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Locking Trunk?


dhudson
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I have been perusing dorm room needs and a strong locking trunk was mentioned. Since my ds is only going 15 min away but staying in the dorm, it didn't even occur to me but as I researched further, it seems like it might be more about security than storage. He is a techie kid with lots of gadgets, so what do you think?

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I don't think it's a bad idea. We will send a locking two drawer file cabinet or a trunk or something for our guys. Their laptops are expensive to say nothing of the camera that middle boy carries for doing wildlife and nature photography. So, he needs to have somewhere to keep them relatively safe when not in use.

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We sent a locking trunk with DS.

 

The majority of thefts on campus are crimes of opportunity -- a valuable item laying in plain sight. Students forget that their dorm rooms are accessed by more than just their dorm mates, who are *usually* trustworthy (although there is the occasional "bad apple"). Other dorm residents, or friends or classmates of dorm mates often drop by -- and often while your student is not in the dorm room to have an eye on their things.

 

Locking up valuables when not in use, and esp. when leaving your dorm room, helps prevent those crimes of opportunity, and helps you not be an inadvertent temptation to others by leaving things laying around. It also keeps good relationship with the dorm mates -- if the valuables are locked up, they're not being stolen -- and so there is no possibility of casting a shadow on the trustworthiness of dorm mates. ;)

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Do dorms not have a closet or wardrobe that locks? I have so much to learn about typical college life. I had a big wooden built in wardrobe and half of it had a hasp for a combination lock.

 

Of course the other thing in my room wih a lock was the rack with our drill rifles (de-miled but still always locked). Like I said a lot to learn.

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When I asked if a locked drawer was provided during Admitted Student Day, the residence life director told me not to allow my son to bring valuables to college with him. Then, in the next sentence she talked about how their biggest problem with theft was of electronics such as cell phones, tablets and laptops being taken from dorm rooms. Then the lady looked embarrassed, I think she just realized what she had said. 

 

We will need to provide something for our son, we just can't figure out what. Trunks are big, but a small safe could be carried away. I'll be watching to see what others say. 

 

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Dd never had a secure place to lock anything and she was probably fortunate that nothing was stolen.  Ds will be heading off in the fall and all the cadets are required to have a locking trunk.  I think it's going to be a good thing for him, not because I expect his fellow cadets to be thieves, but it'll encourage him to keep his valuables locked up when not needed. 

 

Dd would not have needed a locking trunk but a small lockbox like dh and I have would have been perfect. She needed a place to put the credit card she had for emergencies, her reserve cash, her passport and other important papers.  I wish we had though of it, but we didn't until we were going through the list of things ds needs.   

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Do dorms not have a closet or wardrobe that locks?  I have so much to learn about typical college life.

 

DSs room that was shared with one other student had a doorless walk-in closet with one open shelf and one bar for hanging clothing for each of the two students sharing the room, and then each student was provided a bed & mattress, a desk & chair, and a mid-sized bureau. Nothing locking.

 

In advance, you might see if there are photos of typical dorms on the university's website. Or call and ask what is/isn't provided in the dorm room.

 

Also, the university website usually provides a list of what is/isn't allowed. For example, most do not allow heat sources where if the student forgets to turn it off and something could fall onto it and start a fire -- halogen desk lamps, hot plate, electric skillet, coffee maker, etc. are very commonly NOT allowed. If bringing an iron for removing clothing wrinkles, it must have an automatic shut-off switch.

 

Also, many universities only allow specific models of fridges and microwaves (probably so as to not draw too much electricity and short out the floor). And some schools do not allow any fridge or microwave in the dorm room.

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We will need to provide something for our son, we just can't figure out what. Trunks are big, but a small safe could be carried away. I'll be watching to see what others say. 

 

I agree: small safes fairly scream: "Here are all my valuables in one easy location! Please take them!"

 

There are hidden closet safes that are designed to "hide" amongst your clothes in the closet; they don't hold much, but would protect cards, ID, and small items -- although in a dorm, there are so few places to hide things that a knowledgeable thief would probably go straight to the closet. There are also cables with locks that you can run through the electronics on your desk -- that would prevent someone from walking off with unsecured items, but the cable could easily be cut and then items can be stolen…

 

I don't recommend the small wall-mounted safes because they hold so little, and more importantly, most dorms do NOT allow any tacks, nails, glue, or adhesives on the walls. You are only allowed to use the special putty for hanging up posters or pictures.

