Lockbox

The decision that is already made for you

If you are pricing out container security and wondering whether a lockbox is worth adding, that decision does not actually exist here: it is welded onto every box we sell or rent before it ever leaves the yard, at no separate cost. There is no upsell to weigh, no add-on line item, and no version of a container that ships without one.

The decision that is actually left is what lock you put inside it, and that is a smaller question than it sounds. Any decent padlock works once it is inside the lockbox, because the shroud is doing the hard part: bolt cutters cannot reach a shackle they cannot get their jaws around, and a grinder has no room to angle a wheel onto the lock either.

What problem a lockbox actually solves

The doors, the hinges, and the frame on a steel container are already the hard part to break into. The one piece of hardware that is genuinely exposed is the padlock hanging off the hasp, and that is exactly what a lockbox covers: a welded steel box over that spot, open just enough for a hand and a key, closing off the one soft target on an otherwise solid door.

Checking for one on a used box

If you are buying a used container from somewhere other than us, check whether the lockbox is there and whether it is straight, since a bent or pried lockbox is a sign someone already tried to get past it. On a container we deliver, that check is one we have already made before it goes on the truck, and the lockbox goes with it either way, sale or rental, standard.

Why it is welded, not bolted on

A lockbox has to be welded to the door, not bolted, or it stops doing its job. Bolts can be unscrewed or drilled out with the right tool and enough patience, which would just move the weak point from the padlock shackle to the fasteners holding the shroud in place. A weld does not have a fastener to attack, so the lockbox is as much a part of the door as the steel around it, not a separate accessory clamped on afterward.