Gas Prices and Your Locksmith Business (update)

POSTS OF THE WEEK

When you look at these pictures, which one brings you back to your childhood? For me, without a shadow of a doubt, my mom has always loved those brownies with those little sprinkles on them. I used to eat those a lot as a kid. Nowadays, it's the top of Chico. I started eating stuff like Twinkies or there are other things and well, I keep them with me.

Funny meme: Type into Google “free fruit snacks with orders” and Google suggests CLK supplies. I never fact-checked it, but it's the cherry on top to your order!

"Look what I just received in the mail! Thank you @clk_supplies!! I love getting freebies on a Friday! #lockboss #locksmith #locksmithmom #freebiefriday #contestwinner" - from @makesomethingcolorful

We're so happy you like your prize (AERO Key Software for Master Key), and thanks for sending the great pic! Keep on being a #Lockboss.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

It's really good; the functionality of it how it works. We've been putting it through its paces. I have a few more videos on the Triton getting into some of the nitty-gritty stuff.  Hey, we are running a special on the Triton plus right now. You get a free JMA Nomad Key Machines. How cool is that?

GAS PRICES AND YOUR LOCKSMITH BUSINESS

It's been a little bit since we talked about it. We were hitting it pretty hard a few times at the beginning of the year, and I figure it'd be good to revisit it. Get a few conversations because what I like to do is bring us some topics, get some conversations going, and then, together we can all learn.

Look at this chart that I pulled off from Gas Buddy yesterday.

 It's an 18-month average retail price chart. Looking at this gas in our area, it is like $3.83-ish right now. Last year, we're sitting about $3.20. If we look at what's going on, we've had an increase. With that being said, with the inflation we've been dealing with, with the gas prices, I have some questions for you.

I'm hoping that many of you have raised your Trip Travel Charge. Lock vans, in particular, haven't been known to get great gas mileage, and I'm curious if any of you have looked at getting a different vehicle to run some calls on based on the mile per gallon that the vehicle gets.

That's good, Jim. You have your basic area and what you did is if you were to look at your county or a map of your area, it's like you almost drew a circle around where it's okay for this price. It's reasonable to drive around in this space, and then anything out that, you started adding to it.

That's good, Dad.

Yeah, it's almost like a lot of these go together. Now, what I'm curious about is, “Due to the gas prices, have you changed any type of services you provide?” If you found that maybe doing lockouts was not reasonable, like you just kind of pricing yourself out of the market with? What does that look like?

Okay. Very good.

So, you got that for that reason over the other ones? I do like that, and it kind of makes sense. I guess a question I'm kind of baiting out a little bit is, “When it comes to lockouts, in particular (if you do a lot of lockouts), knowing that you don't need a big van to do lockouts, have you switch to using a smaller vehicle or started doing other types of work?” I'm really curious about that. I mean, the lock father, my dad, tries hard to not use a full-size van for lockouts, if possible, which makes sense.

That’s very good.

Well, that's good.

I'm glad to hear and see a lot of things that you guys are doing. Not sticking with the same and getting hurt with these prices for sure.

Hey, locksny. If you do that, you got to send us a picture man. I want to see the long rod strapped to your back. We would all love to see that pink bike with a flower basket.

There is something to be said, right? I mean, we can joke around and we can have fun with it. But what it boils down to is, “The less it costs you to do the job, the more money you make.” I mean, at the very basic level, moving around what you're doing and to drive to do that job… If it's going to make you more profitable or keep you competitive in your market, these are all great things.

Very good, guys. Thank you for contributing to that conversation. I'll try to bring it up here and there, and let's see what's going on and how we're doing. Thank you, and I’ll see you next time!