RM Online - Jay wants your input on A.R.A. needs, services

It's the time of the year when all the committees come together in Moline to work on programs and services for the A.R.A. membership, and I would like input from A.R.A. members. I realize you don't know anything about future projects that may be in the works, but you should know about current and past projects.

I would like you to do a short evaluation of them for me. My address is at the end of this column. I won't try to cover all the programs and committees here, but please feel free to comment on anything I miss.

The events and tents committee will be coming in to work on the 1999 program in Las Vegas. Is there anything you didn't like about the 1998 program in Orlando? Or anything you'd like to see added to it?

The advertising and marketing committee will be working on new projects for next year. If you have any input on advertising programs, please write them down and I will pass them along to the committee.

Would you like to have a model store at the A.R.A. convention in Las Vegas in 1999? If so, what would you like it to have in it? I personally hope we can show warehousing and cleaning areas, but we are limited because of space. Should we use the space we do have to show our members better ways to merchandise items?

We are looking at the Cost of Doing Business report. Does the membership want the A.R.A. to do this report? One of the reasons it was discontinued was poor participation. Would you participate? Would you be willing to pay for the results to be sent to you? Should only members who submit information receive the report?

This can be a useful tool to compare your business with others. You can submit it with financial paperwork to your banker, to help show how your business measures up.

Are there areas we need to start educating the industry about, with articles in Rental Management? The magazine is a very valuable tool to help educate rental people all over the world and keep us up to date on the trends and issues that affect us.

Are there national legislative issues the A.R.A. should be addressing that will affect our industry? The government affairs committee has selected some key issues to address this year. There are many issues out there and the committee had to prioritize the issues they thought would affect the industry the most. Please study the 1998 legislative agenda and let me know if you have any additional concerns that will affect our industry.

ARDI is a membership service and ARDI CEO Phil Kelling and his staff are continually working hard to make it a good program available to all of the members.

Committee members donate a great deal of time to planning and developing products and services, which represent a very big part of the A.R.A. budget - we want to spend that money as wisely as possible. So please express your wishes. Please let me know which products and services you think we should retain and which might be eliminated; tell us if there are new products and services we need to consider. The committees work throughout the year, so your input is valuable at any time, not only in the spring planning phase.

My phone is (602) 278-3515; e-mail: KHES44A@prodigy.com; and mailing address: 2825 W. McDowell, Phoenix, AZ 85009.