# How many physical keys do you use in a day?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 8, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849 "2025-09-08T14:35:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/1 "2025-09-08T14:35:22Z")
At one point I used physical keys (metal key, turning lock cylinder) 7-8 times a day. I needed two for our condo, one for the car, and two at work, plus a few more during the day especially if I took my bike with its lock. Now, I use at most a single key for our house, and if I go through the basement I don’t even need that since we have a keypad. My car is keyless entry and ignition; no keys at work anymore.
So, how may keys do you use these days? And how many did you used to use?
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/2 "2025-09-08T14:37:32Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> So, how may keys do you use these days? And how many did you used to use?
On days I go to the office (if I’m the first one there, like today), I use one. I don’t use a key at home.
So, maybe once a month, or less, a key to our storage unit. Several times a month a key to our boathouse and one for the boat. I have a house key, but probably use it less than once per month.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/3 "2025-09-08T14:47:56Z")
My mailbox key is the one\* and only physical key I own. It gets used about 3x/week. My car has a fob and my apartment front door is also a fob. Living light is its own reward.
A few years ago when I ran a condo complex I had a ring we called “the keys to the kingdom”. It had about 25 keys on it. A couple would get used every time I had to deal with a [whatever]. But even then my personal keys were one mailbox only; everything else was a fob or a combo.
ETA: Back when I worked I carried 3 keys for them and used one or another most workdays.
* * *
\* Yes, the car fob also has a hidden physical key that’s substantially never used.
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### Author:  [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/4 "2025-09-08T14:48:59Z")
One to open the garage door at home when I leave for work in the morning, two when I get to work, and I used to have to use one to get in the house, but now that my husband is retired the door is open. So three most days.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/5 "2025-09-08T14:49:27Z")
For the first time in my life, I only use one key per day, and it’s a tiny mailbox key.
Now that I’m at The Home, I use a key fob to get into the building. I have a key to the door of my apartment, but I usually just leave it unlocked. (Maybe dumb, but then maybe I’m dumb…) I wear the building fob, the mailbox key, and my front door key on a stretchable lanyard on a necklace.
My car also has a fob and as long as it’s in my pocket or purse, I start the car with a push button.
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### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/6 "2025-09-08T14:57:36Z")
On a typical day, the only time I ever use a physical key is if I’m riding my motorcycle. Every other lock I interact with is either a keypad or key fob. It used to be 2-3 (house key, car key or motorcycle key, office door key).
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/7 "2025-09-08T15:01:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> My car has a fob and my apartment front door is also a fob. Living light is its own reward.
But don’t you find fobs to be a lot more cumbersome than keys? The one for our late model Subaru is a beast! It’s my wife’s daily driver so I leave my fob in my sock drawer. I have 4 keys on my ring: House, work, 20 year old Honda, and mailbox. I use three every day but weekends.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/8 "2025-09-08T15:04:48Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> But don’t you find fobs to be a lot more cumbersome than keys?
I sure don’t. Quite the opposite, especially for cars.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/9 "2025-09-08T15:08:57Z")
I use 0 keys these days and for the last 4+ years or so. Once in a blue moon I use my house key.
10 years ago I used about 2-6 keys a day, no car or house keys though. Car was a Prius, so a FOB and house was a garage door opener. The keys were all for my job. Office key, front door key, cabinet keys, 3 different closets/store rooms, 3 server cabinets I generally kept locked, etc.
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/10 "2025-09-08T15:12:04Z")
Zero.
Car is keyless, garage door opener for attached garage. Office is keypad-controlled, though usually I’m the second person in so the door is already unlocked.
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### Author:  [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/11 "2025-09-08T15:14:31Z")
I only use one key for my apartment and one for my mailbox. The car has a FOB, my office uses a FOB.
Twenty years ago, I probably had 10-15 keys on my keychain.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/12 "2025-09-08T15:15:09Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> But don’t you find fobs to be a lot more cumbersome than keys? The one for our late model Subaru is a beast! It’s my wife’s daily driver so I leave my fob in my sock drawer. I have 4 keys on my ring: House, work, 20 year old Honda, and mailbox. I use three every day but weekends.
