15,000 stolen construction tools worth approximately $5M were recently discovered in Howard County, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. Piles of DEWALT, Milwaukee, Hilti, Bosch, and other tools were stashed in 12 different warehouse locations. The Howard County Police estimate that these tools were stolen from hundreds or thousands of contractors over the past 10 years.

Despite years of theft and thousands of stolen tools, only one contractor discovered the stolen tools. He hid Apple Air Tags in his tools after being robbed several times earlier. According to the Washington Post, he spent hours driving around, following the pinging location from his iPhone until he located a storage facility and then got the Howard County Police Department involved.

All the major tool manufacturers mentioned above have been touting their respective Bluetooth tool tracking tags and systems for almost 10 years. However, the fact that none of these systems helped after so many years of theft highlights the limitations of Bluetooth tracking. These tool tracking systems only work when you are within a few hundred yards of the tool.

Apple AirTags appear to be the only viable Bluetooth tracking solution, and that’s only because of the 160 million plus iPhones in service across the USA. So, while you may not be close to the tool with the Air Tag, another person with an iPhone may be, and that’s how Apple can provide a location.

While it's not realistic to track hundreds or thousands of tools with Apple AirTags, it's not a bad idea to insert an AirTag into a few of your larger tools and equipment, especially if you have had tools stolen recently.

In this case, the thieves were smart enough not to steal larger equipment that could be GPS-enabled. GPS trackers are large, require a constant power source, and require expensive cell service, so they are not practical for most small tools, like the power tools found here.

If your tools were stolen recently and you think they could be included among the 15,000 found tools mentioned above, you can submit your tool details to the Howard County Police HERE for possible recovery. The form includes serial numbers, along with photos or other details that can ID your tools. This is the same information required for standard police reports and insurance claims.

Need a fast way to organize your tool inventory, including photos and serial numbers? Check out TOOLTRIBE, a tool inventory app with a built-in serial number scanner that makes it easy to capture the tool information required above.

You can add a tool to the app in seconds, including photos and the serial number. Then, if your tools are stolen, you can quickly export and print a tool list with all the critical information needed to recover your tools.

Once your tools are added to TOOLTRIBE, you will have a tool inventory list that gets updated anytime tools are assigned/transferred to employees and/or locations like job sites or vehicles. Your employees can use the app to see what they are responsible for and what inventory is available.

Transparency to the inventory drives accountability, as your employees can see what they are responsible for and they know you can do the same. Clear accountability means employees are more likely to take the simple steps to prevent theft as they know they are responsible (like locking truck boxes and not leaving tools sitting out when they are not using them).

In addition to helping prevent theft and helping in the recovery of stolen tools, TOOLTRIBE can save hours of labor. The TOOLTRIBE app is simple and visual so employees can use the app in the field to find the tools they need instead of spending hours each week calling around or buying tools you already have in inventory. Please let us know if you have any questions about how to implement a tool inventory management system that will work for your construction company.