Re: [sudo-discuss] Yelp Locksmiths Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Yo's- Here's the moral/ethical issue, and here's another opportunity for right-livelihood jobs. BTW, a neighbor of mine had a similar outcome: locked out of their house, they called a reputable local locksmith; apparently the guy who came out was a newbie or not-skilled or whatever, because after trying unsuccessfully to pick the lock, he drilled it. (BTW I'm quite sure it was a Qwickset lock, which means it should have been very easy to pick.) 1) Moral/ethical issue: Preying on people who have no choice. Someone's locked out of their house or car, that's an emergency for them, they are probably in no position to shop around or wait until the next day, they may be freaked out about the situation (baby inside, or cat, as the case may be), and they're charged typically $100 - $200 for either a) less than a minute's work or b) having their lock drilled which means it has to be replaced. (And if the lock is drilled, they have _no lock_ until it can be replaced, also an expensive proposition.) In my system of morals/ethics, the situations where someone has an emergency and has no other choices, are exactly the cases where one is obligated to help them at the minimal sustainable cost. 2) Opportunity for right-livelihood jobs: Sudo Lock Services Co-op. "Fifty bucks gets you in." Charge $50 for simple lock picking, no charge if we can't pick it. "Try us first!" Pretty quickly the income gets sufficient to support keeping a stock of common locks on hand, and drills: so if we can't pick it and have to drill it, we can replace it on the spot with at least something that's sufficient to provide security until we or someone else can install the original type of lock or better. Over time we can add more services, for example complete assessment of home security, small business security, and naturally, computer security. At which point change the name to Sudo Security Services Co-op. And charge higher rates for businesses and computer security. The latter can go up into the three-figure hourly rates depending on the project. Many of us are naturally nocturnal, so 24/7 service can be offered easily. Many of us around here are also unemployed, under-employed, or borderline homeless. Billing the client $50 translates to being able to allocate $40 - $45 of that to the member who picks the lock, and $5 - $10 toward the overhead costs of the co-op. Every additional $40 - $45 of income really counts for a lot of folks here. I've already got a job but I'd be willing to help organize this, do basic business planning & spreadsheets, and so on. If/when Eddan is authorized to practice law in California, he might be interested in doing the legal work to set up the entity. And since SudoRoom has hella' publicity right now, that publicity will go a long way toward starting a marketing buzz that could bring in customers. Who's interested? -G. ===== On 13-03-02-Sat 12:39 PM, rusty lindgren wrote: