Protecting Yourself and Your Investment, Part 2

By Bill Gilbert | Aug 11, 2009

My last article reflected on some of my past experiences as a homicide investigator working on a case that involved the armed robbery and physical assault of two owners of a local coin laundry – connecting that case with the murder of the manager of a nearby fast-food restaurant.

The laundry owners’ mistakes and the hundreds of criminal cases and “bad guy” interviews I was involved with during my years in law enforcement, along with the information retained from these investigations, make it easy for me to share some of my recommended “Security Do’s and Don’ts” that you should seriously consider while operating your self-service laundry.

Here are some tips to help keep you and your business safer:

1. Alter your collection schedule.

Collecting your laundry on the same day at the same time is like hanging a big red banner outside your front door, stating “I’ve Got a Lot of Money for Anyone to See Right Now – Come In and Watch!”

You attract enough attention as it is – jingling the keys, opening the coin boxes (provided you don’t have a card-operated store, which is an entirely different topic that we’ll discuss in another article), dumping the coins into a bucket or rolling the container around in a laundry cart. Then, the next big attraction is opening the bill changer (if you have a frontloading unit), pulling the big wad of bills out of the bill stacker or from a collection box, bundling the bills up with a rubber band and filling your hoppers with quarters. (And, of course, none of those quarters have ever spilled all over the floor.)

You would be surprised to know how many of your customers are watching you collect money. And even though the majority are not people you necessarily need to be concerned about, they may mention to others how much money they saw at your store the other day, and slowly but surely, just the right bad guy will eventually get wind of this information – and a “seed” of an idea will be planted that your laundry might be the perfect place to “borrow money with no plans to return it.” And a burglary plan develops.

2. Collect during daytime hours, if possible; the earlier the better and possibly before opening for the day.

There are several reasons for this suggestion. Your coin laundry is quiet in the morning before you open. The washers and dryers aren’t operating, your customers aren’t creating a distraction, and you are more aware of your surroundings. Also, most bad guys prowl around until the wee hours of the morning and are most likely asleep when you are opening your business.

Sure, comic book superhero Spider-Man relies on the tingling of his “spider senses” to alert him to when trouble is near. However, in the real world, you can simply use plain old logic and common sense: If something doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t.

Therefore, be fully aware of your surroundings before you collect. It’s wise to have a partner assisting you with this task, if possible; he or she can watch for anything unusual while you collect. In addition, when driving up to your store, look for strangers loitering around or any out-of-place cars parked nearby, especially if those vehicles are occupied.

3. After collecting, remain vigilant.

It’s an all-too-common article appearing regularly in local newspapers across America: An armed robbery occurred at a bank ATM or outside of a business with a bad guy approaching his victim and demanding cash. Typically, these criminals had been watching the ATM or business, and had devised a plan to either accost the victim inside the business or in the parking lot – or else to follow the intended target to a different location, perhaps even the potential victim’s home.

Therefore, if you are going to count your receipts at the laundry after collecting, be sure you have a secured room away from the operation of the washers and dryers. I’ve seen many operators pull out a coin-counting machine, set it on top of a washer or folding table, dump their quarters and start filling canvas bank bags.

If you’re going to do that, why not just pull out that red banner again?

Be discreet when collecting, counting and even exiting your business with cash. Hauling out canvas bags with “First National Bank” emblazoned across them is a dead giveaway as to what’s inside.

4. Go straight to the bank.

When you’re finally finished counting, have prepared a deposit for your local bank and have discreetly transferred the money to your vehicle, again be observant as you exit the laundry. When pulling out of your parking space (always park so as to avoid being boxed in), watch for suspicious cars pulling in behind and following you. Always try to make the bank your first stop – make your deposit and get the money into safer hands than yours. Stopping before making your deposits to go shopping or to pick up a few items at the drugstore is just inviting the bad guys that may be following you to easily break into your vehicle.

Before you become completely paranoid, take a deep breath and re-read this article. Adapt some of these suggestions to your particular situation. Remember, you are in a cash business with a reputation for having money on the premises. Break up your routine collection habits, and be more aware of your surroundings.

Your safety is my concern. If you adopt just one of my recommendations, you’ll be making your self-service laundry a little bit safer for you and your customers.