Illegal cigarette trafficking is big business. Once a relatively minor problem for law enforcement agencies, this illicit activity is growing at alarming rates, not only in the U.S. but worldwide. Increasing taxes on tobacco products has led to an epidemic in contraband tobacco products, as well as the sales of counterfeit tax stamps. Unfortunately, cigarette smuggling represents another criminal activity linked with self-storage.

Creating a risk management checklist for your self-storage business can be a challenge, and this series of articles offers suggestions for various categories and items that you may want to include in your checklist. The focus this quarter is security.