Pawn Shop Tool Score: Router & ROS

[krw]

How about spraying all your tools hot pink? No one would steal them and if they did, no one would buy them from a pawn shop. Sorta the Joe Arpaio theft defense.

[nailshooter41]

hat only keeps the most obvious fencing of stolen goods activity at bay.

ven go look for my tools when they are stolen. If they are pawned, they ca n be pawned for 10 days, 14 days, 30 days, or indefinitely. So say the pawn ed items sit in the back of the pawn shop out of sight for a couple of week s (or more). Are you going to hit every pawn shop in town looking your too ls every day looking for your tools after an undetermined/unknown amount of time passes?

Tried "Mary Kay" pink, hot pink, gremlin green, and an awful color of purpl e. Doesn't slow anyone down. Your tools look like shit, I hated using the m and they were stolen just the same. Tons of tools out there safety orang e and hot pink. The problem is that no matter how annoying the color is, m ost can be wiped off at with some mineral spirits. Or they take a tiny bit less at the pawn shop. Worse, no matter how unusual the color, it doesn't prove ownership.

We used to put our SS# on our tools. Imagine that now...

Then we put our phone numbers on them, and people ground them off (aluminum housing, less than 5 minutes, plastic a couple with sandpaper) so no one m arks against theft anymore.

We spray some of our tools and mark some of them if we are working on sites with others just so we can keep them separate, but it has little to do wit h theft protection.

the thief. I cannot tell you how completely delighted I was when the poli ce found me after canvassing our neighborhood to find the owners of stolen property. When talking to the police, the way they "caught" the thieves wa s by chasing them down (two on a motorcycle with a couple of pillow cases f ull of stuff) and in the heat of the chase they had a wreck that hospitaliz ed them both, and nearly killed one.

I think the police was a little disturbed when I told him "too bad you guys didn't run over them". But, that time I got my 1/2 sheet sander back. Fu nny, when I told my fellow contractors about the motorcycle wreck and the n ear death of one of them, they all expressed their disappointment (and the bad luck) at the lack of a fatality as well.

Robert

[Ed Pawlowski]

Previously titled = used

Substitute "pre-owned"

Reality is, if it is brand new in a pawn shop it falls into two categories. New, as in the dealer bought it through regular channels, perhaps as a clearance item. The other is stolen. No one is going to Home Depot and buying a $100 tool and taking it to a pawn shop to borrow $35 on it.

[DerbyDad03]

Thank you making my point. There are indeed brand new items in pawn shops, contrary to what russell claims.

While those 2 reasons probably cover many of the new items found in a pawn shop, there are other ways for a brand new item to end up there.

If you've ever bought a "new" item on eBay or Craigslist, you know that there are indeed people that buy an item, never use it and then choose to get rid of it. I bought a brand new power washer and a brand new bike rack on Craigslist. Regular folks, an old guy and a young couple. I seriously doubt the items were stolen. These folks could have chosen to take the items to a pawn shop and sold them - not borrowed on them, but sold them for the cash, quick and easy.

An item could also have been a gift that they had no need for. Once again, take the item to a pawn shop and sell it. Quick and easy and the seller is ahead by the cash they received because they never laid out any money for the item.

[Leon]

A well hidden GPS device hidden inside the tool, similar to the where is my iPhone app, might be helpful.

[Leon]

Technically a vehicle is not considered used until it is titled with someone's name is on it other than the manufacturer/dealer. Even long ago the new demo vehicles that I drove up until 6 months or

6,000 miles were considered new since the title was never issued with a buyers name on it. Warranties were extended the amount of time/miles that the vehicle was driven up to 6/6K.

[DerbyDad03]

I agree. It's russel that said: "Just like the instant a car drives off the dealer's lot, its USED."

[krw]

I was thinking of something a bit more permanent but then again, modern tools sorta look like they were designed by Joe Arpaio. Lime green? Really?

How about your company's tax ID number?

[krw]

I believe it's the same in most states. However, where I've lived, vehicles used in a "rental" fleet, even if the rental rate is zero (loaner), are required to be registered as a rental vehicle.

[Markem]

Or a rfid chip tune to the tool, but then they make it a ring and rings and a contruction workers is a bad idea. Then the laywers get ahold of it and we have lousy infomercial of the TV.

[nailshooter41]

I know that must be tongue in cheek...

Giving away your tax ID number to anyone and everyone give any hacker, malw are user, lurker, etc., a great place to start to access your company busin ess and its financial accounts.

I know that the group here have only been employees of the highest moral va lues with unquestionable integrity... but...

