Another thread has posts about suppliers' delivery drivers having a key and making deliveries after hours, when nobody else is around.
One driver mentioned lets himself into a customer's shop to deliver routinely around 2:30 am. Would that arrangement be OK with you, for your business?
I don't think I'd give a key to anyone other than my employees. It's not a matter of trust -- I know and respect all of the drivers who regularly grace our back door.
It's more a matter of common-sense security precautions. Every key to the business, existing out there in the real world, represents another opportunity for something to go wrong.
For example:
1. The key could accidentally be lost by the driver, or by his substitute when he's out sick or on vacation, or by someone else at the supplier. I'm sure they'd notify us, and then we'd have to get the locks changed.
2. If the supplier keeps a customer's key unsecured in a certain place, an interloper could imprint it and make a copy for the purpose of breaking in later. If that seems like a long shot, consider that drug addicts frequently use unsuspecting friends to help them gain criminal access to homes & businesses.
3. A thief or vandal could lie in wait & follow the driver into the shop, bonk him on the head, and then rob the place.
My insurance agent would go nuts if he knew a non-employee had a key to the shop and used it routinely.
That said, I've never been in the situation where after-hours deliveries would be handy. Delivery drivers, including UPS & FedEx, find a way to get here during our normal hours.
Occasionally, boxes are been left at a neighboring business, with a note on our door. No problem, so long as the neighbor is willing.
And one supplier had permission to leave morning deliveries behind our dumpster within a couple hours of our opening time. I believe that's as far as I'd go to accommodate off-hours deliveries.
What say you?
One driver mentioned lets himself into a customer's shop to deliver routinely around 2:30 am. Would that arrangement be OK with you, for your business?
I don't think I'd give a key to anyone other than my employees. It's not a matter of trust -- I know and respect all of the drivers who regularly grace our back door.
It's more a matter of common-sense security precautions. Every key to the business, existing out there in the real world, represents another opportunity for something to go wrong.
For example:
1. The key could accidentally be lost by the driver, or by his substitute when he's out sick or on vacation, or by someone else at the supplier. I'm sure they'd notify us, and then we'd have to get the locks changed.
2. If the supplier keeps a customer's key unsecured in a certain place, an interloper could imprint it and make a copy for the purpose of breaking in later. If that seems like a long shot, consider that drug addicts frequently use unsuspecting friends to help them gain criminal access to homes & businesses.
3. A thief or vandal could lie in wait & follow the driver into the shop, bonk him on the head, and then rob the place.
My insurance agent would go nuts if he knew a non-employee had a key to the shop and used it routinely.
That said, I've never been in the situation where after-hours deliveries would be handy. Delivery drivers, including UPS & FedEx, find a way to get here during our normal hours.
Occasionally, boxes are been left at a neighboring business, with a note on our door. No problem, so long as the neighbor is willing.
And one supplier had permission to leave morning deliveries behind our dumpster within a couple hours of our opening time. I believe that's as far as I'd go to accommodate off-hours deliveries.
What say you?