Lishi pick door locks with clutch

[rapidlocksmiths]

Hi Rapid

It’s a real shame when the beer boys go to work then come home and do a key or two in the evening or on a Saturday. They take all the straight forward work with eBay clones. Hopefully like you say it’s just a matter of time before something gives. Another problem is it gives the rest of the decent lockies a bad name and forces customers to go to the stealerships out of fear that their car may get bagged

the beer brigade have been here for as long as i can remember and for as long as T300 and SBB have been available , they are nothing new . what has changed in most areas is the different set ups that now branch into car keys , these include ;

shops adding clone keys and kd remotes to their services , many garages , car sales , cobblers , and others have set up in the cutting and cloning of car keys even my local greetings card shop offers clone car keys and house keys cheap , with many of these £10 profit over parts is good enough as just another tenner in the till and not reliant on it as just an add on.

new starts setting up are far higher today than in past , due largely to the amount they learn on free forums and you tube , the cheap clones available and cheap china keys available , also due to the money for nothing manner in which our trade suppliers push this trade as the golden egg to sell kit and expand their markets.

its an unregulated market , and all the time theres cheap clones and cheap keys people will set up with these and have a go , when they realise that the market isnt the golden egg and struggle they then price cut to eat or recover their investment .

the beer boys are only a small part of the problems , its all the problems when lumped together that create the mess its all in.

[Jimmy07]

Hi Rapid

Unbelievable a greeting card shop doing keys 😱

It’ll be your local bakery or corner shop next. It’s a real shame as this is a very modern trade compared to others and a lot of well trained, knowledgeable guys are hanging up their keys so to speak.

It’s a narrowing market with heavy investment with a lot of work and knowledge required. If it keeps going the way it is I don’t know how it will end.

[rapidlocksmiths]

the greetings card shop attended one of our trade suppliers roadshows and bought a cloning set up , its not their main business , just an add on , but they cut half a dozen house keys and half a dozen clone keys a day and very cheap , its just another few quid in the till for minimal work and investment , i know a few motor accessory shops doing same as well as a newsagent . cloning takes up very little room and isnt an expensive investment .

take where you are , a small area , if 4 others like you , do some research buy some kit and set up , thats 4 new starts quoting for work on top of the number already trading , if 4 more do same next year and so on , it can only end in tears , a few will grow and survive but more will fail and lose money , but prices will continue to fall and costs continue to rise , which creates a severe imbalance that can only end one way.

this trades been good to me , but ive sent all 6 of my kids on alternate paths with a future as no ongoing future for them in this trade

[Jimmy07]

Hi Rapid

Yes I see where you coming from the suppliers have killed this through greed. Cloning equipment should only have been sold to genuine locksmiths and as there are little or no regulations in place so it will just get worse.

Before I started up I was willing to under go police checks, insurance and any vetting required and was shocked there is none at all.

Any idiot could buy a laser cutter of eBay for £140, a Lishi £ 40, a cheap programmer £200 and ebay key £20 and that’s certain cars stolen within a very short space of time. With some proxy keys it’s even worse. Even cloning in a newsagents etc opens this up for abuse. It could be as simple as lifting a key, nipping out to a shop and cloning it before they notice and put the original back before they realise it was missing.
No ID checks no questions asked nothing

By the sounds of things you got in at the right time and your exit will be equally well timed. For the ones like me who are left the future looks more uncertain by the day.

It is a real shame your knowledge isn’t being passed down like a lot of trades are a real pity !

[rapidlocksmiths]

there is in reality no such thing as a genuine locksmith in uk , with no qualifications and no regulation the trade doesnt exist , so there is no such thing as a genuine locksmith .

i disagree on kit should only be sold to locksmiths , as id say garages and mechanics have just as much good reason to have these , after all they were doing car keys long before auto locksmiths existed , and they are at least qualified with a recognised qualification , mostly insured to work on vehicles , trained to work fully on diag and on units in a vehicle unlike many trading as a locksmith and also like many trading as a locksmith they can fix things when the diag bricks the car , it would be a farce to say a locksmith with no qualifications and limited vehicle knowledge can buy but a fully qualified garage , mechanic or diag center cannot.

it would be great if worthwhile regulation existed for locksmiths and proper qualifications where you had to be at a defined level of skill and knowledge before being allowed to trade , we would then be repected more , as it is id trust my local garage to sort me keys far more than id trust the majority of trading locksmiths out there if i was joe public.

[Jimmy07]

Hi Rapid

Yes I agree certain trades should have access to programming tools it’s the shops, beer men and the criminal element I was directing my rant at.....

It would be great if this “trade” was recognised as just that with proper apprenticeships and training like other trades. A 2 or 3 day course just doesn’t cut it and your very much out on your own.

The problem with regulation is like the rest, it’s usually just a case of joining some governing body to use their logo and they say they regulate their members. This doesn’t work seen it all before they never check anything or do anything just collect money to shuffle paper and create a coroperate image for it’s members to fool the public into thinking they’re in safe hands. It’s a farce.

