Keeping gear from getting stolen...

[Drew Bedo]

Don't let them see what you have and keep it locked up. Here in Texas (or anywhere hot): Not a good idea to leave your kit in the car anyway.

For another sugestion do a web search (images) for "Smile Wait For Flash"

[Brian C. Miller]

The razor-blade trick is a story I heard 40 years ago and every few years since. I wonder if anyone has ever actually done it, and not just fantasized about it.

Well, it was related to me as first-hand experience. I've used this trick: "PREMISES PROTECTED BY ABJECT POVERTY"
(The other fellow I knew who had stereo theft problems simply had a lot of conversations with his insurance company.)

Tom and Ray Magliozzi related a story about a battery theft problem. I think it was Tom who was living in NYC, and the battery in his car was stolen. So he went down to the junkyard and bought a nearly-dead battery and put it in. The next day, he goes down to find his windshield smashed. Apparently the thief didn't like the note Tom left, "HA HA @$$HOLE! STEAL THIS!"

[C. D. Keth]

If I leave anything in my car, which is very rare and usually just for the duration of a meal or something similar, I make it abundantly clear that the theft would not be easy nor fast. I keep the vehicle and everything else obviously locked. I keep everything in pelican cases that aren't clearly labelled as camera equipment with large visible locks, and I keep the pelican cases cable locked together either to the seat structure, a steel tie-down loop in the back, or a 20lb or so kettle bell. I also don't leave anything else out (no phone, GPS, phone charger, etc) where a would-be thief can size up the car's contents. I figure that if there's nothing obvious to take, then most people won't risk breaking in for fear of there being no reward. I also try to park somewhere busy and/or within view of my table at a restaurant if that's where I am. There are usually enough cars around with easy stuff to take that a difficult one will be passed over.

[jp]

A Carpenter I once worked with on a construction job had trouble with people taking his tools. He took a can of spray paint and painted everything hot pink. He claimed he never had a tool stolen again.

Can you all just picture a hot pink Deardorff?

How about a pink B&J? It looks a little better than grungy gray...

[Andre Noble]

#7 is Key (7. No address on my web postings, website, I have a PO Box, and get B&H shipments at my wife's work which is open 9-5.)

EVERYONE knows what's inside a UPS shipment from B&H!