What if you had an employee or subcontractor that you wrote a check to? He then has your bank, your account number, the routing number, etc. Truthfu lly, you give away your ID# when you issue a W2 or 1099. But after going t o a couple of business online security classes, they have found that direct employees are not as likely to be the culprit of identity theft as someone you don't know. So drinking beer with the guys one night, someone notices your Federal Tax ID# on a drill, and says... "hey... is that Robert's comp any tax ID?"

Let your mind wander. There is a reason you see as little personal/private information available anywhere, only as needed. Giving up my tax ID# is n o different than you putting your SS# on your stuff. A company is an entit y; it has credit, pays taxes, has liabilities and can enter into transactio ns.

Like you, even though your SS# is easily found and known by your employers, banks, governmental benefit institutions, anyone that pays you interest an d on and on... you still don't feel good about putting it on your car as a bumper sticker for everyone to see, right?

I don't tools scattered across a job with that information on them, or stol en to get it.

Oh yeah... the green? It was this color, and I covered the tools with it:

Robert

[krw]

Don't you already give it to every one of your suppliers and contractors?

How do you like your Ryobi tools? ;-)

[nailshooter41]

Acknowledged. But as I said, " Truthfully, you give away your ID# when you issue a W2 or 1099. But after going to a couple of business online securi ty classes, they have found that direct employees are not as likely to be t he culprit of identity theft as someone you don't know."

To reinforce my point, EVERYONE has more info than I want them to when I wr ite them a check. Account number, routing numbers, my address, and the cor rect styling of the account name. Knowing at a bank that anyone could have that, you aren't likely to get much out of it. But my local bank will giv e me access to my business account if I forget my PIN by giving them my tax ID#. They aren't supposed to, but I have turned them into their internal security because they did it TWICE. I didn't catch it the first time, but it dawned on me a couple of days later what they did. I called a second ti me to see if they would repeat it and they did. My business account now ha s 3 security questions as well as my SS# tagged to it if I cannot find my t ax ID.

The point with not having it all over the tools is to keep the more honest people honest, and to keep the rest from having any really bright ideas. I t's just a small layer I know, but at an anti-theft seminar I attended with my fellow contractors put on by the police department, they told us to not put any info we wanted to keep anywhere near private. The police departme nt's suggestion? The company phone number.

rs, banks, governmental benefit institutions, anyone that pays you interest and on and on... you still don't feel good about putting it on your car as a bumper sticker for everyone to see, right?

Just to reinforce my point...

LOL. I didn't think of that. If I was using that color today, no one woul d have a clue they weren't purchased that way.

Today, I don't paint my tools or mark them. The last 30 years has taught m e it is pointless. You can't imagine how completely, entirely, openly piss ed off the cops are when you call them out because someone stole a drill, a nail gun, a saw and some air lines.

The last time I called them, the very pissed off officer SIGNED THE POLICE REPORT, handed it back to me, and TOLD ME TO MAIL TO HIM WHEN I HAD IT FILL ED OUT. He told me he couldn't believe I called him out over such piddly s hit. In the end, he was right. I didn't make my deductible, so it was my loss alone.

I gave up on keeping nice tools long term on a job site or in my truck. I keep my nice tools as close to me as possible, and best rarely go to the jo b site.

Robert

[Martin Eastburn]

The other issue is they might buy stuff and have you pay the sales taxes. simple as that can be dangerous.

Mart> >

[Woodworker_by_choice]

replying to DerbyDad03, Woodworker_by_choice wrote: For a while I worked for a law firm. I'm not a paralegal or anything and am not really involved in the legal profession. Imagine my amazement [read: appalled] when I got to see that particular industry from the inside... Anyway, my point here is not to confuse the 'conversational' definition of a word with its 'legal' definition. They are so different as to make your head spin. Comparing the word 'used' from how normal, reasonable people think of it to the molestation of a word that the legal community has twisted it to be would be a very bad idea. Publicity, an attorney will tell you that "Legal Language has a purpose, and that is to provide a common verbal base to concepts in order to protect all parties concerned." But, once they are back at the office, you will find out the truth; that the real purpose is so only three parties understand what is being said ? the counsel for the Plaintiff, the counsel for the Defendant & the Judge. For ALL other parties, that set of twisted language is purely for the purpose of ensuring that no one else understands what the he|| is being said. The bottom line here? When you see something described from a legal/contractual standpoint, it's simply better to assume that you really have no idea what you just heard/read truly meant.

[Woodworker_by_choice]

replying to Markem, Woodworker_by_choice wrote: Speaking of Lawyers, What do you know when you see 75 lawyers buried /up to their necks /in concrete?

You've got a Contractor that can't figure a load of concrete correctly... :D

[clare]

AKA "a good start"

[DerbyDad03]

Actually, leaving their heads exposed means his calculations were perfect.

Just consider the advantages/possibilities.

[Markem]

Miniature golf course?

[DerbyDad03]

Too gentle. Bowling, at a minimum.