I spent last Tuesday morning at a hiring event on Poplar Avenue. Three security companies had tables set up, each with glossy brochures and sign-up sheets. By noon, two applicants had walked through the door. One left before filling out the paperwork.
That scene tells you everything about the armed guard shortage in Memphis right now.
If you run a security company in this city, or if you’re a property manager trying to fill a contract, you already know the problem. There aren’t enough guards. There especially aren’t enough armed guards. And the pipeline to produce new ones is slow, expensive, and competing against every warehouse and distribution center within 50 miles of the I-240 loop.
The Numbers Are Ugly
Industry-wide, security guard turnover runs somewhere between 100% and 300% annually. That’s not a typo. For every position you fill, you can expect to refill it one to three times before the year ends. In Memphis, where the cost of living is lower than Nashville or Atlanta, the wage floor for unarmed guards sits around $13 to $15 an hour. Armed guards pull $16 to $20, depending on the contract and the company.
Those numbers might have been competitive five years ago. They’re not anymore.
Amazon’s fulfillment center in Olive Branch starts at $17 an hour for warehouse associates. No background check hassle, no 48-hour training course, no $105 licensing fee to TDCI. FedEx, which has its global hub right here at Memphis International Airport, offers similar starting pay with overtime practically guaranteed during peak seasons. When a potential guard candidate can drive 20 minutes to a warehouse job that pays the same or more with fewer hoops to jump through, that’s exactly what happens.
The math isn’t complicated. It’s just painful for security companies.
What TDCI Requires (And Why It Slows Everything Down)
Tennessee doesn’t let you hand someone a uniform and put them on a post. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance requires 48 hours of training before a guard can work. For armed positions, candidates need to pass a firearms qualification course, scoring at least 70% on a silhouette target. The armed guard registration fee is $105, and the unarmed fee is $70.
None of that is unreasonable. Tennessee’s requirements are actually lighter than states like California or New York. The problem is timing. A company that recruits a promising candidate today won’t have that person on a post for two to three weeks minimum, factoring in training, the TDCI application process, and the background check. For armed guards, add firearms qualification time on top of that.
I talked to a hiring manager at one of the larger Memphis firms who told me they lose about 40% of candidates during this gap. People accept the job, start the process, then take a warehouse position that gets them a paycheck next week. “We can’t compete with instant employment,” she said. “By the time we get someone through training and licensed, they’ve already moved on.”
Who’s Hiring (And How They’re Doing It)
Every security company in Memphis is short-staffed right now. The approaches they’re taking to fix it vary quite a bit.
Allied Universal, the largest private security employer in the country, has been running constant digital ads across job boards targeting the Memphis market. Their scale gives them an advantage in benefits and advancement opportunities. A guard at Allied can theoretically work up to regional management. That career path matters to some candidates, especially younger ones looking beyond a paycheck.
Securitas, the other national giant, has taken a similar approach. Both companies can absorb losses on individual contracts because they spread costs across thousands of accounts nationwide. A local company doesn’t have that cushion.
Phelps Security has been a Memphis fixture since 1960, operating out of their office on Park Avenue at 4932 Park Ave. Their longevity gives them a reputation advantage. When I asked a client of theirs why they stayed with Phelps, the answer was simple: “They pick up the phone.” In a market where national companies sometimes route calls through distant offices, that local responsiveness counts for something.
Shield of Steel, the veteran-owned firm that’s been operating since 1998 out of 2682 Lamar Ave in Memphis, has a different angle on recruitment. Their military connections give them a pipeline to veterans transitioning out of service, which solves two problems at once. Veterans typically already have firearms proficiency and the discipline that makes training smoother. The company pays competitive wages for the Memphis market, and their veteran-to-veteran recruiting network keeps a steadier flow of candidates than cold job postings.
