December 12, 2023
Doug Haas
I hope you all have had a very prosperous year. Reflecting on 2023, I know we all faced challenges with supply chains and increased costs of doing business, but we survived. Witnessing that ongoing resilience by people in our line of work is a nice way to end my three-year term as your American Rental Association (ARA) Region Six director, which wraps up in February.
As I look back on my time as your ARA regional director, I have to say my favorite part is the enjoyment I have gotten from meeting so many of you and visiting your businesses.
Our operations are all slightly different — be it in the products we rent or how we conduct business — but we all share the same goal: to provide great equipment for our customers so they can complete their projects better and more effectively than they could without us. In my travels across our region over the past three years, it’s been inspiring to see scores of members who work hard to achieve that goal each day.
I hope my time on the ARA Board of Directors has made a positive change for you and our association. I am confident that I am leaving you all in good hands with your new Region Six director, Steve Houser from U.S. Rents-It out of Jefferson City, Mo. I have worked with Steve for the past three years as he has helped lead the ARA of Missouri state chapter. He is a wonderful person — and way smarter than myself! — and I hope you will welcome him as warmly as you have me.
As we enter 2024, I look forward to our lives getting back to a more normal existence. You can view a more in-depth take on what rental operators across our region have experienced in 2023 and how things are shaping up for 2024 here.
In addition, I just want to let you know that this regional newsletter will be moving to a quarterly distribution next year. If you don’t want to miss out on any regional news before the next one comes out in March, click here. We’ll make sure you receive the latest in your email feed.
So long, and I hope to run into many of you at The ARA Show™ in New Orleans — I’d like to thank you face-to-face for the opportunity to serve you these past three years. I am sure that I will still stop and visit when I am out and about so don’t be surprised if someday I stop in just to say Hi!
Doug Haas, ARA Region Six director
Crown Rental
Burnsville, Minn.
952-894-7368
doug@crownrent.com
