Local Economic Indicator—THEFT! (Part 2)—Recovery

As always, it’s a fine morning on my back porch in the Upper Town neighborhood of old Saint Paul, Minnesota, forecast notwithstanding: “Windy with strong thunderstorms likely. Storms could contain large hail. High around 70F. Winds ESE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%” [Weather Channel on-line].

It has taken us three days to recover from the gas theft & vandalism of this past weekend. The replacement parts had to be ordered through a sister-store (Friendly Chevrolet), gas filler tubes rarely fail—unless cut by thieves—so they are not generally stocked. Thanks to the efforts of our fine service department, we’re back in business (we managed to keep most of our customers happy with a rented van & our minivan).

So today I’ll be venturing out in “Big Truck,” not BIG by truck standards, but this 1 ton cube van has three times the capacity of “Little Truck.” Well, venturing out only if the truck’s catalytic converter has NOT been stolen yet again, and if the truck has NOT been used as a filling station overnight.

Aside from the cost of parts & labor (yes we do pay for repairs to our own vehicles), its hard to calculate the overall costs downstream: delays in delivering parts to our customers, and delays in their ability to return repaired vehicles to their customers—all add up.

Thefts of gasoline, catalytic converters, radios, batteries, and other relatively easy to remove parts, has become a common event at auto retailers around town—it does not make the news. Guess what? We all pay for this, sooner or later.

Again, in a down economy, this activity increases—always has, always will. With gasoline over $4/gallon—we can expect more such activity (our trucks, except for the too tall “Big Truck”) will be parked inside every night.