My 2 Wash Select IIs Stolen in < 4 Minutes! (share pics of your bricked-in units?)

[Carl]

Friday am, 9/12/14 at 1:37 two strong losers with no moral compass yanked my Wash Select IIs off their "pretty" angled stainless steel stands IN LESS THAN 4 MINUTES TIME despite these being fine the 11 years I've been open. They then loaded them into the back of their mini-van. Need to better protect my equipment for this "new world" we live in where idiots will do the unimaginable. Never again will I trust an auto cashier on a flimsy stand.

When I am able to replace these huge losses of important equipment, I MUST BRICK IN THE NEW UNITS! Could you please share on this thread a picture of how you've increased protection of your auto cashier by "bricking in" or any other installation method besides propping up on a "pretty" stand like I got away w/ for 11 years but which set me up for Friday am's losses? I did have the Unitec vibration alarms which have worked great in the past but these jerks yanked the two auto cashiers out so quickly (literally three minutes time) so an alarm had no negative affect on them this time. Thank you! - Carl

 

[Carl]

(correction - they yanked the two units, stand and all, off the concrete slab that the stands were bolted to) In hindsight a very weak installation that I trusted too long and was without incidence for 11 years but now I've gotten my wake-up call! - Carl

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Unfortunately, this is the world we live in. We have lost several autocashiers over the years as well and our cashiers have always been bricked in. We have since changed our installation method and this is what we currently do: The cashier island sits on a poured footer with re-bar sticking out of it. A brick 'cabinet' is built on the footer which will bring the cashier up to height and also surround the sides and back of the unit. We prefer solid 4" brick over 8" block as they are stronger. A steel frame is then set inside the brick 'cabinet' and we fill the cabinet with concrete up to the base of where the cashier will sit. The re-bar sticking out of the footer locks the poured concrete to the footer, while the steel frame embedded in the concrete gives us something to weld the cashier to. We used to use several expansion bolts inside the cashier drilled into the concrete, however, that is a weak way to attach the cashier. We learned the hard way. So after welding the sides and back of the cashier to the frame we installed, there are usually pre-drilled holes in the cashiers bottom, those get welded also. On the top of our brick cabinet we usually cover it with a 6" thick sandstone cap held down with PL-400 adhesive. This cap is heavy enough that 3 or 4 people are needed to lift it and the adhesive is strong enough to pull the brickwork apart if they get that far. On the inside of the brick we attach shock sensors that are wired into our alarm system. Given enough time, a serious thief will be successful getting your cashier, however, with the way we mount them and our alarm system they won't want to stick around that long. The only downside to this, is that when someone does attempt to steal it they won't get it, but they usually end up destroying it.

 

[Carl]

GoBuckeyes: That sounds like a lot better installation method than what I ever had in place pre-theft of both of my auto cashiers! Thanks for sharing that. I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION...are these lowlifes stealing these units mostly for the change in the coin hoppers plus the cash and coins from the accumulated sales or are they stealing these expensive units to re-sell their expensive inner parts? I assumed they are stealing the units to break into them for their money but wondered now if the motivation is different?

All of us here can obviously not get into a stupid criminal's mind but I'm curious why it feels like the break-in and theft of auto cashiers has recently increased? (I just saw on local news that a guy rammed a bricked-in unit at a different city not far from mine, using a "Freightliner semi?")

It just really stinks 'cause I am still w/o replacement auto cashiers and processing customers automatic sales via hand...but so thankful for Square Register on my iPhone to use to process these! - Carl

 

[Randy]

There have been a number of ACW’s stolen here in our area. I’ve never seen any of the parts for sale on any of the websites. The last guy who got caught he admitted to stealing them for the coin and cash, he said was faster and easier to steal the whole ACW than break into it, it was on a pedestal base. He also said that they dumped the ACW’s in the woods or in dumpsters. The last one was stolen on a Sunday night, they called me on Monday morning to order another Hamilton Goldline ACW, I had it air freighted to Seattle, they installed it in brick and they were washing cars on Thursday morning. That guy got 18 months in prison for 11 car wash burglaries, did about $60K in damages to equipment and buildings, his partner got probation.

 

[Carl]

So that makes total sense to me now...they prefer to steal the entire units to then chip away at them later on off site. Gosh, 18 months in prison seems like a short time especially for 11 car wash burglaries?!! I appreciate the info. - Carl

 

[MEP001]

I used to install Hamilton cashiers on their pedestal, but I'd use 3/4" wedge anchors (Six in total including some extras loose in the center and sticking up about 8") as well as a half-dozen bags of concrete in the pedestal. Even if they can get that loose from the ground, they aren't going to be able to get it off the ground without three or four guys to lift it.

I got a call once to repair one that was pulled down - the pedestal was filled with concrete, but the genius used 1/4" lags to anchor it. All they managed to do was pull it over. It had the extra lighted hood on top which prevented damage to the cashier cabinet, so all it cost the customer was a new pedestal, some concrete and a couple hours labor.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Carl, I'm assuming they want the money that they think is inside but who knows. We make it a habit to pull the money from our ACW's at least every 100 cars washed. If it's a crazy busy day, we'll pull the money in the morning and again before we leave, at least that way your exposure is minimized. We did have a brand new Goldline stolen before we even got the automatic finished and open! Not sure what they were thinking they were going to get, I hadn't even put the sample quarter in the quarter acceptor yet.

 

[soapy]

I generally make a complete concrete enclosure for my autocashiers. I make a wood box to go into the form to duplicate the size of the ACW. After the concrete is set I take the wood box out and install the ACW using 3/4 inch anchor bolts. If I do use block it is 8 inch concrete that is poured solid with lots of rebar.

 

[mjwalsh]

I generally make a complete concrete enclosure for my autocashiers. I make a wood box to go into the form to duplicate the size of the ACW. After the concrete is set I take the wood box out and install the ACW using 3/4 inch anchor bolts. If I do use block it is 8 inch concrete that is poured solid with lots of rebar.

Soapy's approach makes the most sense ... especially if starting from scratch. If not starting from scratch ... embedding actual bolts in a special 2 part epoxy after rotary hammering large enough holes in the existing concrete base makes more sense than wedge anchors in my humble opinion. This is based on my ... granted ... limited specific experience with wedge anchors. It is also based on the approach that the more knowledgeable laundry equipment owners do ... with some of their larger industrial size washing machines.

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[MEP001]

Wedge anchors will usually break before they pull out of concrete, so there's no justification to use bolts or threaded rod and epoxy.

 

[Carl]

Guys...thanks so much for all the advice. I have the two new auto cashiers sitting here now but want to install these more securely so your advice is going to help. We are so tired having to accept payment by hand for our automatics but at least it's helping pay the bills. THAT'S CRAZY THEY STOLE AN ACW THAT HADN'T EVEN BEEN PUT INTO SERVICE YET? We will never be able to put on the mind of these criminals and understand their stupidity which costs us so much money, time and makes for so much added stress. Anyhow...things will get better soon! Thanks! - Carl