After 35 years as Project Manager for Lansing Community Col-lege, John Lightner retired, but not to a life of leisure. He is go-ing full out into the locksmith trade. To date John has completed four video classes from a school in California, a Yale advance master keying class, and classes at Lockmasters in Kentucky. John will be taking the next two classes offered by L.S.A. John attended L.C.C. after graduating from high school. He then continued on to receive degrees from Ferris State College and Michigan State University. Immediately after the last degree,

L.C.C. hired him in the managerial position. Much of his work in this job was dealing with locker and lock problems. Over the years, John was frequently asked by people to repair, replace and or re-pin their hardware. Recently he had the opportunity to master key a church in his area. Having a curiosity to know how things work coupled with his natural mechanical ability, propelled John to continue learning about the trade after his “first” retirement. Also aiding his motivations was Mark Blum, CML, an LSA member, who did a lot of work for John at L.C.C. In December, John started marketing his mobile locksmith service to those in need.

LOCKSMITH SECURITY ASSOCIATION

LSA REPORTER VOLUME 23, NO. 5

EDITORS: William M. Lynk, CRL * Alvin Moebus

JANUARY, 2010

LSA Website: http://www.LSAmichigan.org

Publication Deadline: Submit items Two(2)Weeks(14 calendar days) by 5:00 p. m. AFTER the last LSA meeting.

President—Kevin Thompson, CRL (586) 716-1177 Education Chairman—Marc Dearing, CRL (810) 577-6659 Vice President—Kelvin Heath (313) 647-6275 Membership Secretary—Alvin Moebus (313) 885-9365 Secretary—Aron Boag (248) 321-2244 Public Relations—John Hubel, CML (586) 615-3969 Treasurer—John Shamass, CRL (586) 296-2438 Librarian—Larry Williams, RL, CPP (248) 917-2323 Sargent-At-Arms—Jason Snyder (313) 330-6778 Program Director—Ray Sinai (248) 543-5397 Newsletter—William M. Lynk, CRL (313) 884-9800 Technical Operations Director—William Trout (248) 350-0027 Newsletter—Alvin Moebus (313) 885-9365 Board of Directors: Rob Rovinsky, CPL; Maurice Horne, CML; Webmaster—William M. Lynk, CRL (313) 884-9800 Larry Walker, CRL; John Hubel, CML; Robert Noble, CML, CPS; Photographer —Rob Rovinsky, CPL (248) 644-7939 Larry Williams, RL, CPP Refreshments—Mike Smolarek (586) 337-7041 →Please Volunteer and be part of our Group!

LSA MEMBER OF THE MONTH— JOHN LIGHTNER

LSA Officers

— by Al Moebus

“I use an armature from an old “MAG” lock as a key stamping pad. It’s just the right size for keys and it fits in the Adrian steel cabinet drawers easily. But...don’t drop it on your foot!”

-Contributed by Ray Sinai

PAGE 2 LSA REPORTER

NEXT LSA

MEETING THURSDAY,

FEBRUARY 11TH, 2010 AT 7:30

P.M.

PRP GLOSSARY—KEEPING YOU “IN THE KNOW”

A4 –n. an increment of .021” typically used in a small format interchangeable core (SFIC) total position progression (TPP) –n. a process used to obtain key bittings in a master key system wherein bittings of change keys differ from those of the top master key in all bitting positions

Locksmith Security Association meets at 7:30 p.m., the second Thursday

of the month (Sept. to June) in the Metro Detroit Area in

southeast Michigan:

1640 Stephenson Hwy., just north of Maple (15 Mile Rd.),

on the east side of street.

TECH TIPS—KEY STAMPING PAD

♦ LSA of Michigan supports all educational initiatives regardless of a specific supplier, brand, and/or manufacturer.♦

Industry Updates—by Kelvin Heath

Let Us Do Our Part To improve our industry I was in a store yesterday and I over heard a conversation about a customer who was very upset about a locksmith who she said overcharged her. According to the conversation, he quoted her one price before the job and after the job he charged her a higher price. She also said that she could barely understand a word that he was saying. In another incident a customer said that he called a locksmith to remove a broken key but the locksmith never showed up. Then in a third incident a guy was in a hardware store to get a key cut. But when the store clerk said that he could not cut the key, the clerk told the guy to go to a certain lock-smith shop he replied, “I don’t want to go there because they are a bunch of a** holes.” Ladies and Gen-tleman we have a lot of work to do to clean up our industry. I know for the most part these were not real locksmiths but in some cases maybe they were. Let us all do our part by: a) Clearly quoting a price and sticking to it, b) Showing up to the job on time, and c) Treating people the way they want to be treated (with respect). If we start here we will improve our industry tremendously. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! —Kelvin Heath, CRL— Vice President, LSA

