How Smart/Sinister are Those Guys Who Scavenge Ahead of Trash Pickup

[Sam*]

Ooops! I left my emergency car and house keys hidden on the rotted out barbecue I put on the curb last night for garbage pickup.

In our city, guys in pick-up trucks trash pick ahead of the trash trucks.

Would you re-key your car and/or house key?

Sam*

[DRR]

Trash pickers generally toss everything in a poorly secured truck. Are they going to even remember which house goes with the BBQ? Probably not. They'll either try to sell it at a garage sale or sell it for scrap.

If they were thieves they probably wouldn't be trash pickers. Not saying the two are mutually exclusive per se but there are much more efficient ways of leading a life of crime rather than driving around picking up other people's garbage.

EDIT: My answer was, neither.

[OWC Jamie]

maybe the house.
50-50 chance they figure those are the old keys from a re-key anyway.

Maybe they'll toss 'em back in the driveway. :-)

[rz]

BBQ grills are one of the first places thieves look for spare keys to your house. It's almost as bad as putting it under the mat.

[cbelt3]

I've chatted with a few scrappers. They're generally nice guys, usually underemployed. The last guy I talked to was a general contractor who lost $40K when he ran afoul of another town's building inspector who insisted he pull out all the work he'd done. Not because it wasn't to code. Because he wasn't a union member.

[freeradical]

Re key the car and the house.

[Wags]

I keep my emergency back-up keys securely locked in the house. Like, duh...

[rjmacs]

These responses give you some interesting insights into folks' personalities....

[Black]

I think key here is whether the keys were likely to have made their presence known prior to landing in the bed of the truck. If not, there's little chance they'll remember where they picked up the grill, or know where the keys in the bed came from.

Thanks for the reminder of why I never throw anything away . . .

[blooz]

I wouldn't worry unless you have a tag on the keys with your name and address…