Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes(nantucketcurrent.com) |
Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes(nantucketcurrent.com) |
Reminder that the US is a blend of high and low trust societies existing in geographical proximity.
My parents still leave the door unlocked when they are home, especially if they are expecting anyone. Haven’t rung their doorbell in 25 years.
Meanwhile my condo with lobby staff, self closing & locking doors, many security cameras, etc has had break-ins and robberies ..
Examples: https://patch.com/massachusetts/weston/weston-pd-remind-resi... https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/wellesley-police-urge-re...
This always surprises me because for one thing most modern cars auto-lock, and who even keeps valuables in their car? But apparently there are enough high trust people in the suburbs of a major metro area who leave their cars unlocked that it’s worthwhile for people to walk down leafy streets trying car doors.
“Last week, 10 unlocked cars were hit by thieves along Bristol Road, Sagamore Road, and Tanglewood Road. Surveillance cameras captured a man stealing a 2020 Porsche Cayenne. The crook had his face and hands covered as he entered the SUV, only to find the key fob sitting in the unlocked vehicle.”
And this is in Massachusetts where wealthy people definitely have garages (you are not wasting time clearing snow off your Porsche Cayenne before the school run in February - you keep that car in a garage and let a plow service handle the driveway)
One theory: it’s a UX issue. People have cars with keyless entry and they do not actually know how to lock the car.
sometimes it's also an entitled lazy humans issue, that no UX could compensate for.
i see endless people driving current (post 2020 anyway) German cars and Cadillacs holding their iPhones with one hand talking into its low side while driving. It's illegal here in Scottsdale AZ, so I've decided those people are just too lazy to take the 1 minute or so to bluetooth pair their phones, or are the entitled sort who think they are more important than the law. many drive incompetently while on the phone, distracted.
Growing up, we never locked our doors, ever. My parents only started after a serial burglar a few towns over (a half hour / 45 minute drive away) made the news.
I've never locked the doors at my current house, but I always lock my car doors when I go somewhere... I guess there's only just so much I'm willing to tempt fate.
Where I live, people barricade their doors like there are barbarian hordes at the gate. Bars on the windows, clamps and immobilisers on the car. They’re terrified a gypsy/indian/african will fall out of the sky and rob them blind - and they’d have to fall out of the sky as literally everyone here is white and born within the surrounding ten km radius. They all trust their neighbours completely, however.
I also trust my neighbours completely, so I leave my keys in the truck, and I haven’t locked the house in five years. The only time there’s been unauthorised entry is when people have left cherries for me on the driver’s seat.
I live in a small town, not rural but not a "city", and I haven't locked my doors in so long I don't even know where my house keys are.
Like the extended family I mean.
And we are scattered all over the world in different economic situations and trust levels.
I don’t lock now in a smallish coastal town in Oregon and I didn’t lock when I lived in Houston either.
We often start locking after a reminder but it fades away. We do lock at night time though when we go to bed.
I never lock my front door except when I go to bed, and often leave the garage door open when I’m gone.
It’s quite a nice feeling.
So I went for lunch, came back, another 30 missed calls from Hertz. They call again and ask we're really really really sorry but would you mind going to the car and checking the licence plate on the car. So I said ok, went to the carpark....and yep, it was different to the one on my key.
Turns out that the car right in front of their office was a car that was being prepared for cleaning and they left the key for it in the armrest, which is why it started when I jumped in. They must have pooped themselves when they noticed the car was gone lol. Fortunately they were really nice about it and someone from their office came to see us and brought us the right car. But I imagine the panic in their office when they realized the car is missing.
To everyone's surprise, out a car key from a totally different make and model worked. The details of that one instance are obviously fuzzy at this point, but if I had to guess, it might have been made possible thanks to the AutoLatina JV
Apparently we took the wrong Buick. The owner, we conjectured, was going to report it stolen since it was sitting 4 floors up on the exposed level.
Not knowing what kind of liability to which we were exposed, we kept it to ourselves.
The kids who jack Kias for Tiktok views may just have found a new hobby.
Also as cars get older, the ignition and locks get looser until a screwdriver will start it.
Guess I won't need to pay for a rental car.
And there isn't a reply for that in the article!
[1] For the nitpickers: No, not a skeleton key. Some would probably be too fat to fit in the lock. And so on. But virtually any car key, and maybe even a house key. It was a Chevy, IIRC, but I opened it with a VW key.
But once people don’t have to care, they tend not to care much at all, and so it seems to reduce empathy as well.