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Worries over the economy and an increase in home burglaries have many people in the Northwest turning to personal safes as a way to protect their assets and their identities. (97.3 KIRO FM/Chris Sullivan)

Economy, ID theft has more people buying safes

BY Chris Sullivan  on May 9, 2012 @ 5:21 am (Updated: 10:49 am - 5/9/12 )

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Worries over the economy and an increase in home burglaries have many people in the Northwest turning to personal safes as a way to protect their assets and their identities. But before you run out and buy a safe, you should do some homework.

Five years ago the typical safe buyer was likely a gun owner, someone looking to store their weapons and keep them away from their children.

Today, the average buyer is someone worried about the economy or worried about identity theft. Thomas Lambert, a locksmith at Bulger Safe and Lock in Seattle, says safe sales have exploded.

"Dramatically," he said. "When I first started doing this line of work, I was lucky enough to sell a safe every few months or so. Now it seems like every week they're just flying out the door."

Some retailers put the nationwide jump in safe sales at 40 percent.

David Ballestrasse owns Northwest Safe in Enumclaw. He says his customers are worried about protecting their identities, their important documents and even prescription medicines.

"There's such a rash of burglaries that we're hearing about. People are scared," he said. "They're wanting to protect [their possessions], whether it's cash or memorabilia, gold, silver, other precious metals, jewelry."

But just because it's called a safe doesn't mean it is safe. You get what you pay for.

Experts say don't go cheap. A lot of $100 models you find at chain stores can be broken into with a screwdriver. Ballestrasse said even the bigger safes that cost a few hundred dollars can be opened with a pry bar.

"The $395 safe, the $599 safe, if your goal is to keep your children or your grandchildren out of your firearm, it's a great choice," he said. "If your goal is to give you really good fire protection or high-end security for your valuables, it's not realistic."

The more expensive the safe, the better the protection they say.

Around $500 seems to be the low end if you want to give yourself a chance against thief with a crow bar or axe.

If you're considering a safe for your home, you want to avoid simple mistakes first-time safe buyers often make.

The first is going cheap, but the biggest mistake safe buyers make, Ballestrasse said, is going small.

"They look big, and then you get them home," he said. "You see all this other stuff. You might be getting your socks out of drawer one day and there's this small thing in there and, ah well we'll throw that into the safe, and pretty soon it's full. I've gone through it. Everybody here has gone through it."

The most popular safes at his shop are five feet tall and 30 inches wide.

And safes can be much more than a giant steel box in the corner. They can come in all shapes and sizes and be hidden just about anywhere, like in furniture or behind cabinets or in the floor.

"We get a lot of in-floor safes," Lambert said. Hidden wall safes are also popular. You can spend thousands of dollars on a custom job too. Some people are even buying custom vault doors to seal-off entire rooms.

The final piece of advice for a safe buyer is be sure to bolt your safe to the floor. There's nothing worse than spending $1000 on a safe only to have a thief wheel it out your front door.

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Comments (8)


  • Add A Comment

  • cdbtx wrote...
    My safe
    May 9, 2012 9:45 am
    Goes Woof, Woof - In Stereo.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    As much as I love my 4 legged security system
    May 9, 2012 11:05 am
    I still keep things in a safe in case of fire.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Skykomish2 wrote...
    I have
    May 9, 2012 11:42 am
    the WOOF WOOF in stereo, too! But I also have a very big, heavy safe bolted to the floor, and some 12-guage and .45 caliber safe backups for when I'm home.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • MrMoPar426 wrote...
    WOOF WOOF in stereo
    May 9, 2012 12:27 pm
    is great until you hear WOOF wrggh mmmm nom nom as the four legged safes are chowing down on some tasty steak. No security system is impenetrable, all we can do is discourage the less determined scumbags.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • irony wrote...
    it's not going to do any good,
    May 9, 2012 12:31 pm
    they'll wait until you're home with your kids and rob you then. that way you'll have to open it for them. you're better off paying you employees more money so you don't have anything valuable.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cdbtx wrote...
    *LOL*
    May 9, 2012 2:01 pm
    I employ a different strategy though.. My dogs are Golden Retrievers and I'm counting on them piling toys on the intruders and holding them down until help arrives...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • MK wrote...
    You Too?
    May 9, 2012 5:16 pm
    I have a dog that won't stop chasing a ball, even inside the house. She'd keep bringing the ball back that the crook wouldn't be able to do anything and would eventually leave out of frustration.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Snout wrote...
    Why would you skimp on a safe?
    May 9, 2012 2:40 pm
    Getting a solid safe that is not easily removed from your home just makes sense. I presume that most burglars are not looking for the Pink Panther diamond in people's homes and will move on to easier pickings in your home if the safe presents a challenge. Getting one of those dinky safes is just going make the thief work harder after he removes it and it's contents from your home.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }