Marshtimes Business Blog

Lock and Locks: You Know Why?

2018-07-11T12:55:00.001-07:00

When you are hoping to maximize your travel security, one of the most obvious places to start is with buying a lock. But how secure are luggage locks? The disturbing truth is that luggage locks are terribly insecure.

What does the insecurity of these locks mean for your luggage security? How does that affect the protection of your property? In order to investigate these issues, we will have to venture deep into the terrifying truth about luggage locks.

What security do TSA locks offer your luggage?
TSA locks are not secure. The shackles can be cut by most low-quality diagonal cutting pliers, the lock cylinders can be picked open with very little skill, and the schematics for the master keys have been revealed to the public. If you are using a TSA lock, you are getting the illusion of security.

The biggest benefit to using TSA locks is that the TSA can open your bag without having car lockout. This still might not keep your lock from being cut off, as many travelers report having TSA cut locks off regardless of having been TSA approved. But at least there is a chance that your insecure lock will not be broken open.

A TSA approved padlock is the next step up from a zip tie. It provides the same amount of initial security if you are worried about criminal tampering. However, a TSA lock can potentially be taken off and relocked on the bag, where a zip tie cannot be reattached once removed. With a TSA approved lock, after a lawful search, there is a chance that your luggage can maintain its same level of “security”.

1. The TSA Can Remove Any Luggage Lock Without Cause
If you are checking luggage, the TSA reserves the right to open your baggage by the means required to properly carry out the search. In case you have not received a “Notice Of Baggage Inspection” letter in your checked luggage, it reads as follows:

To Protect you and your fellow passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is required by law to inspect all checked baggage. As part of this process, some bags are opened and physically inspected. Your bag was among those selected for physical inspection.

During the inspection, your bag and its contents may have been searched for prohibited items. At the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag.

If the TSA security officer was unable to open our bag for inspection because it was locked, the officer may have been forced to break the locks on your bag. TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, however TSA is not liable for the damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution.

The note goes on to suggest that the recipient of the inspection notice refer to www.tsa.gov to find “packing tips and suggestions on how to secure your baggage during your next trip…” Is it ironic for a note telling you what you just read to recommend that you use better security next time you fly? It may seem that way, but the spirit in which it is intended is that locks are not security, knowing what is going to get your bag flagged is the security you need for avoiding TSA attention.

2. Every Luggage Lock Can Be Opened
It is true that every lock can be picked, even locks that have not been picked yet can still be opened. Opening methods that travel security professionals use are almost always destructive. There is no lock that exists that can withstand every type destructive entry method given an unlimited amount of time with the lock.

Not even the best padlocks in existence can hold up to the highest level of pressure that can be applied to them. Do not expect that your security can keep out any law enforcement. Even though you may be hoping to avoid criminally minded baggage checkers, they are within their right to open your luggage at all costs.

Though there are documented cases where strong enough security has been enough to have TSA give up on trying to open it. I don’t fully understand the implications of security that has law enforcement give up, but I would not expect to be the exception to the rule that if the opening of your bag a legally sanctioned it will be carried out.

In terms of criminal threats without the full force of the law behind them, your locks can still be opened. However, when it comes to standard criminals you have to consider every aspect of luggage security and not just the security of your luggage locks.

3. No Luggage Lock Can Protect a Zipper
Any luggage lock that is placed to secure a zipper is completely useless. Anyone with a ballpoint pen can puncture the zipper track (aka teeth). This gives anyone access to the contents of your bag in seconds. Once a person has rooted around in your belongings, they can then move the zipper’s pull tab over the open teeth and reseal the bag without any sign of entry.

If you have an anti-puncture zipper, then your zipper is safe, but a lock can never protect the zipper. When you want a lock to matter at all, you have to use luggage that has hasps, not a zipper. Hasps are common on hard shell cases, which are intended to protect the contents of the luggage.

