Christmas in the private security industry

Yet another Christmas has passed. Security officers worked their full 12 hours shifts at extra time and managers made sure that contracts are covered with the correct number and levels of staff. In our company, Thorburn Security Solutions, we care on this day by handingmas parcels - this year again food parcels.

There is a saying that “nothing has changed except for the date”. Christmas day and night 2012 was typical of the saying as almost 900 Christmas parcels were handed out to our Thorburn staff by managers on Christmas day and eve.

Preparing and distributing the parcels to staff as far as 600 km from Pretoria is a mission on its own. The procurement, transportation and packing of the pre-printed Thorburn shopping bags require a lot of planning and many “hands” to work. What started off in 2005 in the residence of Dolf Scheepers for 80 people has grown to 890 parcels in 2012. There were times when it was a “family logistics issue” involving my wife and kids, but it has now grown too big. Managers and office administrative staff are all involved in packing the bags.

The idea is to give the officer who works on Christmas day or night something to take home in the form of food whilst the durable Thorburn bag can always be used for shopping in future.