VOLUME 23, NO. 5

January 14, 2010 — LSA General Meeting; 7:30 pm February 11, 2010 — LSA General Meeting; 7:30 pm February 20, 2010 — IMPRESSIONING CLASS March 11, 2010 — LSA General Meeting; 7:30 pm April 8, 2010 — LSA General Meeting; 7:30 pm May 13, 2010 — LSA General Meeting; 7:30 pm June10, 2010 — LSA General Meeting; 7:30 pm

PAGE 3 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

“Qwik-Qwiz

An automotive passive cylinder retainer________________. ?

a) is depressed rather than removed

b) cannot be depressed unless the plug is turned to a specific degree of rotation

c) does not require the plug to be turned at all

[answer on bottom of Last Page of Newsletter]

WEB LINKS CALENDAR OF LSA EVENTS—SEE WEBSITE FOR COMPREHENSIVE LIST

ALOA www.aloa.org IDN-Hardware Sales, Inc. www.IDNhardware.com LynkWeb www.LynkWeb.com LAB www.Labpins.com LSA www.LsaMichigan.org Marx Locksmith www.MarxLocksmith.com JLM Wholesale www.JLMwholesahe.com

“Education, Knowledge & Cooperation—LSA”

Caesar and Marcus

—LSA Mascots

PUBLIC RELATIONS—JOHN HUBEL, CML

INDUSTRIAL, INSTITUTIONAL, IN-HOUSE LOCKSMITHS Each LSA meeting is geared to meet the needs of in-house locksmiths. In addition, a number of our members and instructors are members of ILA (Institutional Locksmiths of

America). LSA brings in the best presentations representing Grade 1 hardware as well as the wide array of electronic and security hardware used in institutional facilities including hospitals, schools, factories, municipalities, and large corporations. If you or someone you know is an in-house locksmith, be sure to come or invite them to an LSA meeting. They will never leave disappointed…as sharing, education and caring is what LSA is all about.

—John Hubel, CML— Public Relations, LSA

HAPPY NEW YEAR, L.S.A. I WISH EVERYONE A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. Don’t forget. Anyone who has always wanted to go to the ALOA convention, and may not have been able to foot the cost of a week’s worth of education, now has a chance to go for the cost of a raffle ticket. A couple of months ago, Tim McMullen from ALOA donated to the LSA, a week’s worth of classes at the next ALOA convention, this coming

August, 2010. With all proceeds going to benefit the LSA, we are raffling off the “WEEK OF EDUCATION” to one lucky person. The winner will be responsible for their own lodging and transportation. Tickets are $10 each, or 3 for $25, and can be purchased at the LSA meeting. The drawing will be at the February meeting, so get your tickets early. Good luck!

—Kevin M. Thompson, CRL— President, LSA

PAGE 4 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE—KEVIN THOMPSON, CRL

How important is education? (written by Terry Meister) Well, no matter whom you are or what you do, you arrived at this place due to education. The day we are born, we began learning, much through watching and copying what we see. We all continue learning throughout life. Due to our industry quickly changing and new products coming out, we need to continue our education more than most other industries. So how do you personally continue learning in the locksmith industry? We here in Michigan are fortunate to have the LSA taking the lead in setting up educational classes for our industry. Are you taking advantage of these? If so, great. If not, give the education LSA has to offer a try. I can tell you, you won’t be disappointed. Just ask anyone that attended the photography class in December. Tony was an exceptional teacher. He showed us how to take pictures for making our own sales materi-als, updating our websites, cataloging, reference for future jobs, posting on the internet for assistance or even proof of a job being done.

How did you begin your education in this career? I’d love to hear your story. I would like to write an article on the different ways that people have started in the industry, especially how they learned to be a locksmith. With your stories, I can give some ideas to those who are just starting out, on what they can do to get their education a jumpstart. My e-mail is camelotlocksmith-ing@gmail.com. I look forward to reading your stories. So as far as education coming in 2010, we have the following: We are still working on getting a date for Ben-Jim. We’ll let you know, as soon as we know. February 20, 2010 – Impressioning Class - This class has limited seating and we only have a few seats left. Please contact Marc Dearing at 810-577-6659 to reserve your seat now. Also, this is an ACE class, so if you would like to take the test at the end of the class, this is an option. March 18-20, 2010 - IDN Hardware Sales 21st Annual Trade Show & Security Conference - Stay tuned to IDN’s newslet-ters and website for an agenda. We all know the training that is held at this event is great and the opportunity to meet with many of our old friends. This year on Sunday, there will be a PRP sitting for those interested. Let’s start 2010 off right, getting signed up for the upcoming classes!