It is also unlikely that you will end up with a bag that has an anti-puncture zipper if you do not go out of your way to purchase one. This feature is not common, in spite of the fact that the method of entry is extremely popular for criminals all over the world.

4. Your Bag Undermines the Security of a Luggage Lock
Security is not the main concern for standard baggage manufactures. Unless the luggage has been designed with security in mind, the lock you place on it is not going to matter much at all. Besides zipper protection, you have to be concerned about more brash criminals that will not care about surreptitiously or even covertly open your bag.

A very common method of entry that criminals will use is to cut your bag. You made need something like a Pelican case. With a light slice from a sharp knife, a thief now has access to everything in your luggage. Unless your bag can resist cutting, having a lock on your bag is not going to truly protect the property inside.

Most likely your bag is always going to be easier to break than an incredibly strong lock. It does not make sense to have an extremely powerful lock if the case it is securing is itself insecure. Be aware of the level of protection provided by the bag before you make any investment in a lock.

5. Built-in Luggage Locks Are Not Secure
Built In Luggage Lock

This is a guiding principle more than a hard and fast rule, but it is important to think about the fact that almost any piece of luggage you buy is not going to have high-security locks. This might be something that the case claims, but you need to know better than to believe the advertising.

Even if the brand of security being used is not notorious for manufacturing subpar locks, it might still be something cheap and ineffective. A lot of times locks on cases and luggage will claim to be high-security, but they are just using a novel lock type. Such lock types that are used as built-in luggage locks include tubular locks, cruciform locks, and disk detainer locks.

If a lock is poorly made, it does not matter what kind of internal components it has. Poorly made locks are not secure. They break easier because of the lower quality metal, and that means they can be broken open easier. Mass production required to place them on luggage also car door lock service very simple to the point where most of these locks can be opened with bypasses or improvised keys.

What is the best way to protect luggage?
As you may have learned from the article about protecting your beach bag, the best possible way to protect any luggage is to keep your eyes on it. This is not going to be possible at every point of your trip, especially if you have to check your bags. The important thing is to take advantage of the instances where you can watch over your property.

Your locks need to take as long to open without permission as the average time you will leave them unmonitored. As has already been established, flying in the United States will be the exception to this rule. Law enforcement will have too much time with your luggage, and they will have the authority to open the lock. But for deterring criminals, this type of security assessment is a must.

Final Thoughts
It doesn’t matter if you are in one of the most dangerous countries in the world, or you are sleeping over at a friends house in the next town over, when you have luggage, you will attract the attention of criminals. Luggage locks are not going to do much to protect your bag. You need to consider a lot more than just luggage locks.

Review: Mighty Mule FM350

2018-01-11T09:19:00.001-08:00

MIGHTY MULE 350 for Medium Duty Single Swing Gates for 16 Feet Long or 550 Pounds (FM350)

The FM350 Automatic Gate Opener is Mighty Mule’s most popular gate opener. It is designed for single swing gates weighing up to 550 pounds (249.5kg) or up to 16 feet (4.9m) long. This model requires an automotive or marine-style battery which is constantly charged via AC transformer but can also be connected to a 5 or 10 Watt solar panel. It is ideal for ornamental, chain link, vinyl, panel, wood and tube gates in light wind and sunny environments.
What’s in the kit?

The set includes the mounting hardware, transformer, transmitter, receiver and one gate opener arm. Installation manual and step by step DVD with detailed instructions is also included, so you won’t need an electrician to make it work properly. It is made of plastic and metal and its simple design, neutral black and metallic grey color makes it almost unnoticeable once it’s installed on a gate. Weatherproof case for battery is not included in the kit.
Features of the product

The FM350 gate opener is suitable for all kinds of single swing gates weighing up to 550 pounds and up to 16 feet in length. One piece system eliminates the need for a separate control box (transmitter, transformer and the receiver are all located in the gate arm). Setup is easy and you can do it by yourself. Automotive battery of 12 Volts which is continually charged by AC transformer provides great reserve power. Battery cable is easy to install and it has a built in fuse. In addition, the battery can be connected to a solar panel (5 to 10 Watts or higher) which makes this product eco-friendly. Mounting hardware is bolt on and requires no welding.

