing but enhance your business and allow you to thrive in 2025!
The post The Retailer’s Perspective: Happy New Year! appeared first on Southern Jewelry News.
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