Breaking & Entering

Who pays the cost of crime?

A couple of days ago Larry, Jr. called, asked about our day. We chatted for a couple minutes.

"Well how is your day going?"

"A lot better now than it was this morning, Dad."

"What happened? What's wrong?" 

Larry said when he went out to his truck, the driver side window was completely smashed out! Larry lives in northeast Portland, a tight little community! The area is insulated, in many ways, from downtown Portland, OR.

"All they took was a key lying on my dash. The thieves probably thought it was the key to my front door, which it's not, thank goodness."

When his neighbor saw the broken glass all over the street, he told Larry that someone had stolen his catalytic converter!

"You're kidding! How in the world do you steal a catalytic converter?"

"They put a rolling jack under your car, cut out the catalytic converter."

The converter contains precious metals like platinum, palladium, or rhodium.

"It takes less than seven minutes and they're gone."

Depending on the age and type of vehicle, thieves sell the catalytic converter to junk yards for $100 or more. Who knows the cost to replace a new converter, exhaust, and tail pipes, plus labor? It could be ten times the price the thieves got for the stolen converter. Of course, Larry has insurance, but he still experiences the inconvenience and pays the deductible. The cost of crime is calculated into all our insurance rates.

I've learned that there is an epidemic of catalytic converters being stolen. Airport parking lots are a favorite place for these thieves to collect several in only an hour or two. The thefts seem to continue without consequences of any kind - so for the criminally minded, why not?

Three years ago, I knew if the riots in downtown Portland are allowed to continue without recourse, the lawlessness, the crime, the disrespect for law and private property, will spread into the suburbs and beyond. Isn't that just common sense?

So, what does this have to do with you?

So it is with your team, your company culture, you must stand up for standards like tardiness, safety, accuracy, timely reports, etc. If not, work quality and customer service standards will be ignored. Then your entire culture will begin to slip to substandard levels of performance in quality, and speed of service. All costs rise, including your MOD rate. You'll soon be replaced by an organization that "stands up for standards."