Now THAT makes sense!

ShadetreeRet

Well-known Member
My sister called me this morning from work, her boss had reported the theft of a 35 foot scissor lift from a job site, (and it was rented) BUT they found it in short order because it was equipped with GPS! (I had never heard about such, but it makes sense) Seems the thieves had transported it to a small town about thirty miles away and already ground off the serial numbers, or most of them at least, hatched up a story for the police about someone bringing it in for repairs. Needless to say, charges are pending.
I remember when I worked for this same company in the early nineties, there was a constant problem with people breaking into tool boxes or once in a while even managing to steal one. One morning I went to a job site and someone had tried to break into two large KNAACK boxes but there was a mechanism inside the box that they couldn't get to and were able only to do sufficient damage to the boxes. Ladders and walk boards were constantly going home with someone else, so the boss man came up with a mixture of paint that turned out to be the ungodliest shade of mustard green I have ever seen, and had the warehouse manager spray every ladder, walkboard, Knaack box, scaffolding, etc. with this paint. This just about brought theft to a screeching halt, because no one wanted to be caught with something that color!
My understanding is that only a small percentage of equipment, such as this scissor lift, is equipped with GPS, but I would guess that before long the majority will be.
 
You would be amazed at some of the stuff on newer equipment. Most of the major mfgs now have systems on their machines that can turn them off/disable them if they go outside of a certain area. They have systems to report back usage time, idle time, and to some degree abuse, to the dealer, as well as the owner.

Heck machines can be programed to use GPS and do nearly everything from the initial rough grading all the way through to the final grade, all without any significant human intervention beyond the initial programming.

Ultimately we hear all this talk now days about unemployment, and part of it is folks not wanting to work. On the other hand, much of what I see is jobs that used to take hundreds of unskilled, or semi-skilled workers now being handled by one man with a computer, and a team of robots. With equipment getting as mechanized/computersized/rototized, or whatever you want to call it, as it is, how long until the construction industry starts losing good paying, skilled, jobs to computers/robots?
 
NCWayne- The way 3-D printers are growing...I wouldn't think it will be too long until you can a 3-D printed house built(at least framed up) on your lot!
 
> My understanding is that only a small percentage of equipment, such as this scissor lift, is equipped with GPS, but I would guess that before long the majority will be.

You can purchase GPS tracking modules and install them in anything. I was watching a YouTube video the other day where a guy was installing (hiding) a GPS module on his walk-behind snow blower to aid location in the event it was stolen.
 
> NCWayne- The way 3-D printers are growing...I wouldn't think it will be too long until you can a 3-D printed house built(at least framed up) on your lot!

Yep! Provided you want it constructed of resin. :)
 
The cost of electronics continues to fall. Rental places probably buy trackers in bulk and get an insurance discount for using them.
 
(quoted from post at 09:01:04 11/05/15) The cost of electronics continues to fall. Rental places probably buy trackers in bulk and get an insurance discount for using them.

I read just the other day that used car dealers in the area that finance their own cars are putting GPS on them. You miss a payment they know where to pick the car up.
 
Used to be once gone, likely never to be found again. Gang boxes are key items with all the tools for the crews, I had at one time at least a dozen to 18 or so on job sites all over NYC, usually locked in shanty's or chained to a column. Knaack and Job Box, (delta mfg) had good set ups to place locks that were very hard to get to by a thief, but if they want it, they'll get it. Funny to see how cameras, gps tracking devices work for the good and nail people still living in the dark ages before this technology was around, or they are just plain stupid like most common criminals. I used to rent lifts of all sizes and those darned things are heavy, hard to imagine stealing one, but they do. Worst is when this happens is the production lost and payroll lost because the crew cannot work and have to get back what they need to do so. I had a shanty robbed on a site, a subcontractor with a larger masonry contract, 30 masons, and several tenders, laborers and one operating engineer. The theft stopped the crew for an entire day, and even slowed production once they got things rolling the following day, the value of the tools that were stolen was one thing, but there's a lot more loss than that, thieves really suck in my book !
 
A Catt 335 excavator was stolen off a project I was working on a few years ago - it took about a year, but the guy ran his mouth in a bar, and the word got around and they got him.
The kicker was that the project was the construction of a new State Police facility - takes a pretty good set to do that
I told them to look for the guy that was walking like he had been riding a horse for two days..
 
All the lift rental places around me have had lojack since the 1990s. It is more because contractors take lifts to other jobs and they stop paying the rent.
 
Billy, "once gone, never found" reminded me of an incident that happened to me quite some years ago. Someone stole a toolbox full of wrenches, a chain saw, power generator, go kart and several other items from me. The insurance adjuster told me that they were keeping an eye on a certain family, but couldn't get any concrete evidence. About five yeas later they arrested several members of this family for breaking and entering, theft, etc. Turned out that they had relatives in California and they would steal stuff out there and when they got a truck load, ( I am referring to a furniture van type of truck), they would haul it to the east coast and pick up a load here that the local bunch had stolen and haul it back to California to sell. They got by with it for several years.
 
jgayman, I related it as I heard it, but you are right, tracking devices can be purchased more cheaply now and can be installed by the owner. Maybe he was referring to those installed at the factory, I don't know, but your point is well taken.
 
When I purchased this Dell laptop five years ago it came with three years of Lojack software in-bedded into the hard drive. If stolen, just have to call an 800 number and they would turn it on and track it as soon as the crook logs into the internet.
 
(quoted from post at 09:35:46 11/05/15) A Catt 335 excavator was stolen off a project I was working on a few years ago - it took about a year, but the guy ran his mouth in a bar, and the word got around and they got him.
The kicker was that the project was the construction of a new State Police facility - takes a pretty good set to do that
I told them to look for the guy that was walking like he had been riding a horse for two days..
Reminds me of when they were remodeling police headquarters and all the new toilets were stolen. The police didn't have anything to go on.
 
I knew a guy who ran a mechanic shop. He got tired of all the shops wrenches and other hand tools disappearing. Finally he called all his guys together and issued each one two sets of brand new tools. He told them that these were their tools; he was no longer responsible for providing tools. The first set of tools went home immediately, of course. The mechanics guarded the second set, their shop tools, like a dog guarding a bone.
 
Cunning, but I just can't get how a person can live with themselves and be a thief. Sure makes sense doing that if you are a low life scoundrel thief. I've always believed its going to come back on you, how hard and how many times, you'll just never know.
 
A local farmer called me with a problem with a tractor he had just bought. It would discharge the battery if left for any period of time. It took hours with an ammeter to figure out that a wire had been hidden in the harness that led to a black box. The box was very well hidden. It was a cellular/GPS unit. The problem was the installer had missed a strand of wire when making his terminations and had caused a slow drain on the battery. The tractor came from near the Mexican border. Not sure if that played in or not.

Aaron
 
(quoted from post at 09:56:41 11/05/15) All the lift rental places around me have had lojack since the 1990s. It is more because contractors take lifts to other jobs and they stop paying the rent.

They caught a guy here that was running a whole business with stolen machines. A guy had a new bobcat stolen. He got a new one, with gps. It got stolen right away, the state police found it, and the 1st bobcat, about 10 miles away, at another construction company. The thief had been a employee of the victim, years before.
 

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