April 11, 2023
Victor Proulx
Hello, American Rental Association (ARA) Region Eight members. I hope your business is off and running to a strong spring rental season. No matter how busy we get, there is one thing we absolutely must keep our eyes on: equipment theft. It’s a problem that seems to be getting worse for many as crooks get more emboldened. Fortunately, ARA has some resources to help us with the risk:
- Preventing and Handling Theft — This newly-released video is part of ARA’s Prioritize Safety monthly video series and provides information on how to prevent and manage theft within the equipment and event rental industry. This and other entries in the Prioritize Safety series are two-minute, animated videos that address a variety of safety topics for rental businesses. Each video is accompanied with two questions to test the knowledge of the viewer. These equipment- and event-specific videos can be viewed in RentalU, ARA’s online learning platform.
- Manage Your Risks: Equipment — This downloadable document, also available through RentalU, details proper security measures to have in place to protect your inventory from theft and other criminal activity.
- NER partnership — By partnering with the National Equipment Register (NER), ARA members can register up to 1,000 pieces of mobile, off-road equipment with NER’s HELPTech database for free. Learn more about it here.
It’s been a whirlwind of legislative-related activity here in our state and in our nation’s capital lately. On March 16, some of our members attended the NFIB’s (National Federation of Independent Business) Small Business Day in Olympia, Wash. Many state NFIBs host an event like this, and it’s always good to take part. We can engage our state legislators about issues that impact our rental businesses and get a clearer picture on taxes, regulations and mandates that are on the table or coming up.
Then, on March 28-30, myself and around 55 other equipment and event rental people traveled to Washington, D.C., to take part in ARA’s National Legislative Caucus. We met with our respective members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives and their staff members to talk about four key industry issues: workforce development, H-2B visas, taxes and catalytic converter thefts.
Others from our region who attended Caucus were:
- Heather Gray, RE Investment Co., Kalispell, Mont.
- Dave Markey, Pedersen’s Rentals, Seattle
You don’t have to be active politically to help our industry’s voice be heard on the issues that matter to us. I would encourage you to simply join ARAPAC, ARA’s political action committee. ARAPAC supports pro-business candidates regardless of party affiliation. Our legislators make policy decisions every day that impact our businesses. Supporting ARAPAC is a way that you can help further the industry and make ARA the leading voice for rental. ARAPAC is free to join, and I hope you will sign up today. You can get more information and join ARAPAC here.
By the way, April is Volunteer Appreciation Month. ARA’s success is due largely in part to the work of members who volunteer their time to help drive the industry forward. If you’re interested in learning more about ways to get involved, you can find more information here. From my experience, I can tell you that it is extremely fulfilling.
Best wishes for a safe and prosperous month.
Victor Proulx, ARA of Washington president
410 Rentals
Buckley, Wash.
253- 826-7671
vproulx@410rentals.com
