Attempted Break In at my cigar store

Well I am just a lucky guy. Someone tried to break through the front window of one of my stores. Fortunately for me, I had a heavy steel grid welded up by my neighbor so the attempted burglar broke the window, but was easily stopped by the grid. Also, lucky for me, the landlord has 4 extra sets of windows that he gave me, pre-installed in frames. So it will be a PITA but we'll have a new window installed in a few hours.

I have a feeling that our economy is going to get A LOT WORSE and things like this are going to happen at a much higher frequency all over the nation.

If you look closely at the photos you can see the heavy steel grate sits directly behind the decorative window grate. Clearly the genius criminals didn't look inside and figured they could bust the window, tear out the decorative plastic and climb inside. You'd have thought they would have actually 'cased' the store before hand to take a look around for security??? Then again, clearly this was not the work of a genius.

B_Skurka said:

I have a feeling that our economy is going to get A LOT WORSE and things like this are going to happen at a much higher frequency all over the nation.

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As I said when one of your other stores was broken in to, I think you are exactly right in your reasoning.

At the top of the list will be alcohol and tobacco stores, ie., the legal drugs that will be priced out of the reach of poorer people who will not give up their addictions.

Next, drive-offs at filling stations will skyrocket as people can't afford to fill their cars. In the last few weeks I've heard people asking for $5 and $10 of gas. That's something I haven't heard of in a long, long time. When they can't afford that $5 and $10, they'll take it.

After that, petty theft, larceny and muggings will increase and when these people find that the police forces, stretched and undermanned because of cash strapped municipalities, counties and States, can't apprehend or prosecute them, and that they can commit crime with impunity, it'll escalate out of control.

I'm afraid that I have a very bad feeling about what is about to happen to our country. I certainly hope that I am wrong and that "We the People" can correct it before too much irreversible damage is done, but I am cynical enough to doubt it.

EastTexFrank said:

Next, drive-offs at filling stations will skyrocket as people can't afford to fill their cars. In the last few weeks I've heard people asking for $5 and $10 of gas. That's something I haven't heard of in a long, long time. When they can't afford that $5 and $10, they'll take it.

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We have several filling stations that have converted over to 100% PRE-PAY for gas. I noticed a bunch of them do it when Bush was to blame for gas prices raising because we went to war for oil. Now that Obama is in charge and gas prices are going up I have to wonder what will be said about WHY the prices are climbing again. Still, with a good number of the rural stations switching to PRE-PAY the drive-offs won't be much of a problem for the operators.

I have a meeting on Monday with a representative from 3M Security Film to talk about adding their film to the front windows of one of my stores. The stuff is pretty amazing. It does not stop the window from breaking, but it prevents entry through the window by holding all the glass in place. It doesn't tear, is difficult to cut. I've also got my neighbor the welder coming to the same store to look at a security grate for that set of windows.

I think I want to talk to my locksmith about the locks on a couple of the doors at various stores too. Sometimes simple things can make a big difference.

I sure hope you don't count on doorknob style locks on your doors at your stores. They are simple to remove and open the door. Good alarms and camera systems are a big help also.