Maybe you could create a proper regulation body when you retire. This would flush the beer men out and keep rates stable if nothing else. By the sounds of things you aren’t the type to just hang the keys up and go playing golf 😉

[rapidlocksmiths]

the trouble with regulation is it would end up being no more than a costly excercise to make money for the local government , they have regulation in southern ireland that im told is very strict and rather costly too.

the trade has a body already , you have the MLA ( master locksmiths association ) and ALA ( auto locksmiths association) , but neither have any power and are little more than a club with a badge , due to no legislation or regulation, creating more clubs serves little purpose , and plenty exist already where you can just buy a badge , at least with mla and ala they police check members and you must pass an exam to be able to join and use badge.

trouble is you could make up your own badge and stick it on an ad , public dont care or know what a badge means , they see a badge , any badge and think it means something , when in reality it means very little , and in your artea the cost of the mla badge would eat the profit from a £45 key

i will retire to sun , when i retire i will retire

[Jimmy07]

Hi Rapid

I like your style ! 😎

Don’t know you apart from on here but I can see you sitting in the sun and the phone rings for advice and it will cross your mind...... the big question......

Will I answer or not ?

I retired at 40 after 5 years of doing nothing I had to get back to something it’s the way I am unfortunately 😐

[rapidlocksmiths]

im aiming for retiring at 60 , 4 years and counting

[Jimmy07]

Good man Rapid 👍🏻😎🍻

Still some time left to pass a bit of knowledge onto your middle age apprentice from N.I. Lol

[Jimmy07]

Back to this van today. Just used direct copy function on A9 key opened door and done ignition and believe it or not it was quite tight in ignition unbelievable after the other key that was a mile out turned it no problem. Also tried a blank in ignition as suggested and didn’t turn. Just one of those mysterious ones. Made inquiries about the A9 and supplier said one of the boards was away ?

[camelgd]

the trouble with regulation is it would end up being no more than a costly excercise to make money for the local government , they have regulation in southern ireland that im told is very strict and rather costly too.

the trade has a body already , you have the MLA ( master locksmiths association ) and ALA ( auto locksmiths association) , but neither have any power and are little more than a club with a badge , due to no legislation or regulation, creating more clubs serves little purpose , and plenty exist already where you can just buy a badge , at least with mla and ala they police check members and you must pass an exam to be able to join and use badge.

trouble is you could make up your own badge and stick it on an ad , public dont care or know what a badge means , they see a badge , any badge and think it means something , when in reality it means very little , and in your artea the cost of the mla badge would eat the profit from a £45 key

i will retire to sun , when i retire i will retire

Rapid,
It is not as easy as you might want to retire. I just turned 66, eligible for full government benefits, but too many people are begging me not to. I cut back on what I do about three years ago, to just auto and safe work, and my gross increased double digits. Also,how do you just lay down tools that have cost you thousands, or sell for a small part of what they are worth? Not easy to contemplate. In my mind, retirement is cutting back to a level that you can handle, an doing only those jobs that interest you and keep your mind sharp.
I still contemplate new equipment with an eye down the road for 5 to 10 years. That may seem insane to some, but I don't know how to stop by coming to an abrupt halt, but I do know I can gradually slow down. The next step will probably be passing on the heavier safe jobs, I lean more to easier drill and manipulate safe jobs even now.
Maybe in 5 years or so my attitude will change about retirement,especially if my health declines,we'll see what happens. Until then, I'll stay in the trade as best I can....

[Jimmy07]

Hi Camel

I know a guy from England touching 70 and is still doing this. He’s threatened to retire ever since I’ve known him ( over 10 years now ) He has the same mindset as you and says it’s difficult to turn down good paying jobs and getting paid everyday. Fair play to him does 3 days a week now and specialises in newer Mercedes and BMW work

[rapidlocksmiths]

Rapid,
It is not as easy as you might want to retire. I just turned 66, eligible for full government benefits, but too many people are begging me not to. I cut back on what I do about three years ago, to just auto and safe work, and my gross increased double digits. Also,how do you just lay down tools that have cost you thousands, or sell for a small part of what they are worth? Not easy to contemplate. In my mind, retirement is cutting back to a level that you can handle, an doing only those jobs that interest you and keep your mind sharp.
I still contemplate new equipment with an eye down the road for 5 to 10 years. That may seem insane to some, but I don't know how to stop by coming to an abrupt halt, but I do know I can gradually slow down. The next step will probably be passing on the heavier safe jobs, I lean more to easier drill and manipulate safe jobs even now.
Maybe in 5 years or so my attitude will change about retirement,especially if my health declines,we'll see what happens. Until then, I'll stay in the trade as best I can....

its always been the aim to hang up my spurs at 60 , my passion is and always has been locks and lock manipulation over all else , im lucky to be working on a number of lock development projects which is interesting and enjoyable especially for a lock anorak , id like to think i could focus more time to this , it certainly pays better than working on my tools in the current climate, i love this trade but despise what it has become. but never say never , i know exactly what your saying , but if all goes to plan il still be involved with locks , just in development , if i hate it and miss the road then i still have this option, though i may continue servicing my regulars and just knock the phone work. time will tell.