After more than a year using the lock on my locker at the place where I exercise, I've finally got a reliable way to open the lock. Normally, I have to try two or three times to open the lock. Landing exactly on the numbers has proven to be a hit-and-miss operation, so a few weeks ago I decided to try numbers slightly to the left or right of the prescribed combination. Here's what I found.

Land half a digit to the left of the first number. Land half a digit to the right of the second digit. Then, as you are within two clicks of the last number, slowly begin to open the lock while continuing to turn towards the last number of the combination.

I use this lock five to six times a week. I've opened this lock, oh, maybe two hundred times. I'd be willing to bet that I've *tried* to open it five hundred times. Would you go through all this experimentation and frustration because you didn't want to replace a four dollar lock?