Do You Need to Bolt Your New Safe to the Floor?

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Not a day goes by without another hair-raising tale in the press about a brazen home or business robbery. It's becoming increasingly difficult to protect yourself from thieves, who may be looking not just for valuables but also documentation that could be used to steal an identity. You may well be considering a safe, but do you just need to purchase one or have it fixed in place, as well?

What You Need to Consider

If you simply have to keep valuables on your property, then you cannot risk them being discovered in the open should somebody enter while you're not there. You need to have a safe, but also need to carefully consider your circumstances before you buy one.

If you are renting or leasing a property, then you definitely need to talk with the owner before introducing a heavy safe. You should also consider how long you're going to be staying there, because a safe that is fixed is going to be more difficult to move.

You may think that the heavier the safe, the better and some of these can weigh more than one tonne. Certainly, it's more difficult to physically move a safe on the top end of the scale, but understand that if it's still not bolted to something, thieves may still have a way of taking the entire object.

Where Should You Fix It?

If you've decided that you are in your location for the long haul and want to go ahead with a safe purchase, decide whether you are going to bolt it to the floor or to the walls. Every model will come with the hardware and the openings within the safe itself, to allow you to fix these properly. A concrete surface is ideal, but you can also fix them to wood, so long as you choose a load-bearing joist that can take the weight.

Why Most Crooks Won't Bother

Remember that even though robberies may be on the increase, the vast majority of offenders are opportunists. If they come across your safe and see that it is secured, then they are very likely to turn away and try somewhere else. It will simply take them too long to "crack" it in place.

Why You Should Be Careful

Just remember, try not to forget the combination of the safe or lose your own keys. If you do and the safe is bolted to the wall or floor, then you're going to have to get an expert to come out to help you with the problem, rather than taking the safe in to them.

Getting Advice

Have a word with your safe supplier to determine the best place to fix it in your particular case.

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10 January 2017

Managing my businesses cash takings

I run a busy cafe and we turn over a lot of money each hour. It's important to limit how much cash I keep in the register as it can be easily lost or stolen from a register that is being opened all the time. That's why I make sure that we have a safe below each register that the supervisor fills each hour with excess takings. Space is at a premium in the cafe, but I have found a great slimline safe with a fingerprint lock that blends right in with the register. This blog has hints for finding safes that suit cafes, bar and restaurants.