—Marc A. Dearing, CRL— Education Director & Terry Meister

EDUCATION & PRP NEWS—MARC DEARING, CRL AND TERRY MEISTER

PAGE 5

ROGUE’S ROW— DEC. LSA HOLIDAY PARTY ROB ROVINSKY, CPL - LSA PHOTOGRAPHER

LSA REPORTER

PAGE 6 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

PAGE 7 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

LET’S TALK BUSINESS

Last month I started on part one of “Giving Estimates”. Many customers re-quire an estimate before any work can be performed. Some locksmiths prefer not to bother giving estimates. As I stated last month, many jobs will be lost if you refuse to give a written estimate. Let me tell you more: When a customer requires an estimate, try to get to the job site as soon as possible. If no site visit is required, try to get the estimate to the client as soon as possible. It always makes me laugh when the customer is excited on the telephone about your ex-pedience in getting there and getting them the quote. Then you never hear from them again, EVER ! You must laugh, otherwise, it will drive you crazy. Do your best to: 1) Visit the job site promptly, 2) Expedite the quote to them, 3) Follow up the quote with a visit or a call to make sure that it was received (you would hate to go through all that work and find out that it was never received), 4) Follow up in a few days and ask about the job and the quote. Do they have

any questions or concerns? As I have said, sometimes you will get their voicemail and they will NEVER respond to you. NOT EVEN a “Thank you for your time.” Don’t be discouraged, it’s part of the game. The job may have gone to a competitor, it may be sitting on someone’s desk or they just may never do it. Some people can’t handle telling you that “You didn’t get project” or “It went to a competitor.” They would rather avoid your calls or emails. Rule #1: Don’t prioritize an estimate over a paying job. The paying jobs always come first. People will often tell me that it’s an “emergency estimate, you must get out here today”. If it fits into your schedule, do it. My experience, personally, is that these so called emergency estimates usually sit on someone’s desk for days or weeks. Rule #2: Realize that you are probably not going to meet with the decision maker when you do the site visit. Exceptions always apply, but it’s usually a subordinate to the boss or decision maker. Rule #3: Look good, act professionally and arrive promptly. If you don’t have the answer to a particular problem or question, don’t be embarrassed! It happens to us all. Tell the client that you don’t have the an-swer but you will research for the answer. When you say it, DO IT! There are a multitude of resources out there. Find out which supplier specializes in the product that you are looking for and call them. I have been quite impressed with ADI and JLM to name two suppliers that immediately come to mind. When you hang up after a phone call with them, you have the fax or email quote immediately…I mean immediately. That is impressive! In addition to the quote, I normally attach an introduction letter directed to the person that I met with. I begin by saying “Thank You for your time” and go on to tell them about my company. How many years I have been in business, how GREAT I AM. No, really, here is a chance to say “You should give me the job because…” not in those words of course, but in your own words. My company is expert in … we have twenty years experience …we guarantee our work…we have a staff of dedicated locksmiths… To repeat what I wrote in last month’s column: Giving Estimates, Part I, if you get the job, do what you said you would do and at the cost you estimated (Yes, there may be add–ons). Remember, if they are happy with you, you have a lifetime customer, not just a onetime project. GO GET ‘EM.

Ray Sinai—LSA Program Director

“Education, Knowledge & Cooperation—LSA”

RAY’S WAYS—GIVING ESTIMATES: PART II

PAGE 8 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

December Photo Class—Tony Fiorini, CRL, Instr.

September: PBP, Professional Business Products October: Andrew White, Manuf. Rep for HES & Securitron November: MPT Industries, Mike Truba; Onity, Mary Knecht December: Full Catered Holiday Dinner IDN-Hardware Sales, Arnie Goldman Hardware Specialists, Gene Simon Onity, Mary Knecht MPT Industries, Mike Truba January: February: Fellowship of Christian Locksmiths (FCL) March: April: May: June:

Contact John Hubel, CML or Ray Sinai to Sponsor

PAGE 9 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

More December 2009 Holiday Party Pix

LOOKING BACK INTO THE LOCKING PAST…RETRO #18 To follow is another page from the now defunct Locksmithing Institute of New Jersey Home Study Locksmithing Course, started by the late Leonard Singer (Master Keying Expert). The program went out of business in the early 1980s. This lesson excerpt on is circa 1973. Some illustrious graduates who are LSA members include: Ray Sinai, Theo Schultz, Dan Meggison, Nick Palise, Tom Lewis and William Lynk.

