Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
    Johnston Jewelers – A Good Catch
    The Battle for Safer Mining
    Largest LGD grower continues rapid expansion
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    AGTA GemFair™ Las Vegas is kickoff point for Rapaport’s natural pearl auction and sales
    Plumb Club study underscores a bright future for the diamond category
    GIA’s Gems & Gemology Spring 2023 now available
    Virginia jewelers unite for Children’s Hospital of Richmond
  • Podcast
    Behind the Success of running a jewelry trade shop
    Episode 31 – Ross Wesdorp, Behind the Success of Running a Jewelry Trade Shop
    Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Episode 30 – Doris Butler, Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 29 – David Siminski, Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Darling of the Industry Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Episode 27 – The Darling of the Industry: Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Success in Jewelry and Writing
    Episode 26 – Success in Jewelry and Writing. Chuck Koehler of Anthony Jewelers
    Permanent Jewelry How Sunstone is Changing the Game
    Episode 25 – David Holloway, Permanent Jewelry: How Sunstone is Changing the Game
    Jewelry-Store.-Mark-Priest-of-Legend-Jewelers
    Episode 24 – From Bordello to Jewelry Store. Mark Priest of Legend Jewelers
    he-Jewelry-Industry-in-the-Eyes-of-Management-Consultant
    Episode 23 – The Jewelry Industry in the Eyes of Management Consultant, Kate Peterson
  • Columnists
    3 digital marketing lessons from great jewelry radio ads
    Joel McFadden Fine Jewelry
    Successful Custom: The Silent Selling Tool
    5 fun, powerful hacks to try using AI
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: A year late and a dollar short
    The Story Behind the Stone: The Maine Thing
    Joel McFadden Fine Jewelry
    Successful Custom: A Tale of Two Commitments
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: Just Say No! If You Can
    The Story Behind the Stone: The Wonder of it All
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • Digital Magazine
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archive
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
    Pretty much perfect retailing for Wyoming couple
    Johnston Jewelers – A Good Catch
    The Battle for Safer Mining
    Largest LGD grower continues rapid expansion
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    AGTA GemFair™ Las Vegas is kickoff point for Rapaport’s natural pearl auction and sales
    Plumb Club study underscores a bright future for the diamond category
    GIA’s Gems & Gemology Spring 2023 now available
    Virginia jewelers unite for Children’s Hospital of Richmond
  • Podcast
    Behind the Success of running a jewelry trade shop
    Episode 31 – Ross Wesdorp, Behind the Success of Running a Jewelry Trade Shop
    Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Episode 30 – Doris Butler, Downsizing positioned Butler Diamonds for success
    Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 29 – David Siminski, Inside the United Precious Metal Refining
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Episode 28 – John Bruggemann, Secure Your Financial Future by Diversifying
    Darling of the Industry Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Episode 27 – The Darling of the Industry: Konrad Darling of Darling Imports
    Success in Jewelry and Writing
    Episode 26 – Success in Jewelry and Writing. Chuck Koehler of Anthony Jewelers
    Permanent Jewelry How Sunstone is Changing the Game
    Episode 25 – David Holloway, Permanent Jewelry: How Sunstone is Changing the Game
    Jewelry-Store.-Mark-Priest-of-Legend-Jewelers
    Episode 24 – From Bordello to Jewelry Store. Mark Priest of Legend Jewelers
    he-Jewelry-Industry-in-the-Eyes-of-Management-Consultant
    Episode 23 – The Jewelry Industry in the Eyes of Management Consultant, Kate Peterson
  • Columnists
    3 digital marketing lessons from great jewelry radio ads
    Joel McFadden Fine Jewelry
    Successful Custom: The Silent Selling Tool
    5 fun, powerful hacks to try using AI
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: A year late and a dollar short
    The Story Behind the Stone: The Maine Thing
    Joel McFadden Fine Jewelry
    Successful Custom: A Tale of Two Commitments
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: Just Say No! If You Can
    The Story Behind the Stone: The Wonder of it All
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • Digital Magazine
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archive
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Columnists

The Best Policy: Two characters that make a difference

Bob Carroll, CIC by Bob Carroll, CIC
January 2, 2012
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Reading Time: 7 minutes

Once the alarm system was disabled, the three burglars had virtual free rein of the jewelry store.  Even though they had entered from the roof, they now could open the back door to bring in the heavy tools they would need to attack the safe.

The safe was large and weighty; it held a great deal of merchandise as well as two boxes of customers’ repair items, and also several diamonds which the jeweler had recently received on memo.  The safe was “UL Certified” for burglary resistance.

The thieves were professional.  They were not deterred by the fact that the safe was boxed in by walls and equipment, nor that it was very heavy.  They soon had equipment pushed aside and the safe in a clear space where they could work on it.  Knowing that the door was the most protected part of the safe, they torched, sawed, and chipped their way through the side wall of the massive unit until they had created an opening large enough to reach through and tip the shelves.  This caused all of the contents to tumble to the bottom of the safe where they could be scooped out.

Time was not a factor.  With patience and skill, the criminals were able to take away virtually everything that had been in the safe – inventory, repairs, even memo diamonds.

