What Store Managers Need To Know In Order To Save Money

If you are a store manager, then you probably receive a bonus at the end of each month. If you manage a restaurant, you are probably shorting your customers by giving them smaller portions than what the recipes call for. There is another way, however, that can make a difference in your bottom line. Consider these solutions to common problems.

• Once each month, use WD-40 (not Superlube, oil, Tri-Flow, graphite, or some other dry lubricant) and lightly spray the key cylinders and lock latches. Yes, WD-40 does attract dust; but it will not be enough to worry about. The dry film Teflon lubricants do not hold up for very long. This is twenty-three years of experience talking here.
• On a weekly basis, test your Detex exit alarms. These units are designed to keep customers and employees from exiting secretly with stolen merchandise.
• Do not allow employees to put broom handles, bricks, or other similar things between the hinge side of the door and the jamb to keep the door open. When you have something holding the door open in this fashion, the least amount of force on the door can ruin a $1000 door. Why? Because the piece of wood acts as a fulcrum.
• Keep the thresholds swept on a daily basis. Dirt, rocks and other debris often collect in the threshold and will make the door harder to unlock and lock.
• Check your door closers for slamming or leaking oil. Do this weekly. If a door slams it can break bones and sever small fingers. I fit needs adjusting, use an Allen wrench or screw driver and tighten or loosen the adjustment screws, but do so a little at a time. If there are traces of oil around the unit or dripping from the arm screw attached to the closer, replace it. This oil can cause a slip on the floor or ruin someone's nice clothes.
• Install a Don-Jo latch protector on the office door. If you have just a lever, then your employees are using a credit card to gain access.
• Check the restroom locks. Open the door, push in the lock button, let the door close. The lock should unlock itself automatically. When a customer uses the restroom and locks the lock when the door is closed, it stays locked. The unlock feature is designed so that the door cannot be locked accidentally by a person who is exiting. If needed, buy a new privacy function lever. Make it a grade 1 for durability. 
• Consider getting a lock and key system that uses hard-to-duplicate keys. Otherwise, your employees are copying keys at Walmart that end up working poorly and end up prematurely wearing out your locks.
• If the safe combination is not working every single time, or takes multiple tries in order to open the safe, have it serviced or replace it. A new lock may cost you $400 to $700. But, if the safe locks up on you, add to that $350 to $500.

House Locks Are Not Locking Into the Jamb Properly

You should always test your doors in order to make sure that your lock latches and bolts are lining up with the strike plates in the door jamb. The reason for this is because 1) houses settle and move over time and 2) the weather will cause wood to shrink and expand. Here is how you check your latches and bolts.

1. Standing on the inside, close you your door and notice where the knob latch hits the plate on the door jamb. It should be dead center. If it hits off center and still locks, then you are still okay for the moment. You may need a flashlight.
2. Throw your deadbolt and verify that it is entering the plate dead center.
3. If everything looks okay, try this next test. Close the door gently. Look and listen to determine that the knob latch has clicked into place. Operate the deadbolt. If you have to close your door with a slam to get the latches to line up properly, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Over time, however, it may become an issue.
4. Check your hinge screws and make sure they are snug. If they are loose, they can cause the door to sag and the locks to lose their alignment. If your screws are stripped, get 3 inch long sheet rock screws and replace two in each hinge on the jamb. This will often pull the door up and realign the latches. If this doesn't help, proceed to the next section. But, by all means, tighten the hinge screws!

How to realign your strike plate. (Tools needed: Phillips screwdriver, wooden golf tees, pencil, hammer, and 1 inch wood chisel from Lowe's).

1. Using the above instructions, determine whether or not you need to raise, lower, set back, or move forward the knob strike plate.
2. Remove the strike plate.
3. Reposition the strike plate where needed and outline the place with a pencil.
4. Using your wood chisel and hammer, chisel out the wood by first outlining the marks you made with the pencil, and then chiseling out the wood itself.
5. Use golf tees to fill in the old screw holes. Just gently hammer them in until they are snug and then snap them off flush with the jamb.
6. Replace the strike plate and fasten with screws.
7. Follow the same procedure with the dead bolt strike plate.

Sagging Commercial Metal Doors

Pemko Hinge

Because employees often use blocks of wood between the door and jamb in order to keep the door open, door hinges are often damaged, as are the door and frame. When the door frame and door supports for the hinges are bent, it is all down hill for the rear door opening. If you have ever priced a commercial door, you will be in for one big surprise.

Before you spend $50 installing three new commercial hinges, be aware that doing so may not solve your problem. If the damage to the door appears to mild, try this money saving trick. Be sure to use a larger Phillips screwdriver, the one that is sized up above the #2. I think it is a #3. Have someone hold the door open, remove the bottom hinge, which is the least likely hinge to be damaged, and replace it in the top hinge location. By doing this, the bent top hinge will push the lower end of the door out and the normal bottom hinge will pull the top of the door in. If the damage is slight, the door may work just fine. Instruct your employees to prop the door open with a garbage can or large brick. Nothing should ever go between the open door and jamb. When you put something in this place, somebody inevitably tries to force the door shut, unaware of the obstruction. The leverage they apply is multiplied and damage easily results.

If the door and jamb supports have been totally bent, consider using a Pemko Continuous hinge. This hinge installs on the outside and runs the entire length of the door. They have a lifetime warranty. My advice would be to forget the standard commercial hinges in favor of this. Install this hinge once and forget it. Your locksmith pays $97 for this hinge, which comes in bronze of silver, and he will install it for $300 to $400, depending on certain factors. If you are handy, you could probably install it yourself. Just read the online literature at Pemko.