For locksmiths: dispatch SMS templates that age badly (and how to refresh them)

Marketing columns keep pushing automation; your inbox keeps proving that bad automation is worse than slow typing. If your message promises a fixed minute count, a price you can’t honor county-wide, or a brand name you don’t own, delete the template.

TCPA reality: marketing texts need real consent; transactional updates should stay narrow — here’s who’s coming, here’s how to cancel, here’s how to get help. When in doubt, your compliance counsel beats my blog paragraph.

Refresh seasonally: daylight saving chaos, holiday traffic, construction on the 405 — static maps in SMS become lies. Dynamic ETA beats poetry.

Teach customers to verify: the number they booked from should match the thread. Phishing loves stress; predictability kills it.

If you operate on platforms that send their own opt-in SMS, don’t double-stack confusing duplicates from three systems. One clear thread wins.