3 Key Questions That Will Help You Decide If Your Business Can Be Franchised

2017-04-12T05:49:00.001-07:00

If you have a successful business that’s susceptible to a regional or national system of marketing and you don’t want to share control or risk the personality conflicts that come with bringing in investors who would become your equals in making business decisions, then franchising may be your best course of action. To help you determine whether your business could be franchised, review the three qualifiers and considerations described below.

1. Are you franchisor material?

Before you evaluate your business as a potential franchise, be sure to evaluate yourself as a potential franchisor. Often, a person who might successfully operate a business that’s susceptible to franchising may not be cut out to be a franchisor. Consider your qualities, and remember that franchising is more than the business of selling services and/or products to a consumer. In addition, as a franchisor, you’ll be an educator, trainer, psychologist, minister and perpetual hand-holder to your franchisees. You’ll also be a fee collector, extracting an initial fee for the franchisee to begin business and then collecting royalties for the life of the franchise.

You’ll need to be aware of the franchisee-franchisor relationship and always remember to allow your individual franchisees the flexibility to manage their own businesses. Always treat them as independent business owners, not employees. It’s important you carefully set forth the guidelines of this independent contractor relationship in the initial contract, the disclosure document and all further communications to franchisees.

2. Is there a market for your particular product or service?

Don’t consider franchising your business unless you have a known, local market for your product or service. Marketability is determined by need, and need is determined by competition.

For example, if you’re running a hamburger stand, your chances of finding a market for your franchise and a market for your franchisees are relatively small in today’s business community. However, if you have a unique way of running a hamburger stand, it’s entirely possible to franchise it. Take the Wendy’s operation, for example, which gained steam by introducing the system of in-line preparation of hamburgers as the consumer watches and waits for his or her order. This is in contrast with the traditional method of preparing fast-food hamburgers out of view and then setting them on a warming tray until someone places an order. Wendy’s catered to consumers who wanted to see their hamburgers made to order right before their eyes.

Demand is the crucial force here. It’s just as important as uniqueness. Your unique product or service must be desired not only by the people who want to buy franchises from you, but also by the people who will buy products or services from the franchisees.

3. What market research must you do?

If your product or service is relatively new and not extensively offered by anyone else but has proven to be in demand, your first task is to determine those sections of the country that would most likely buy your products or services, based on needs similar to those of your present customers. For example, a new type of thermal underwear would not go over well with residents of California’s Palm Springs area; however, a successful gas-saving device might take hold anywhere in the world.

If your product or service isn’t relatively new, you can retain market research firms to prepare extensive reports concerning the types of consumers in various regions and their needs and buying power. This could be rather expensive, so an alternative is to do your own research by visiting the reference department of your local library and by searching on the internet.

You can study the yellow pages of phone books of the various cities in which you’d like to offer your product or service to determine if any competition exists in those areas. You can also conduct an internet search and review online business directories and business review sites (such as Yelp!) to get information on potential competitors.

You’ll also want to interview existing franchisors and franchisees for their insights on franchising. People like telling others of their business accomplishments, so this should be a particularly enjoyable aspect of researching the franchising potential of your business.

Government agencies are also very helpful in providing demographic information and market research data. In particular, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics have conducted extensive studies on the regional consumer habits of Americans. Search for “consumer habits” on these government websites, and you can obtain useful data for your research.

It’s always necessary to do an initial study of the existing demand for the products or services you’re thinking of offering through a franchise system. A more extensive study can be conducted by potential franchisees. If you feel an initial market is out there, utilize potential franchisees by encouraging them to make their own market study as a prerequisite to receiving a license from you.