That said, Shield of Steel faces its own constraints. As a regional firm, their HR department is smaller than what Allied or Securitas can field. There are fewer career advancement paths compared to a company with 300,000 employees worldwide. For a guard who wants to stay local and work for people who understand military service, it’s a strong fit. For someone eyeing a corporate security career with transfers to other cities, a national chain probably makes more sense. You can reach them at (202)222-2225 or visit shieldofsteel.com.
The Real Competition Isn’t Other Security Companies
Here’s what most industry analyses miss. Security companies aren’t primarily losing candidates to each other. They’re losing them to entirely different industries.
Memphis is a logistics city. FedEx, Amazon, Nike’s distribution center in Frayser, the AutoZone warehouses off Holmes Road. These operations need bodies constantly, and they’ve raised wages aggressively since 2021. A candidate choosing between $15 an hour as an unarmed guard standing in a parking lot off Winchester Road and $17 an hour in a climate-controlled warehouse isn’t making a hard decision.
The security industry’s value proposition used to lean on stability. Guards could count on consistent hours and long-term assignments. That advantage has eroded. Warehouse jobs now offer many of the same benefits, and some of them provide tuition assistance programs that security firms can’t match.
I’ve heard security company owners complain about “lazy workers” and “nobody wants to work anymore.” That framing misses the point entirely. People want to work. They just want to work where the compensation matches the demands. Standing armed in a parking lot at 2 a.m. in January carries real risk. The pay needs to reflect that.
Memphis Demand Keeps Climbing
While the supply of guards shrinks, demand in Memphis is surging. The city recorded one of its worst years for violent crime in recent memory. Property managers, retail chains, hospital systems, and church congregations across Shelby County are all increasing their security budgets.
Drive down Germantown Parkway on any given evening and count the security vehicles. Five years ago, you might have seen two or three. Now there are marked patrol cars at nearly every shopping center and office park. The Wolfchase area has added private security patrols. So have neighborhoods in Cordova and Bartlett.
This demand isn’t temporary. Memphis crime trends, combined with property insurance requirements that increasingly mandate on-site security, mean the need for guards will keep growing through 2024 and beyond.
The disconnect between rising demand and flat supply is pushing contract rates up. Companies that couldn’t charge more than $22 an hour for armed guard services two years ago are now billing $26 to $30. Some of that increase goes to guard wages. Some goes to covering the higher recruitment and training costs that come with constant turnover.
What Would Actually Fix This
There’s no single solution. Several things would help.
Higher wages are the most obvious lever. When armed guard pay in Memphis consistently hits $22 to $25 an hour, you’ll see candidates choose security over warehouse work. Some companies are already moving in this direction, though clients resist the higher contract rates that follow.
Faster licensing would help too. If TDCI could process applications in five business days instead of the current timeline, companies would lose fewer candidates during the waiting period. The 48-hour training requirement is appropriate, and I’m not suggesting cutting corners on qualification standards. The administrative processing time is where the bottleneck sits.
Better retention programs matter more than most companies realize. Exit interviews at security firms across the country point to the same issues: unpredictable schedules, lack of recognition, and feeling like a replaceable body rather than a professional. Companies that invest in consistent scheduling, supervisor training, and even small things like annual awards ceremonies see measurably lower turnover.
Some firms are experimenting with sign-on bonuses, referral bonuses, and tuition reimbursement. These tools work in the short term. Whether they’re sustainable at current billing rates is another question.
Where This Goes
The armed guard shortage in Memphis isn’t a temporary post-COVID hangover. It’s a structural problem created by low wages competing against better-paying alternatives, a licensing process that creates friction in hiring, and an industry that has historically treated guards as interchangeable rather than professional.
Companies that figure out how to recruit, train, and keep guards in 2024 will have a massive competitive advantage. The ones still running the same playbook from 2019, posting $14-an-hour jobs on Indeed and wondering why nobody applies, are going to keep struggling.
I drove past that hiring event space on Poplar again on my way home. The security company tables were being packed up early. The Amazon hiring banner next door still had a line out front.
That’s the market in one image.