Can you get a key copied at 6:am in NYC?

May 14, 2014 10:10 AM

I know there are 24 hour lock smiths that will open a door at any time of night if you're locked out. But is there a place that is actually open where I can walk in and copy some keys? I'm getting the keys in a week apparently and I don't have to return them until noon, but unfortunatly I have to be at work at 7am. This means I need to copy them before I get to work that day. Any possibility of doing this?
posted by manderin to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

This should be a yelp search for all Hardware Stores in NYC open at 6:01am. I'm sure this is not complete, as there are probably many that don't have their hours on Yelp, but anything on this list should be able to help you out. It looks like basically any Home Depot should work, for one thing.
posted by brainmouse at 10:22 AM on May 14, 2014

Seconding nuthouse.

Also - these key copying kiosks called KeyMe are in NYC. I've never tried them, but they seem pretty interesting. There's one inside a Rite-Aid and another inside a 7-11, which I assume have late/early hours, if not 24-hr.
posted by suedehead at 10:35 AM on May 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Per brainmouse, Home Depot may be open, however, I'll add to that that they may be running on a skeleton crew. It might be difficult to find someone to copy keys for you in Big Orange at that hour.
posted by tckma at 11:07 AM on May 14, 2014

Many reputable locksmiths have the capacity to make a key in their work van. Locksmiths require lots of specialized tools, and a locksmith can not be running back to his shop (or to home depot) whenever he needs a second key made at some job site. So, lots of these guys have key cutting machines inside their work vans. Their work van is like a mobile key kiosk that you would see at home depot.

I am sure if you called around to a few 24hr locksmiths, you will easily find one who has a key cutting machine in his van - and who will, if paid, arrive at your location, and cut a new key on site 24 hours a day.
posted by Flood at 11:14 AM on May 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: @suedehead, I actually tried one of those KeyMe kiosks once and they aren't very reliable. I had a problem copying my keys when I tried it. It would tell me that it couldn't read the key even though it was all the way in. Also they won't copy keys that are a little thicker than average which 2 of my apt keys are. I have no idea how thick the key I'm getting is going to be so I would need something more dependable than a keyMe.

I didn't know you could do a yelp search based on time. This might be helpful. If nothing works I can check the van Idea as a last resort. Though that sounds expensive.
posted by manderin at 1:23 PM on May 14, 2014

Searching by a specific time in Yelp isn't an official feature, but you can do it by selecting "Open Now" (which is an official feature) and then changing the url so that the number at the end is basically minutes since midnight for the time you want, so 6 am = 6 hours x 60 minutes = 360 and I added 1 for good measure, so that's why it's 361. It should work for any time, but this method will always be for today (whatever day today is), so it doesn't work super well for like knowing if something is opening late on Saturday night. Someone on the web may have figured out how to do that, though.
posted by brainmouse at 1:32 PM on May 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

This seems to me like a perfect Task Rabbit task: "Pick keys up at 9 am, have them copied, return by 11 am." If you have to be at work, the person could pick up from the receptionist or whatever. As long as the taskee has zero idea what the address the keys are for, I don't see any safety concerns there either.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:51 PM on May 14, 2014