2017-03-12T05:41:00.000-07:00

Matching small businesses with creditors: Lendio

When the economy tanked in 2008, enrollment in Olya Losina’s fledgling art school began to wane. Marketing the San Diego-based Losina Art Center to a new crop of students required cash the painter and her husband/business partner, Bill Beatty, didn’t have. So in late 2011, they created a profile on Lendio, a free online service that matches small businesses with lenders. Within minutes, they had a customized list of half a dozen potential lenders offering the five-figure, short-term financing they were seeking, and within days, they received the cash they needed.

Lendio CEO and co-founder Brock Blake says 300 U.S. lending institutions and nearly 1,300 individual lenders participate in the automated web platform, from banks and credit unions offering traditional, long-term loans to fast-cash alternative financiers such as peer-to-peer lenders and merchant cash-advance providers. Each month, roughly 10,000 business owners come to the site looking for financing, 60 to 70 percent of whom are approved for a loan, Blake says.

In a conversation with Entrepreneur, Losina sketched out how Lendio and her specific lender, OnDeck, helped keep her art school afloat:

Entrepreneur: Why did you go online for your cash infusion?

Losina: When the economy took a hit, our students pulled back. They just couldn’t spend any money, and it left us struggling. We couldn’t get ahead enough to do any marketing to expand. We needed to take out a small loan to build the business. The banks didn’t want to talk to us; we’d destroyed our personal credit opening the business. We’re renting our place, so we don’t have equity. What interested us about Lendio is that they didn’t look at equity; they looked at the cash flow. And we could show that.

What was it like working with Lendio?

It was a simple process. We filled out a quick questionnaire, and Lendio got us in touch with qualified lenders without us having to research and qualify them ourselves. This definitely helped save us time. We scheduled a follow-up conversation with our Lendio representative, who gave us tips on how to evaluate lenders. Then we spoke to a few of them. And we took time making sure OnDeck was legitimate.

What did OnDeck ask of you?

They weren’t looking at our personal credit score; they were looking at our cash flow and whether we’d be able to pay the loan back. The time from when we submitted our loan documents to OnDeck to the time the money showed up in our account was three to four days.

What were your loan repayment terms?

We qualified for $15,000, but we took only $10,000. It was an 86-day loan, paid back on a daily basis. The amount we were paying back was just $127 a day. We were getting a couple of new students a week, so it was a number we could deal with. But coming up with an extra $3,000 a month all in one chunk -- it would have been paralyzing to see a big number like that. The loan ended up costing 10 percent to pay back over those months. It was not a hard decision to make. We used that $10,000 to make more money.

How did you spend the cash?

We used the money for brochures, a major upgrade to our website and creating videos for the site. In the spring of 2012, we started a program to help students create and put together a winning portfolio to get into art college. One of our students who got into a very competitive college. He came to us with no drawing skills whatsoever. We saw that there was a real market for the portfolio program, so we’re continuing to push it as a standalone product. The money we got helped us create that program; now it’s 10 percent of our business.
Being on online pawn star: Pawngo

Since the History Channel show, Pawn Stars, first started capturing viewers’ attention in 2009, the seedy image of pawnbrokers has gotten a well-needed buffing. Industry veteran Todd Hills hopes Pawngo, his online pawnshop, will help him achieve the same kind of success.

Just like a traditional licensed pawnbroker, Pawngo secures loans against items of value or buys them outright. Once users enter a description of their item, Pawngo’s team of experts makes an offer based on estimated resale value. If the user accepts the offer, they provide proof of identity and ship the item to the company’s Denver headquarters; once it’s received, the money is wired to the user’s account.

Hills had been in the pawn industry for more than 25 years, building and selling several shops of his own. He realized that as credit markets dried up during the economic downturn, individuals and businesses were in need of new avenues to access cash.

“We were starting to see people who had never been in a pawnshop before, especially small-business owners who needed loans up to $50,000, and they couldn’t get [the money] from their banks so were turning to pawnshops to cover their cash shortages,” Hills says.