 

We went with a locking trunk, but I think a locking file cabinet would also be a good choice, as it, too, is too big to walk away with and a file cabinet looks inconspicuous (not like a safe). A trunk fits under the bed nicely if the dorm is small and you're squeezed on space. Or, the top of a 2-drawer file cabinet can also double as a small table top, which can be very handy. It's also easier to open/close than having to drag a trunk out from under the bed, and it is probably more useful to the student after dorm life for storing adult paperwork...

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Ive seen the fridge and micro restrictions as well as those on heat sources. It just never occurred to me that their weren't lockable spaces.

 

One school we toured had rentable fridge/micro combos. I liked that because its going to be complicated enough to send kids to school from Hawaii w/o worrying about where to store a fridge.

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Check out the products from DormVault. Ds has one of the smaller ones for emergency cash, paperwork, and spare keys. It's super sturdy and has held up well. They also have larger storage for laptops.

 

Eta: it attaches securely to the leg of the dorm room bed so you'd need tools and a bit of time to get it off.

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One school we toured had rentable fridge/micro combos. I liked that because its going to be complicated enough to send kids to school from Hawaii w/o worrying about where to store a fridge.

 

I'm with you, Sebastian. The other nice thing is that if it breaks down, the student calls the company and they immediately come out and fix/replace. If you own and it breaks, you're out of luck. While it is more expensive to rent than buy, the convenience is a huge factor! :)

 

All that said, DS's dorm mates all wanted to buy. The dorm is set up so that 4 guys share the dorm, with 2 each in the two bedrooms that share a common living room, and each bedroom is allowed a microwave and fridge. So DS's roomie brought the fridge, and we swooped in on a local consignment warehouse that was unloading used hotel furnishings and bought a small used hotel microwave  for $15. I think we can manage to store that over the summer until we see what DS's dorm situation will be for next year. ;)

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… a good locking trunk is on the list, now. Pottery Barn teen had what looked like studier trunks.

 

Last year, we bought online that same trunk over the Memorial Day sales last year for close to half off, and had free shipping. So you might do some price comparisons and look for some of the sales coming up. In the next 6 weeks, there are often dorm sales, including things like locking trunks, and all of the bedding, mattress pads, etc. for the extra-long twin beds that dorms frequently have. :)

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Check out the products from DormVault. Ds has one of the smaller ones for emergency cash, paperwork, and spare keys. It's super sturdy and has held up well. They also have larger storage for laptops.

 

Eta: it attaches securely to the leg of the dorm room bed so you'd need tools and a bit of time to get it off.

 

That looks really good. Hopefully we will get enough notice about which dorm he will live in and will be able to make sure it would work with the furniture. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought about this! 

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I think it varies school to school and residence hall to residence hall.

 

I lived in one residence hall where we had a locking closet with a sturdy door.  During holidays we were instructed to put all valuables in the closet.  (Breaking down a computer in the old days was such a pain...)  My other residence hall had a closet but no door-only a sliding curtain.  For both I brought the trunk/footlocker I used to take to summer camp as part of my stuff and kept a padlock for securing it.

 

I've seen the companies that rent fridges also rent safes at some schools.

 

I suspect most schools don't provide a locked space because they would spend most of their time changing locks or opening the space for students who loose their keys.  They just don't have the resources and patience to deal with those issues.

 

I will probably send my kids with a  footlocker or trunk or some other lockable item.  During the semester it can hold items they don't need regular access to or high dollar items and on breaks they can load it with more if needed.  I'll definetly advise them to bring as few valuable items as possible.

 

***one item to consider-if all students are required to move out of residence hall during long breaks (i.e. thanksgiving, winter, spring) what do they do in the residence halls.  When I was an undergrad we had an older heating system and facilities came through after move out and opened all room doors to equalize the temp to avoid damage to the system/building.  For this reason we were told to put all valuable into the locked closet for which facilities didn't have the key.

 

***also-remind kids that they and their roommate need to be safety conscious of both their person and possessions.  Lock their door when asleep or not in the room.  Be responsible and bring your keys with you at all times.  Finally, don't let a stranger who claims to know or be meeting your roomie in and then leave them alone in the room.  Better to be un-cool than un-safe.

 

 

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Just throwing this out there.... if the dorm doors have those lever-type handles as opposed to an actual knob, a wire coat hanger can be used to gain access from the outside. Ds saw this done when someone on his floor locked themselves out of their room and an ever-helpful soul helped him bypass the RA (which would have incurred a charge to be let back in) and was absolutely floored at how easy and fast it was. The hanger is bent a certain way, then slid under the door and up to the lever. Easy-peasy.

