Why locks?

From:  "Lucky me"

if 7-11 is open 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?

It appears that everyone and their brother and their brothers brother wanted to answer this question. Here's what the population has contributed:

Sarah was the first to sent us this statement: 

round here 7/11's are open from 7 am to 11pm. but I'm sure somewhere out there their open 24 hours. plus theres other convenience stores that are anyways. the answer to that question is that they can lock the doors if theres an emergency. like. lets say, a power outage. for instance we just had the black out here in north America, and the time hortons that I work at shut down (even though they are open 24/7 they had locks to lock up so someone didn't have to sit there for 2 days straight. also, some of the places that are open 24/7 close on holidays.

Eddie thought up this situation: 

The answer to "If 7-11 is open 24 hrs. a day why are there locks on the doors?" is really pretty simple (I worked at a 7-11 while in high school).
Remember, a 7-11 IS a STORE and they DO get ROBBED (1st clue) and if a crime is committed it's in the victim's best interest to preserve the 'crime scene' (2nd clue).
To clarify for those of you not keeping score, employees are to lock the doors and suspend business until the police have been there and done their job (oh, and woken up the Manager so he can drag himself to the store to royally piss HIM off).

Todd pondered this idea: 

It is very rare to find someplace truely open 24/7. Most close for at least a few hours on big holidays such as Christmas. Even if it were open on holidays, you still need locks. If the power went out, the store would have to close. Without locks, the store would be robbed. The big blackout a while ago is a perfect example. Other types of problems, such as nature disasters, may also need a 24 hour store to close.

Confused and Bored located this piece of information: 

This is in response to "Why are there locks at 7-11?" Well, there are actually two answers to this. Originally, 7-11's hours were 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM (hence the name 7-11.) The locks on stores who's hours were and as for some still are 7-11, the lock is needed during the time that it's closed. As for the 24 hour stored, those stores are actually open 23 hours a day. They close for one hour every night so they can restock the shelves, empty the safe, and clean up a bit.

Bubba Shade simply stated: 

Why Locks? Stores that are open 24 hours have locks on the doors so they can be locked after they have been robbed.

Joe shared his views with us: 

Although the store/bldg professes to be open 24/365 events can occur which would make it necessary to secure the store and contents ie: construction/remodeling/robbery investigation/power outages/weather events. Besides that the name 7-11 came from the hours they used to keep before current times as a place to obtain necessities before/after normal retailers hours.

Jen~nay pointed out this:  

Why locks on the doors?.. they are for the clerks who work by themselves that have to use the restroom. That way no one can get in the store and rob it while they are "dropping the kids off at the pool" or "releasing a golden shower".

Edwin did his research and sent us this: 

This question is simple enough. It's basically a just-in-case thing. I mean, would YOU open store and not have locks on it just because you're going to TRY to keep it constantly open? I mean, what if something happens and the store is actually closed for a short time - like there's a fire in the store, or the guy that runs the store suddenly has to leave for some emergency - any number of events or emergencies could happen that would leave the store closed for a while. Heck, you might not even find employees for every day and shift during the week.--------- Also let's not forget that the building the seven-eleven is in WAS NOT ALWAYS A SEVEN-ELEVEN; it's not like every time seven-eleven opens another store they actually build another building, most buildings for businesses or stores or franchises are bought or rented out and ALREADY EXISTED before the store opened at that place, so the building was of course originally built with a lock on the door.------Here's an example, M! cDonald's builds a small building in a town to open another McDonald's because they think they can make money at that location. Of course they build the building with a lock on the door. It then turns out that they don't make enough money and have to close they place down. It's not like they close down, leave, then pay even more money to destroy the building - they just sell the building to whoever wants to buy it, and then in our little example seven-eleven just happens to buy it - and the lock is still there.----If seven-eleven does ever actually build a building to open a store, they are of course going to build a lock for the door for the just-in-case purposes I mentioned above and for when they need to sell the building to somebody that will need a lock (nobody's going to buy a building that you just can't lock - there's gotta at least be a place for a padlock on the doors).

TB summed up Edwins speech:  

simple, the place is not automated. When emergency arises or if when there is only one person there and they have to use the restroom, a lock comes in handy. There is also times when there is no-one to cover the store.

Nick took a stab at the answer: 

the reason that there are locks on 7-11 and it is open 24 hours is because they used to be open from 7 am to 11 pm and thats how they got the name and they had to be able to lock the door in the times that it was open and I think there might be some kind of government regulation about having locks or something like that

Brad wanted to see his name on the internet so he gave us this: 

To answer the question "Why Locks?", the only answer I can give would be either they are required by law, or for insurance purposes.

Xach muttered this: 

7-11 has locks on its doors so if say the power grid goes down (not like that will ever happen lol), heath board shuts them down or if they just go out of business in a location.

Paul believes this: 

There are locks on 7-11's because there are times when the store might have to be closed. Such as during a natural disaster (blizzards, flooding, hurricanes, etc.) or civil unrest in the area.

Jez realized this:  

When you buy a door it has a hole in it for the lock - you've got to put something in there, and locks are the right shape, and look oddly appropriate. Otherwise I agree, they should save the money.

David k really wanted to solve the mystery: 

I have never been an employee of a 7-11 establishment, but I am willing to take a stab at this "Steven Wright-type" question. There could be several reasons for locks on the door. One is to have the locks in the event the store actually DOES have to close for some reason, such as an emergency situation where there are no available employees to man the store. Second, maybe the companies that insure the buildings also require locks to be placed on the doors. Third, maybe they buy a standard door type that can be used for many different establishments, and they just don't make that type of door without locks on it. OK, that one is the least likely of the three, but I'm brainstorming here.

Jessy confirmed this: 

I have an answer to the "why locks?" question. 7-11 has locks on the doors for emergency. eg-the blackout, family emergency, ect.

Sonya Webb shared her experience with us: 

As to why 7-11's have locks I do have this information. In my hometown during a particularly bad snow/ice storm one of the local convenience stores didn't have locks either. The roads were closed for a couple of days but the employees unfortunate enough to be working there were stuck because they couldn't just leave the store unlocked and unattended and the owner couldn't get to the store to watch it himself. So I guess they have locks in case of a bizarre occurrence like this and they have to lock up and leave.

Sandi concluded with this: 

If a 7-11 gets robbed it is a procedure to lock the door after the perpetrator has left while waiting for the cops, or something.

So in conclusion, I've come up with that there's always something that's going to come up where you just have to lock the doors even if its just for 5 minutes while you go to the potty.