Locks

Locks are a smaller topic for a change, but let's go over some basics.

In China, whenever I've seen anyone move in to a new apartment, the first order of business is to change the locks. The occupants usually change the front door lock which is often a more expensive model to begin with and has easily interchangeable internals. These are nice locks and I would have no idea where to start picking them. Take for example the new lock in my apartment - it was changed in to the old housing and came with 6+2+1 keys. The first six are the regular keys to open the door. The second two are for maintenance people and such, who you will want to give a temporary key. The last key is a special key to allow or deny the two maintenance keys. Turn once to allow the two extra keys, turn again to disable. That's what you get for 100 RMB.

The second type of lock is the one for show. And no, I don't mean it's a pretty lock. It's the kind that says "I'm locked, kinda." My electric scooter has such a lock for the helmet case. You can open it with they key intended for it by pushing the key all the way in and turning. No surprise there. The joke is, you can also push the key halfway in and turn, it'll unlock.

So my new apartment complex has motorbike charging boxes available downstairs. We moved in and took our scooter there. I tried charging the bike and noticed that you need to unlock the box to get electricity. (You see where this is going, right?) I almost contacted the management office and asked how much a key would be, but I decided to try my motorbike key. I inserted the tip in the lock and turned. You guessed right, it unlocked. No forcing or picking, just like the key was meant for it.

That lock is similar to the one I had in my mailbox, except that instead of opening with any key, it didn't open at all. I had to change it and that, labor included cost me 6 RMB at the old apartment. You very much get what you pay for. Most people use additional tube locks for their motorbikes, hitching them to posts and supports like you would a bicycle. I don't, but that seems like a bad idea more and more.

OP out.