He decided that taking the concept online would let him reach a much broader audience, without the headaches and geographic constraints of building, staffing and growing a retail pawnshop. He founded his web company in 2007 and launched the original site, InternetPawn, in 2009. That “too literal” name was tossed in favor of Pawngo, which launched in June 2011.

In 2010, Hill’s business -- which had already raised $800,000 in funding from Access Venture Partners and Daylight Partners -- caught the eye of Lightbank, the $200 million Chicago investment fund whose partners had already founded four successful internet companies, including Groupon. The Lightbank team ponied up $1.5 million in Series B funding.

The company charges interest of 3 to 6 percent, depending on the item and size of the loan. In 2013, Pawngo launched a small-business lending program that can make up to $1 million available in 24 hours with no credit check, based on the resale value of the merchandise. The company requires no principal payments until the end of the loan period.

The company’s focus was originally on watches, high-end camera equipment and gold, but its category list has expanded to other precious metals, jewelry, loose diamonds, Apple computers and musical instruments. As it builds its retail sector, Pawngo will also earn the difference between acquisition and resale prices of the items it sells.

3 Ways to Build a Business That Gives You Mental Balance

2017-03-09T05:44:00.000-08:00

When you are launching a new venture, it can sometimes feel like balance is a complete myth. Michael Schultz knows firsthand about working long, crazy hours, having worked in the restaurant industry since he was 12 years old. He has worked for big names such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Wolfgang Puck, and in 2015, opened Goddess and the Baker, a well regarded cafe in Chicago.

This spring, when he launched his new company, a specialty food and beverage chain called Fairgrounds Coffee & Tea Brew Bar, Schultz wanted to make work/life balance a part of the company’s mission from day one. While it’s something that’s incredibly valuable to Schultz now, he says that wasn’t always the case.

His wake up call came seven years ago, days before his first daughter was born, when he wasn’t able to attend his wife’s last ultrasound appointment. When he met her in the hospital afterwards, he recalled that she asked why he was there, since he had meetings that day.

He found himself thinking about all the moments that he had missed, and he told her that he would quit his job with Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Though they had a baby on the way and had just bought a new house, he knew that he couldn’t stay on the path he was on. “I said, ‘I want to create opportunity for others. I want to build a business that inspires people, makes them feel valued and feeds that entrepreneurial spirit,” Schultz said.

Schultz has three pieces of advice for entrepreneurs who have a similar goal in mind.

1. Contribute to your community.

Schultz says he wants the spirit of giving back to permeate every aspect of his company. “Each team leader has a budget for doing random acts of kindness," he says. "The success of our company can be judged when we impact people’s lives in the community in which we operate.”

The first Fairgrounds location will open on March 29 in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago. Twenty percent of the store’s opening day sales will go to the A.N. Pritzker School. The second location, set to open in May, will be in the Chicago Athletic Association hotel. The Chicago Children’s Choir will be that store’s charity partner, and will also receive 20 percent of the first day sales. Members of both the Chicago Teachers Union and employees of Chicago Public Schools will have a standing 10 percent discount at the city’s stores.

Schultz says that there are plans in the works for charity partnerships with every new location that opens, starting in Los Angeles this summer, with Houston, Minneapolis, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Miami following.

2. Be a leader in all aspects of your business.

“I take 30 minutes every day to meditate to regroup, refocus and center my energy. That is a behavior we encourage with our team members in trying to help them to create balance in their lives,” Schultz says.

His first priority is to instill in his employees the value of taking time for themselves, even if it’s something as simple as reading a book or talking a walk to take a break during the day, he says. “Having great balance between family, health and business allows you to achieve higher levels in all of them.”

3. Don’t play the “what if” game.

Schultz says it is impossible to move forward and maintain any sort of balance if you find yourself consumed with regret. “There is a moment that comes in everyone’s life you look back and you think about what could have been," he says. "Don’t put yourself in a position where you can look back and say, 'What could have or what would have happened [if I had done this']. Take that leap and have that courage to believe in yourself.”