 

Sadly, it seems that just locking the door when the students leave may not be enough.

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Last year, we bought online that same trunk over the Memorial Day sales last year for close to half off, and had free shipping. So you might do some price comparisons and look for some of the sales coming up. In the next 6 weeks, there are often dorm sales, including things like locking trunks, and all of the bedding, mattress pads, etc. for the extra-long twin beds that dorms frequently have. :)

Thanks! That is very helpful.

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Ive seen the fridge and micro restrictions as well as those on heat sources. It just never occurred to me that their weren't lockable spaces.

 

One school we toured had rentable fridge/micro combos. I liked that because its going to be complicated enough to send kids to school from Hawaii w/o worrying about where to store a fridge.

 

We're an easy 75 minute drive from DS's school and we went with a rented fridge/microwave.  Even this close we didn't want the hassle of moving and storing, and of course knowing they'd come fix it or replace it if it went out was a big plus.

 

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I guess we're the odd ones out here.  None of my boys took anything locking to school with them and I don't recall there being anything in their room that offered locks.

 

So far it's been no problem at all.  None of them have requested anything either.

 

If middle son gets a bike he'll get a good bike lock, but that's the only thing on our radar.

 

I wonder if it depends upon the school as to how rampant theft is.  Or it could be that my guys don't really have anything others would value (same as us actually).   ;)

 

My older two have their own fridge and microwave - no issues with it.  They use(d) friends in the local area for summer storage, so no cost (other than pizza for moving helpers) there.  We never had a breakdown issue.  

 

Youngest has had roommates who have these items so he hasn't needed his own yet.

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I guess we're the odd ones out here.  None of my boys took anything locking to school with them and I don't recall there being anything in their room that offered locks.

 

We didn't get anything locking, either, and there isn't anything locking in DS's room.  I wanted to get a trunk or lock box, but DS was resistant and so I knew he probably wouldn't use it.  Thankfully it hasn't been an issue.  My niece is at the same university and she never had anything that locked when she was living in a dorm.  She once thought someone had stolen some earrings and was quite upset about it.  But she eventually found them in her laundry bag. 

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Would you bother with a locking trunk if your child has a private room? Ds will be in a suite with 4 private bedrooms (key card lock) and 2 shared baths. The school provides a microwave and fridge in the common area. 

 

The lock on the door seems like enough to me.

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Would you bother with a locking trunk if your child has a private room? Ds will be in a suite with 4 private bedrooms (key card lock) and 2 shared baths. The school provides a microwave and fridge in the common area. 

 

The lock on the door seems like enough to me.

 

Yes, I would. The shared bath door often gets left unlocked.   

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Would you bother with a locking trunk if your child has a private room? Ds will be in a suite with 4 private bedrooms (key card lock) and 2 shared baths. The school provides a microwave and fridge in the common area. 

 

The lock on the door seems like enough to me.

 

I probably wouldn't. But remind ds that the common areas aren't like home where you can leave valuables around. Even though he might trust suite mates, those guys bring over friends, etc. and nobody wants to be in a position where something turns up missing and relationships get strained over it. 

 

Dd did fine in her suite with three other roomies (each with a private room) but her first two places were campus owned houses with 15 girls living in rooms but sharing living rooms, bathrooms, etc.  Girls would leave their laptops in the living room while they went out for the evening and a couple of times things were damaged and it became tense.  Purses left in common areas were common!

 

It's kind of a weird thing because they shared a kitchen and food was ALWAYS getting taken, but how can you avoid that?  But they worked out a schedule for cleaning kitchen, bathrooms, and trash duty and that seemed to work. So they figured that out but couldn't keep their hands off other people's food. 

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  • 2 months later...

I was thinking we sent dd off without anything locking 2 years ago, but then I remembered we were recommended to get a laptop lock.

 

This may or may not be the one we bought:  (Don't remember)

http://www.amazon.com/RUBAN-Universal-Security-deterrent-protection/dp/B00L3YG93O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435700873&sr=8-1&keywords=laptop+lock&pebp=1435700892887&perid=0SRXZ9P3W4G643VH1BZK

 

I linked it so you know what I'm talking about.  It needs to go around something big and heavy.  In the dorm, dd put it around the bed post.  I think in the library she puts it around the desk somehow.  Just think about it's not just in the dorm room that you need things locked up.

 

 

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  • 2 years later...

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