PAGE 10 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

PAGE 11 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

Safety Technology International, Inc.

Tim Zale, Inside Sales tzale@sti-usa.com www.sti-usa.com (248) 673-9898

Securitech Group 54-45 44th Street

Maspeth, NY 11378

(800) 622-5625

www.securitech.com

1100 Killian Road Akron, OH 44312

1-(800) 321-9602

Associate Members/Sponsors of LSA

This Space Should Be

Yours!

Contact: Al Moebus

(313) 885-9365

This Space Should Be

Yours!

Contact: Al Moebus

(313) 885-9365

This Space Should Be

Yours!

Contact: Al Moebus

(313) 885-9365

♦Full Service ♦John Hubel, CML ♦(586) 615-3969

BREAK- IN BLOCKER By Sovilok

Toll free: 888-SOVILOK www.breakinblocker.com Jon Hohauser-Mfg. Rep

(248) 650-7824

This Space Should Be

Yours!

Contact: Al Moebus

(313) 885-9365

“More Glimpses of LSA Holiday Fun…”

LOCKSMITH SECURITY ASSOCIATION MICHIGAN 533 Fisher Road, Grosse Pointe, MI 48230

PHONE: (313) 885-9365—CONTACT: AL MOEBUS

Associate Members/Sponsors of LSA

JLM Wholesale, Inc. 3095 Mullins Ct.

Oxford, MI 48371 www.jlmwholesale.com

(800) 522-2940 FAX: (800) 782-1160 Wholesale Hardware

Bockert & Associates 18 Fort Monroe Industrial Parkway

Monroeville, OH 44847

(800) 321-7550 FAX: (419) 465-4216

Manufacturer Reps for:

ABUS, ASSA, DON JO, HPC, MARKS USA, RCI,

ACSI, CANSEC, ABH, BIOLOCK, MERIT, TAKEX

Gene Simon Hardware Specialist

Phone: (708) 799-8783 FAX: (708) 799-4322

P.O. Box 51 Flossmoor, IL 60422

Representing: Jet Hardware Mfg. Corp. LAB Security Products

Major Manufacturing, Inc.

RITTNER/FRENCH ASSOCIATES 150 S. Elizabeth

Rochester, MI 48307 (800) 732-4773 1-800-RFA-4-SPEC

FAX: (248) 651-2650

IDN-Hardware Sales, Inc. 35950 Industrial Road

P.O. Box 510624 Livonia, MI 48150

Livonia: (800) 521-0955 FAX: (800) 272-4409

http://www.idnhardware.com

Warren: (800) 468-7490 FAX: (586) 755-5145

Your Key to Security Hardware

LAB THE CHOICE OF

*Professional Locksmiths *Finest Lock Companies

www.labpins.com

700 Emmett St. Bristol, CT 06010

(800) 243-8242 FAX: (860) 583-7838

Local Distributor: IDN Hardware

1010 Aviation Drive Lake Havasu, AZ 86404

800-537-5397

9950 Freeland Avenue

Detroit, MI 48227 Phone: (313) 931-7720

FAX: (313) 931-7758 Michael Wiener

————————————— Fine Quality Key Machines,

Key Blanks, Locks, Hardware

Safe Door Systems Inc.

631 Kingston Rd. Toronto ON M4E 1R3

Toll Free: 1-866-627-7560

LynkWeb.com -An Affordable Lynk to the World ———————————-

♦ Websites Under $12.00 ♦ Customer Support 24/7 ♦ 500 E-mail Accounts

♦ Free Software www.LynkWeb.com

PAGE 12 VOLUME 23, NO. 5

Download Membership Application [ Click above or on our site!]

ICLS Interchangeable Core Lock Systems

———————————————

William M. Lynk, CRL IC Specialist / IC Author

♦ IC Products ♦ IC Tools ♦ Key Retainer Devices Phone: (313) 884-9800

E-mail: icls@ICLSglobal.com Website: www.ICLSglobal.com

Framon Manufacturing Company., Inc.

909 Washington Ave Alpena, MI 49707

Phone: 989-354-5623 Fax: 989-354-4238

Web: www.framon.com

Newsletter Submissions: 2 weeks PRIOR to next meeting Submit in Word.doc to: icls@ICLSglobal.com

Contact: William M. Lynk, CRL

Qwik-Qwiz Answer: Answer: C

MPT Twelve Lock Lubricant is the longest lasting lubricant and penetrant available.

MPT Industries 6-B Hamilton Business Park

85 Franklin Road Dover, NJ 07801

Phone: 973-989-9220 Toll Free: 800-351-0605