It’s a mixed bag.
I wish the fob for my car was about the formfactor of a mailbox key. It’s a big heavy blob of crap in my pockets that I don’t really like.
But I do like that I put it in my pocket, never touch it all day, and can get in and out of the car at 5 stops with the car locking and unlocking itself each time. All I do is walk up, open the door, hop in, push the start button, drive someplace, push the stop button, hop out, and walk away. The car+fob handles all the pesky details.
I can do the same with my phone, and leave the fob at home too. But then I have to actually pull the phone out of my pocket and hold it adjacent to the car’s doorhandle hotspot for a couple seconds to lock or unlock. As much as I hate crap in my pockets I find fiddling with the phone and doorhandle to be the more intrusive annoyance.
The fob for my apartment is a ceramic ring on my left index finger. Push my fist at the door like a left-handed fistbump and it’s locked or unlocked. That’s about as handy as possible. Now if only I could program the ring to open all my stuff, not just some of it.
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### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/13 "2025-09-08T15:16:35Z")
Each key fob has the house key and the key to the church on it. So from day to day, truck key, house key, church key.
I also have a smaller key that opens a cabinet at the church with A/V supplies, but I haven’t put a copy of that on each keyring.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/14 "2025-09-08T15:19:28Z")
Used daily
House key/deadbolt 1 key
Storage shed(handcycle) 2 keys(padlock, deadbolt)
Mailbox 1 key
School entry gate, classroom 1 key
Handcycle lock 1 key (used 1-2 times/week avg)
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### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/15 "2025-09-08T15:20:56Z")
On days when I go to the office, zero, for the exact same reasons as @Kron. I exit the house through the garage. Car uses proximity keys / push to start. I leave the garage and close the garage door with the remote. When I get to work I swipe in with my badge.
If for some reason I exit my house through the front door, then one – the key for the front door.
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### Author:  [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/16 "2025-09-08T15:21:23Z")
My old car still requires a key so that is at least 2- 4 times per day.
House keys are used 2 - 4 times per day depending.
Work keys are used at least a few times a day depending on circumstances
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/17 "2025-09-08T15:22:15Z")
Home, mailbox, car, and between one to four at work, so between four and seven different keys each day.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/18 "2025-09-08T15:27:04Z")
My first answer was zero, since when I go out I usually just push a button to open the garage door, back the car out, and press another button to close it.
But of course there’s the key to the car, so that’s one I use all the time (I don’t own any of those new-fangled keyless cars). And also the key to the neighbourhood community mailbox we have around here.
If the car was in the driveway and I went out the front door, got in my car, and then stopped to pick up my mail, I guess I’d use three keys. Another key on my key ring is for the lock on the backyard gate, and that’s about it.
But almost all the time, just about the only key I use is the car ignition key.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/19 "2025-09-08T15:38:42Z")
> [@Ellecram](#):
>
> My old car still requires a key so that is at least 2- 4 times per day.
> House keys are used 2 - 4 times per day depending.
Pretty much the same, until i replace the vehicle in the next few months. My front door and front gate each have two-sided deadbolts so I get to use 3 of the 7 keys I carry every single day. The PO Box and the back entrance door and gate keys get used only as needed. No workplace keys nowadays.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2025, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-physical-keys-do-you-use-in-a-day/1022849/20 "2025-09-08T15:39:42Z")
House - 2 keys, though I frequently only lock the deadbolt
Cars - mine have a lock/unlock fob but still need a key to start. The fob is dead, I think it’s the fob not the battery but need to do some research (grab the other one/test batteries)
Mailbox - key, used every so often
Orifice - badge. There is also an alarm keypad if you’re first in / last out but I have never used it & would need to look up my code before I could use it. No doubt the PD would be on-scene before I ever get my computer out, fired up, & into the password manager, which makes it much harder to put my code in, unseen & bent over with a nice pair of interconnected bracelets behind my back. 😲
Firehouse - fob
Her place - fob (which _sucks_; half the time it doesn’t do anything the first time It touches the pad)
Her car - keyless fob
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