At the Sept. 24, 2011 PCOC Board of Directors meeting a new Membership contest was approved.

At each of the next three Board of Directors meetings (Dec. 2011, March 2012 & June 2012), the PCOC member who signs up the most members between each meeting will win $250 each. Recruitment numbers between each Board of Directors meeting will reset to zero for the purpose of awarding the $250 at each meeting. Each new member will also generate a raffle ticket for the recruiting member and the winning ticket pulled at the Convention in June 2012 will win an additional $400. Lastly, the recruiting member who signs up the most new members (cumulatively) by May 31, 2012 will win an additional $750.

We have been notified that some County Agricultural Commissioner Offices have requested that Registered Companies submit their monthly Pesticide Use Reports electronically. As a part of this request they are asking that the Registered Company supply them with the Use Report stickers that are required to be affixed to each report.

PCOC advises all Registered Companies to not give any Use Report stickers to your local County Commissioner's Office. The Structural Pest Control Act requires that a Registered Company "affix" the sticker to the Use Report for submission. By sending your supply of stickers to the Ag Commissioner's office and submitting your Use Reports electronically a Registered Company will be in violation of the Act and subject to cite & fine procedures. The Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Structural Pest Control Board Registrar and the Agricultural Commissioners Association are currently working out a solution to the problem and expect to make an announcement in Jan. 2012.

With the national gasoline prices hovering just around $3.60 a gallon, keeping a fleet of vehicles fueled and ready for business is an expensive proposition. Small business owners who rely on vehicles for delivering goods, making service calls or meeting clients at offsite locations are feeling the pinch. While most small business owners would ideally replace their gas-guzzlers with more efficient rides, that's a luxury few can afford. Here are some fuel cost cutting strategies, when hybrids aren't in the budget.

Locate cheaper gas stations. We may be talking pennies, but when you are filling up several vehicles with 20-gallon tanks, those pennies add up fast.

Train your drivers not to idle, accelerate too hard or speed. All of these are major fuel eaters. Ten seconds of idling can use up more fuel than turning off and restarting your engine.

Don't get lost. Looking up directions before heading out will keep you from wasting gas trying to locate your destination. The cost of vehicle GPS units have decreased to the point that installing them makes sense to make driving more efficient.

Lighten the load. The more weight in the vehicle, the more fuel consumed. Removing the excess weight improves the fuel efficiency.

Consolidate your trips. It takes a little planning but it's an easy and painless way to cut fuel costs. Routing your technician's stops will improve mileage and time costs.

Keep vehicles well maintained. Just giving your fleet a regular tune-up and keeping tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by an average of three to four percent.

Tack on a surcharge. You could raise your prices in general, or start a tiered pricing system, charging customers who live farther away a higher price. Regardless, make sure you notify your customers well in advance.

PCOC has scheduled four AHB Certification classes, Northern California on Oct. 26, 2011 and Southern California on Dec. 13, 14 & 15, 2011. If you did not perform the AHB update as required, your listing for AHB Certification has been removed from the AHB website. In order to have your listing placed back on the website you must retake and pass one of the scheduled AHB Certification classes. See this NewsBriefs for links to registration for each class. The next set of AHB Certification classes will be scheduled sometime in the Spring of 2012.