[Tech1] Fostering

[Alan Taylor]

It takes a certain amount of ingenuity to steal big stuff without attracting attention.

About 25 years ago I read about a company who made vinyl floor covering. They were losing several rolls per week. These were massive rolls, about 8 feet long and three feet in diameter.   The warehouse had electrically operated steel shutter doors which couldn’t be opened manually and the power was isolated at night.  There was no other route out where you could get a big roll through.

After lots of upgrades to the alarm system, locks and other security devices, they were still losing rolls.  As a last resort they decided to do a secret stakeout and discovered that last thing at night, a senior employee would place a roll alongside the shutter a touch the other side of it and roll it back into the warehouse before bringing down the shutter, leaving just a quarter inch gap at the bottom.  An inch or two of vinyl was left  peeping under the closed shutter. He would then set the alarms, go home and stay there.  

During the night, a couple of guys turned up in a van and tugged on the end of the vinyl to pull a little of it under the door. Once they had pulled a few feet of it through, they would roll it up and pull another few feet through.  The process was continued until the entire roll had been pulled under the shutter and rolled up again the other side. 

I can’t help but admire the ingenuity of somebody who can come up with such a clever scheme as that. 

Alan Taylor