Magnolia Plumbing has been serving the Washington D.C. area for more than 70 years, consisting of hardworking, dedicated people who love their profession and the customers they serve. Since 2022, crime in this community has exploded by more than 300%.
A DEVASTATING SITUATION
Over the last two years, every single Magnolia vehicle has been broken into, making the company spend more than $50,000 to replace the stolen equipment since November 2022. Servicing customers out in the field is when and where this crime takes place, often in broad daylight. The thieves perpetrating these crimes are organized, well-equipped, and relentless with cutting and drilling tools.
“There’s somebody behind your truck.” For one Magnolia plumber, these words are chilling. From the vantage point of the home he’s servicing, he can see his truck parked on the street. On the driver’s side, out of view, he can see legs standing on the other side. He manages to rush outside in time, shouting and scaring the thief away before they can break into the van, but the emotional distress remains.
“It makes you want to quit,” comments another Magnolia plumber, whose van has been broken into three times. “Makes you want to give up.”
For all the tradespeople working for Magnolia, it’s a business that they invest in themselves, from personally buying the first tools when starting out to growing a tool collection over the course of their career. The tools they use every day are personal expenses that not only represent a large financial and career investment, but an emotional one. When these tools are stolen, it’s disheartening and financially devastating.
THE LOCK, THE LEGEND
With many Magnolia tradespeople reaching a crossroads of deciding whether to stay in the trade or leave due to lack of safety, the company approached an impasse. Management sympathized and understood why so many of their employees wanted to leave, but there’s still a business to run. Plumbing companies around the area banded together to plan on how to battle this crime wave that threatens to destroy their businesses.
Magnolia proceeded to try every custom lock the market had to offer, desperately seeking a solution that would work to protect their business. An unusual lock called Legend SecuriLock caught their attention. Through the grapevine, Magnolia heard of an Italian-made lock that other plumbers swore by. With nothing else to lose, Magnolia installed the locks onto the company vans. Soon after, Magnolia witnessed why the reviews raved about these locks.
The break-in attempts didn’t abate, but without exception, every van with a Legend Lock remained safe and ensured there were no successful break-ins. Since installing the locks, Magnolia hasn’t reported a single break-in.
Magnolia found that all stock factory locks were easy prey for criminals due to their weak construction as an afterthought in the van manufacturing process. To ensure absolute safety, it became clear that Magnolia needed to install some kind of custom lock. When they discovered Legend Fleet Solutions, they learned that they had lock design, break-in prevention, and functionality down to a science.
“We are actually helping protect, not just tradespeople’s tools and cargo, but their entire livelihoods,” says Brendan Church, marketing director of Legend Fleet Solutions. “They rely on this to do their job. When it’s gone, they have to start over. Legend is proud to stop these criminals in their tracks with locks that actually work.”
AN EFFECTIVE CHOICE
The lock itself is developed, not as a mere way to lock a door, but as a customized tool that performs a specific function—like any other tool in the van it protects. Legend clearly has a singular purpose in mind when creating the lock: to effortlessly resist multiple extreme levels of damage from break-in attempts and to be weather resistant. Other features of the SecuriLock include:
A hardened steel body encased in a weather-resistant zinc and nickel coating. This provides a surface that defies any kind of cutting or drilling from power tools. The lock is permanently secured to the van in a way that makes it difficult to remove, adding the functionality by forcing a thief to fold the van sheet metal itself rather than the lock.
An unconventional high-security key that’s difficult to duplicate. Would-be thieves cannot make duplicates easily, nor can they force the lock with imitations of standard keys.
With both automatic and manual locking features, the lock is versatile enough to oblige the driver in a variety of situations.
Legend’s knowledge of how criminals use tools to break into vans is vast and is applied in the development of the Legend’s premium Slam Lock and Dead Lock SecuriLock line, two options that address specific needs and provide peace of mind.
The Slam Lock variant is best used for maximum security in areas with high crime rates. The Slam Lock is good choice for vehicles that won’t be accessed often and need to be locked every single time. Every time the door is slammed, the lock automatically fastens itself and requires a key to be opened again. The Dead Lock variant is best used when the vehicle will be accessed often, functioning the same as the Slam Lock but the automatic lock can be disengaged with the key so that it doesn’t lock every time the door is closed. For vehicles that are making several stops in a day, such as last mile deliveries, the Dead Lock is the better option as it’ll protect your cargo without being inconvenient. Both variants have an emergency escape feature, meaning that, even if the door closes and locks you inside, you’ll be in full control with a pull of the release.
For Magnolia, Legend locks has saved them tens of thousands of dollars going forward in tool replacement and the safety of not only the vans, but their contractors as well.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
This information was provided by Legend Fleet Solutions. Find out more at www.legendfleet.com.
