Michael Recently, while visiting the grocery chain Trader Joe's, I remembered that I also wanted to get a duplicate of our apartment key made, and a sign in front of the adjacent store "Bed, Bath, and Beyond" indicated that this service was offered inside. I expected to find a cobbler in a small booth near the exit behind the registers who also offered key services, but instead, I saw -- a machine.

An old lady was just standing in front of it, the machine was humming busily and spat out a newly cut key into the output slot. She took it, exclaimed "nifty!" and toddled off. So I read the instructions on the touchscreen and followed the prompts to insert the key to be copied into a keyhole-like slot on the front of the machine, select the type of key (door key or car key), and pay the required $7.49 plus tax by credit card. Until now, I thought making a duplicate key only cost a few dollars, but apparently, the price for this service, like everything else here in the Bay Area (despite the government claiming barely noticeable inflation!), has tripled over the last 20 years. Oh well!

My email address was also requested by the machine, and it promised not to store my credit card information, otherwise a villain might find out which address the key fits into the lock. It also asked if I wanted to leave my fingerprint so it could store the key under it (what?), but I politely declined. The machine then started to rattle dangerously inside, and after about a minute, a newly carved golden door key fell into the output tray. I removed the old key and simply left the store with the duplicate, as the receipt was sent to me via email. The key was a bit sharp-edged, but it fit perfectly into the lock at home. Incredible, what these whippersnappers come up with these days! Such a machine would probably do well in Germany with its immense labor costs. However, Germans prefer significantly more complicated locks than Americans, who favor cheap good-enough solutions. But who knows, maybe something like this already exists over there!

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	DIY Tire Repair
  	Summer Vacation
  	Trends: Driving old Hondas
  	Polamarin Hiking Trail in Point Reyes
  	Crosstown Trail: On Foot Across San Francisco
  	Electoral College
  	Top product: JB-Weld