Same Key Locks: Good and Bad Points

You may have seen them at Wal-Mart, Tractor Supply, Home Depot and many countless stores. They come in packages of two, three and even four on average but you could probably find a package of five on up if you really tried. These handy convenient items are same key locks. You can choose small locks that don’t offer as much security to large locks that would be a booger to get past.

Same key locks while noticeably identical also share the same key. For e.g., let’s say you buy a package that contains three locks you will likely get three keys. You can mix up those three keys and it won’t matter because each one of those keys will open all of the three locks. They are as one package says “Keyed Alike.”

Same key locks have much to offer. If you have a lot of stuff that you keep locked away in separate storage containers, buildings, boxes, files etc., from a handful of things that you keep locked up indoors and out, the convenience of having one key to fit those locks saves a lot of time. You won’t have to hustle and bustle about searching for different keys to open things up. You won’t have to fill up a key ring with all those extra keys that will add weight to purses and pockets. It’s so simple, one key for multiple locks.

There is a downside to same key locks. Same key locks also open up doors for a host of problems. When you have one key to open up multiple locks losing that key means losing the ability to open everything until you find the key or have to have all the locks cut off.

If a burglar breaks in and finds the key or the key is stolen it can be used to open everything up. With different keys it would be harder for the thief to get into stuff that’s contained behind all the locked doors of buildings, containers and such. Multiple keys would eat into the burglar’s time to get in and out as fast as they can so they would probably pass on using them. Multiple keys essentially could be called a deterrent.

Whoever you choose to give one of the same key lock keys to will have the ability to open everything the locks are securing even if you are giving them access to unlock only one of the locks keeping the outside at a distance from your many storage hideaways.