We were broken into this morning.
5:50am: Alarm sounds (motion detector).
5:53am: I'm called at home and I have ADT dispatch the police.
5:54am: Police dispatched
5:59am: Police arrive
You can get away with a lot in 9 minutes.
The front door glass was broken in. It's safety glass so it shattered into thousands of pieces.
The thieves went right for the cash drawer and literally ripped it from the point-of-sale system. The machine is still on.
Luckily I just changed insurance companies the day before to a first rate group that normally wouldn't return my calls. My agent is a great guy and one of my customers.
This will be financially painful, but my guess is half the cost will be covered under insurance. I probably wouldn't have hit my deductible with the old insurance company.
The rest of my morning will be coordinating the clean-up, new glass, new cash drawer and the insurance claim. We'll be open by 11am, our normal time.
That sucks, man.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear it.
Allen
Ugh, Gary. Terribly sorry to hear this. Makes me utterly sick. I hope it's not too much of a blow. :(
ReplyDeleteHUGE level of suckage. Got lucky with the insurance though.
ReplyDeleteKevin W
I'm out about $1500. It especially stinks because all of my cash is tied up in the construction and move. This is just one more debt to add on top of that.
ReplyDeleteI think this would have been a very sucky week for me for various reasons, but I'm just taking this as the price of doing business, with a reminder to improve our security practices.
I am said it on the GiN, but I wanted you to know we all feel super bad over here. There was nothing you could have done, it was one of those stupid crimes of opportunity things. Just keep looking at those pics of the new store, it's gonna be awesome.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying not to take it too personally. I saved about $6,000+ on my build-out by using my brother, so I guess these things balance out.
Sorry to hear about it.
ReplyDeleteWas there any additional vandalism or inventory theft - or just the window and cash register/POS?
I'm guessing the damage is going to cost much more than the money that was actually stolen - crime is so inefficient.
The break-in damage is the majority of the loss. It cost about $1800.
ReplyDeleteThe cash drawer was about $300, including a delivery fee. I was very happy to see the POS CPU and peripherals still there, minus the cash drawer. Losing data would have been a serious interruption.
There was too much cash in the drawer, which was just stupid on my part. A good portion of that was insured though, which limited my damages. In the future the drawer will be open and empty. I knew better, but I was being lazy.
Open with the next days start money ($100) isn't unusual. It limits the loss to the actual cash, plus whatever break-in damage occurs.
ReplyDeleteSomeone actually suggested leaving the $100 instead of nothing to avoid a kind of revenge rampage. After breaking in, they expect to come away with something. Better $100 than a piece of equipment or an armful of Magic boxes.
ReplyDeleteVery sorry to hear this Gary. If I weren't in Indy right now I'd offer my help in cleaning up. If there's anything I can do when I get back, just ask.
ReplyDeleteDon Martin II
Apercu in the meetup group
Perhaps some sort of camera surveillance, would make recovery, and inhibit the event from re-occurring at the new location?
ReplyDeleteTCP/IP webcam, with offsite data storage?
I've considered a CCTV system for months now. The cost with a DVR system is $1500-$2000. My insurance deductible for a break-in is $1000. The question is: Within say, a 5-year period for the system, how often will I be broken into? If it's two or more times, the camera system makes sense.
ReplyDeleteConsidering, that your rates are going to go up at renewal.... I'd probably put that break even at 1K.
ReplyDeleteAnd considering the camera deterent of preventing the break in from happening.
And considering you're moving to a higher crime area than your current location.
But with any system, getting the data offsite is the best option, as keeping it onsite is only going to result in having that computer or DVR stolen too.