Original Source: Purdue

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

Whether you get your news listening to the radio, watching television, reading the paper, or browsing online, it always seems that someone’s trailer or its contents was stolen from a home, business, or worksite. It doesn’t matter who owns the trailer — it could be an individual, a farming operation, a volunteer organization, a summer youth baseball team, a university grounds crew, or a commercial pesticide company — all trailers are vulnerable. Thieves always look for “inviting” opportunities to take trailers, equipment, and/or pesticides off your hands. Permanently. 

That’s because we know that there is, and always will be, a market for stolen goods like trailers, construction equipment, pesticides, and hand tools. Most thieves steal these items, because they are hard to trace and thieves can quickly and easily turn them into cash. Thieves can sell your trailer (or what was your trailer) in states that do not require a title at the time of sale, and they can sell your tools from the trailer at a pawn shop in another city. It’s as simple as: here today, gone tomorrow.

Thieves can easily sell equipment and supplies such as pesticides, application equipment, hand tools, mowers, bulldozers, backhoes, skid steers, sprayers, off-road bikes, boats, and 4-wheelers. You might ask yourself why thieves find such equipment so enticing. The reason is rather simple: Most of these stolen items can never be traced back to their original owners. However, you could potentially be held liable if hazardous materials stolen from your trailer are misused and harm human health or contaminate the environment. 

There are other reasons why thieves target trailers and the equipment on or in them, such as: 

• People seem less skeptical of buying a trailer when the selling price is just too good to pass up.

• This type of equipment is easy for thieves to sell, because there are plenty of buyers waiting for their chance to get a deal.

• The chances that law enforcement will apprehend a thief are slim to none.

• Equipment sitting on an open trailer allows thieves to know exactly what they are stealing.

• Trailers are largely indistinguishable from the thousands of look-alikes being towed on the highway, because most manufacturers use similar designs.

• Trailers also are easy targets, because most owners do nothing (and we mean absolutely zero) to prevent the theft of their property.

• Enclosed trailers potentially carry expensive equipment and tools. To a thief, it’s like opening a Christmas present. They may be pleasantly surprised with what’s inside!

This is an excellent publication written and produced by Perdue University along with industry experts. We strongly suggest you go to the full publication HERE 

CONCLUSION

What we hear about trailers stolen in our community is just the tip of the iceberg, because many thefts never make the local news. You may also have been the victim of a stolen trailer. Can you remember those unpleasant memories when you went out to hook up or load a trailer only to find an empty space where it had been parked the night before? Gone without a trace!

Large trucking and construction firms often hire guards to protect their assets. However, most companies rely on devices and practices to safeguard their possessions.

Most of the security tips in our publication are rather simple, easy to adopt, and not overly expensive. Many of the devices will at least make thieves stop and think whether they want to continue with their attempt of stealing your trailer. Forcing someone to spend a few minutes battling security devices may be just enough to deter them from stealing your property at all. Professional thieves can exploit weaknesses in your trailer security system. That is why we purchase insurance to cover such losses when they happen.

But, it’s better and easier to think about deterring thefts than reporting thefts to the police and being reimbursed by insurance. Unfortunately, the majority of trailers are easy targets for even the most unsophisticated thieves.

Where’s the proof to support that statement? Just look at any parked trailer and see how easy it would be to take that trailer off the owner’s hands. In less than a few minutes, a thief can steal a trailer and make several thousand dollars.