The Product Guy

Mar 27 2009 10:38AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |
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By Nick Bajzek

LoJack Corporation announced the results of its eighth annual Construction Equipment Theft Study early this week. According to the study, equipment theft on construction sites costs our companies over $1 billion a year in lost assets.

I know it would have to take a pretty brazen individual to sneak onto a site, take the equipment and somehow get it out unseen. But it happens all the time. So, in comes LoJack. The company says that for the calendar year 2008, LoJack recovered more than $15.5 million in stolen construction equipment. That’s a small chunk of the problem, but it’s significant because builders, especially those who have a bunch of gear sitting in storage or in the lot since the downturn, need to have peace of mind.

“In today’s down economy, construction equipment owners need to take extra precautions to protect their valuable equipment from opportunistic professional thieves who see this as a high reward, low risk form of theft,” says Ronald V. Waters, LoJack’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Unfortunately, the real cost of stolen equipment is far more than the value of the item stolen, since business owners typically pay the hefty price tag of business downtime, increases in insurance premiums and contract penalties.”

Among the findings:

Popular Equipment Make Popular Theft Targets
The study also revealed that newer equipment on the job site is the most common theft target because of higher resale value. The types of equipment most frequently stolen are (in order):

Backhoe Loaders/Skip Loaders/Wheel Loaders/Track Loaders
Light Utility/Work Trucks and Trailers
Generators/Air Compressors/Welders
Skid Steers
Forklifts/Scissor Lifts

These equipment types represented more than 75 percent of all construction equipment recoveries documented by LoJack in 2008. A full 66 percent of the equipment stolen and recovered was five years old or less and a full 72 percent was recovered in 24 hours or less after being reported to the police.

States with the Highest Theft Rates
Based on LoJack’s recovery data, the following are the top states with the highest occurrence of equipment theft:

2008 Ranking

1. California
2. Florida
3. Texas 
4. Nevada
5. Arizona
6. Georgia
7. New Jersey
8. New York
9. Illinois
10. Maryland