The loss was not discovered until jeweler Tanza Knight went to open her store a day later.  The store was a mess – and even though the thieves had left some of the tools behind (a taunting “tradition” among some safecrackers), they were long gone and far away.  The next call Tanza made was to her insurance company.

An insurance adjuster was sent to examine the loss – which included a close inspection of the safe, as well as the Jewelers Block policy and its application.  The Underwriters Laboratory rating on the door of the safe identified it as:  “TL-30.”

The insurance policy showed the correct brand name for the safe and that it was UL rated, but the rating designation was slightly different.  It stated:  “TL-30 x 6.”  It was a difference of just two characters, an “x” and a “6.”  “Is that important?” Tanza asked the adjuster, who said he wasn’t sure.

As it turned out, the difference of two characters wasn’t just important, it was critical.

Insurance companies compare a jeweler’s level of inventory (considered the exposure) with the jeweler’s safe and alarm system.  An exposure of two or three hundred thousand dollars might warrant a safe rated at one level of security, while for an inventory of $1,000,000 or more the carrier would require a higher rated safe.

The rating attests to the particular testing regimen to which the safe model was submitted.  In each of these two tests, ordinary hand tools are used in an attempt to create an opening within the time allotted for the test.  However for an “x 6” test additional tools and more power are permitted.

But this is not the most important difference.

In a TL-30 test, UL technicians attack the door of the safe and framing around it.  For any “x 6” test, the entire safe is subject to attack.  Technicians attack the sides, back, and top – then even drop it over so that they can work on the bottom of the unit.  If the safe fails in any one of the attempts, it fails the entire test and cannot be given the rating.

In spite of being correctly identified by name, the safe in Tanza’s insurance policy was very different from the one that was on her insurance application.  And because the difference was pertinent to the claim, her insurance coverage for the entire loss was in jeopardy.

The insurance company’s position for declination was two-fold:

#1    Had the company underwriter known that the safe was a TL-30 and not a TL-30 x 6, Tanza Knight’s inventory was such that they would have elected to not issue the policy – or alternatively would have required her to upgrade her safe before providing burglary coverage.

#2    If Tanza had had the safe that was indicated in the application, this burglary and its form of attack would likely have been unsuccessful.  In other words – there would have been no loss of merchandise.

Tanza wasn’t certain of the reason for the error or who had made it; in fact, the misinformation appeared to have been on the application for many years.  It was a case of a sleeping mouse of a misstatement becoming a raging elephant at the time of loss.

“The insurance company had years to find out that my safe designation was wrong,” was Tanza’s response, but insurance companies do not routinely perform on-site inspections of every account.  Instead, their underwriting decisions rely on the information that is furnished to them by the jeweler and/or the agent.

The lesson for all jewelers is just this:  don’t take unnecessary chances with your insurance –  check your policy and application for accurate safe and alarm information.

UL Burglary Ratings for Safes

Underwriters Laboratories tests safe models and makes rating designations based on forms of attack, time length of the test, and whether or not the entire safe was tested.  The ratings use the following keys to describe the test:

TL = Tools – common hand tools

TR = Torch – an oxyacetylene welder’s torch

15, 30, 60 = minutes designation of the test, under clinical conditions.

X 6 = All six surfaces of the safe were tested (without “x 6,” only a door test).

UL safe ratings of 1, 2, or 4 hours are indications of a fire-rated safe, not a burglary safe.

Bob Carroll is a Certified Insurance Counselor and owner of Robert G. Carroll and Associates – an independent agent who has specialized in insurance for the jewelry industry for more than 30 years.  He represents Jewelers Mutual and other carriers in OK, AR, TN, and MS.  “Jewelry insurance isn’t just what we do – it’s all we do!”

Bob Carroll, CIC

Bob Carroll, CIC

Related Posts

3 digital marketing lessons from great jewelry radio ads

May 15, 2023
Joel McFadden Fine Jewelry

Successful Custom: The Silent Selling Tool

May 8, 2023

5 fun, powerful hacks to try using AI

May 1, 2023
Image of Chuck Koehler

The Retailer’s Perspective: A year late and a dollar short

May 1, 2023

Latest News

Industry Events

AGTA GemFair™ Las Vegas is kickoff point for Rapaport’s natural pearl auction and sales

May 24, 2023
Other News

Plumb Club study underscores a bright future for the diamond category

May 24, 2023
Other News

GIA’s Gems & Gemology Spring 2023 now available

May 24, 2023

Other News

Virginia jewelers unite for Children’s Hospital of Richmond

Furry Friends on the Job: Say hello to Benji of Joyeria La Guadalupana

The importance of WOWING your customers

ASHI Diamonds offers retail partners personalized advantage

It’s Show Time again and the jewelry business is coming out to play

Stuller announces strategic organizational updates

Southern Jewelry News

© 2023 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2023 Jewelry Trade Shows & Events
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Sitemap
  • Newsletter Signup

Get Social with Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Sponsored Content
  • Latest News
    • What’s New
    • Industry Events
    • Tradeshow News
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Furry Friends
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • DIGITAL MAGAZINE
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archives

© 2023 Southern Jewelry News.