RM Online - A year of steady progress continues with MBA startup

The year has been progressing along and we are working on the issues in the long-range plan that I wrote about earlier this year and talked about at the A.R.A. convention in Orlando.

One of those issues was communication. You will be seeing some things coming out soon that will help improve our communication between association members, officers, directors and professional staff at A.R.A. headquarters and the new A.R.A. field office in Austin, Texas - and we will continue to work toward ongoing improvement of this crucial function.

We are again putting out a Cost of Doing Business Survey and a Wage and Benefit Survey. You may have already gotten the request for information or will be getting it soon. Please take the time to have someone fill out the information and submit it so we can make this as accurate as possible. Please remember that the Cost of Doing Business Survey and the Wage and Benefit Survey are two completely separate surveys, so you will have to fill out two forms.

The MBA - our Member Buying Alliance, which was announced at the convention in Orlando in February - is now a reality. We currently have 897 locations signed up and we are receiving more applications at the Moline office each week. The first MBA catalog has been published and distributed to the MBA members. As we go to press, there are 225 vendors signed up and in the program and we are continuing to sign up new vendors every week.

A.R.A. member Scott Kogge of Auglaize Equipment Rental in St. Marys, Ohio, was the first store to place an order through the MBA.

The average sales per day, as of our most recent MBA newsletter, was $10,700, so we know the program is working well for everybody involved. And we're really just getting started!

But we are off to a great start, so again, let me say thanks to everyone who helped make this project come together.

The Texas Rental Association has voted to join the A.R.A.'s state association program. I'm excited about the potential this has for both the A.R.A. and the members of the TRA. I would like to see all 50 states have an A.R.A.-affiliated state association to help represent the rental industry in each state. This would help the members in each state with legislation that is going to affect our industry as we continue to grow and become more visible to the public and the government agencies that regulate us.

The A.R.A. is continuing to help us in many different ways. We are doing national advertising in conjunction with the summer flight of TV ads offered for purchase to individual member stores. The CODB and Wage and Benefit surveys will help you compare your figures with other companies in the industry - please help us by submitting your figures. Education continues to be an important part of the A.R.A. - there are many products and services coming out for all of us.

If you would like more information on any A.R.A. program or service, please call me at (602) 278-3515 or e-mail me at KHES44A@prodigy. com or contact the A.R.A. office at (800) 334-2177.