CRA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: May 2014

Now that trade show season is over, rental operators across the land are gearing up for a spring into summer. Lawn and garden season will be extremely short this year so I hope you were able to profit from some pump rentals during that transition from winter. If you rent heaters you were one of the few people who enjoyed our extended frosty season. For those counting on summer rentals, you should see summer any day now. 

May 2014 is Rental Awareness Month across Canada, so I would encourage CRA member stores to spend some time thinking about how to take advantage of your association’s public relations firm, High Impact PR, to help you get some very economical publicity? You may get coverage in the press, on television or on the internet, depending on which media is best suited to promoting your event. If you are planning a promotion at your store, have an anniversary coming up or are just thinking of trying something new that is newsworthy, now is the time to forward your information to Chris and his team so they can work with you and try to get some press time for your project. Remember the four key themes for this year’s promotions will be lawn and garden, weddings and parties, construction, and customer appreciation.  You can pick the one that works for you, promote one concept each week, or take it wherever your imagination leads you.  The easiest way to get things rolling is to contact CRA managing director Nathalie McGregor at 1-204-223-0992 and she will help guide you through the process. 

Finding benefits that will suit the needs of members across our vast country remains a challenge for your association. Of note lately has been the investigation of whether we, as an association, can help facilitate more widespread insurance benefits for not only you, the rental operator, but for your employees as well. Discussions are taking place to see if we can establish group programs for automotive insurance, homeowner coverage, extended benefits, and more. With the trend across the country toward increased insurance costs, the ability to participate in group plans is getting more attractive each day. 

Since my comments last month on the incoming T4 engines, I have been getting some interesting feedback from operators out there. For those of you still debating whether to latch onto some of the last remaining equipment equipped with T3 or variant engines and are not sure if the cost savings alone are worth it, have you thought about disposal of that iron down the road? If you rely on auctions to dispose of your equipment when you are into fleet renewal mode keep in mind that T4 engines will have a smaller marketplace as much as five to 10 years down the road, as these units will have to stay in the North American market. Unless there are some rapid changes outside of North America, few countries will have the fuel supply required to run T4 engines.