The Economics of Everyday Things
00:14:28 · Philip Mortolero Sr., Zachary Crockett, Philip Mortolero Jr.
[00:14:28] S6: We do a lot of repairs on antique locks. There's two locks that are sitting here. They're from Grace Church eighteen forty six, and I'm rebuilding them. Let's go put the key in the lock. That sounds good. [00:14:42] S3: Greenwich Locksmiths specializes in over the counter work. They cut and duplicate thousands of keys every week, most of them for $5 apiece. Inside the shop, there are around $50,000 worth of machines for stamping, cutting, and duplicating all kinds of keys. But the key making side of the locksmithing business has been under threat in the past decade. A venture capital backed company called KeyMe has rolled out a network of more than 6,000 digital kiosks all over the country. You can upload a photo of your house or car key, and the machine can replicate it without the hand of a human locksmith. [00:15:22] S6: The automatic machines are getting better, and inevitably, they're gonna get better and better and better, and they're gonna take everybody's job. [00:15:32] S3: It's not just keys. Locks are changing too. Many traditional locks are being replaced by electronic locks controlled by keypads or even fingerprints. Phil Junior works with these keys frequently, and he says the fancy components don't necessarily make a lock safer. [00:15:52] S5: There's this illusion that the system's more secure. You know what it's better at? It's good at giving you audit trail control. So you can see who goes in and out, but the entrance is not safer.
00:15:52 · Philip Mortolero Jr., Zachary Crockett, Wayne Winton
[00:15:52] S5: There's this illusion that the system's more secure. You know what it's better at? It's good at giving you audit trail control. So you can see who goes in and out, but the entrance is not safer. [00:16:06] S3: Wayne Winton of Tri County Locksmith Service says electronic locks can actually introduce more potential security breaches than a key operated lock. [00:16:15] S4: The only way that I can open my home before is with this specific key, and you could pick that lock. There's the only two ways in. Now if I take an electronic lock, what if you gave that code out? What if you stored that code in your phone? What if you sent an email with that code? All of those are opportunities for somebody to get access. It's convenience versus security, and convenience always wins. [00:16:40] S3: Despite their flaws, Winton feels optimistic about his trade's ability to capitalize on electronic locks. All those houses, apartments, and office buildings that are going keyless present a tantalizing business opportunity.
00:16:40 · Zachary Crockett, Wayne Winton
[00:16:40] S3: Despite their flaws, Winton feels optimistic about his trade's ability to capitalize on electronic locks. All those houses, apartments, and office buildings that are going keyless present a tantalizing business opportunity. [00:16:55] S4: This is not only the golden age, I would say this is the platinum age of the locksmith to be able to upgrade existing systems and homes to electronics. We're right in the transition. Almost every new building that's going up right now has low voltage electronic access wires being put into it. Schools are upgrading to electronic locks so they can do a massive lockdown in the event of an emergency. So I see nothing but opportunity. Somebody in this industry now could quite literally be more well off financially than an attorney or a doctor in the next ten years. [00:17:36] S3: Installing new systems, making keys, and changing and picking locks may be the bread and butter of the locksmith's business. But the most prized jobs tend to be cracking safes and bank vaults. Winton has done safe work for high security jewelers and banks all over the Southwest and Midwest. [00:17:55] S4: Usually, my policy is, here's my price. I need 50% upfront. I guarantee the work. If I don't complete the job and I can't open it, you don't pay. And they haven't made a container on this planet that I haven't been able to open yet. [00:18:09] S3: Winton often charges several thousand dollars for a single safe cracking job, But it's not easy work. A bank vault is one of the most secure devices on the planet.
00:18:09 · Zachary Crockett, Wayne Winton
[00:18:09] S3: Winton often charges several thousand dollars for a single safe cracking job, But it's not easy work. A bank vault is one of the most secure devices on the planet. [00:18:20] S4: There's literally three or four Swiss type built watches in there for what's called a time delay system or a time lock that all have to function correctly at the same time. And there's two very highly precision made mechanical locks as well. So there is a tremendous amount of moving parts that all have to harmonize and synchronize in a very, very orderly, specific fashion in order for that vault to open. And if one of those things is off, the door remains locked and you are stuck on the other side of between six, eight, 12 inches, 24 inches of steel, concrete, glass, barrier materials, [00:19:04] S3: just some of the craziest things the human mind can put together to keep people out. Some safecrackers use a technique called manipulation. They'll press an amplifier or stethoscope like device up against the metal and listen for tiny clicks inside the safe as they turn the dials. Someone with an intimate knowledge of safe mechanics can pick up on slight variations in sound and feel and record readings to identify likely combinations. Others might try to get blueprints from a safe's manufacturer that tell a locksmith where to strategically drill through the steel. But if the drill goes in at the wrong angle, it could shatter a glass layer, triggering extra locking mechanisms inside the safe.
00:19:04 · Zachary Crockett, Wayne Winton
[00:19:04] S3: just some of the craziest things the human mind can put together to keep people out. Some safecrackers use a technique called manipulation. They'll press an amplifier or stethoscope like device up against the metal and listen for tiny clicks inside the safe as they turn the dials. Someone with an intimate knowledge of safe mechanics can pick up on slight variations in sound and feel and record readings to identify likely combinations. Others might try to get blueprints from a safe's manufacturer that tell a locksmith where to strategically drill through the steel. But if the drill goes in at the wrong angle, it could shatter a glass layer, triggering extra locking mechanisms inside the safe. [00:19:49] S4: It's an intimate understanding of how the container functions mechanically that allows you to pinpoint a certain location to where it all comes to a head. [00:20:01] S3: Winton says that all of this work rarely yields a satisfying result for a client. [00:20:07] S4: 90% of the time, even more than 90% of the time, people think there's gonna be a bunch of cool stuff in a safe, and normally, there's not. My joke is that there's gonna be nothing but rubber bands and paper clips in there. [00:20:19] S3: That's not always the case. A few years ago, Winton cracked an old safe at a newspaper office in Colorado and found long lost photos of the serial killer Ted Bundy. It was like a time capsule. The last time this thing [00:20:35] S4: was opened was literally with the photo negatives of Ted Bundy as they were rearresting him. Jobs like this are glamorous,
00:20:35 · Wayne Winton, Zachary Crockett, Philip Mortolero Sr.
[00:20:35] S4: was opened was literally with the photo negatives of Ted Bundy as they were rearresting him. Jobs like this are glamorous, [00:20:46] S3: but Winton says the true glory comes from the everyday services, helping a couple get back in their car in a gas station parking lot or changing the locks on a house for a victim of domestic violence. [00:20:59] S4: This is not a job. This is a privilege. I get to save the day. I get to be a hero. What I sell is peace of mind, and you can't really put a price on that. [00:21:16] S3: Have you ever locked yourself out? [00:21:17] S4: Yes. I left my key inside the truck, but I did get myself back into it. I wouldn't dare let another locksmith have the clout to have let me back into my vehicle. I would have broken a window first. [00:21:37] S3: For The Economics of Everyday Things, I'm Zachary Crockett. This episode was produced by me and Sarah Lilly and mixed by Jeremy Johnston. We had help from Daniel Moritz Rhapsody. Guys could probably make a killing as burglars if you wanted to. [00:21:59] S6: I'd make a killing either way. It's okay. [00:22:05] S3: The Freakonomics Radio Network, the hidden side of everything.