There’s no business like show business, they say… but I’m in the rental business. Like show business, our sad story is that speaker Jon Taffer has had to cancel …Bar Rescue gets first billing.

 

That being said, we have a new keynote speaker:

 

NASA astronaut, Navy SEAL, CEO and President of the National Medal of Honor Museum. 

⦁ A decorated dual career as a U.S. Navy Captain (SEAL) and NASA astronaut.
⦁ A proven leader of diverse teams as NASA’s chief astronaut and commander of the International Space Station.
⦁ Several hundred hours underwater as a pilot/navigator of a special operations mini-submarine as well as more than 51 hours of spacewalk time.
⦁ Motivation of audiences with his adrenaline-pumping journey across the sea, air, land and space, demonstrating how it’s in all of us to thrive in clutch moments to achieve our goals as well as the importance of effective leadership along the way.

 

Mission: Possible — It's in You!
Retired U.S. Navy SEAL and NASA astronaut Capt. Chris Cassidy never let fear or uncertainty stop him from achieving his goals. After almost missing his application deadline, a young Capt. Cassidy was accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy when an admissions officer identified the potential within and decided to take a chance on him. It was a 30-second conversation that would shape his life in the years to come. In this talk, Capt. Cassidy shares his personal story with the audience — both from his time as a Navy SEAL and a NASA astronaut — about the importance of persevering in the face of adversity and on the path to success. Drawing on lessons learned on the battlefield and in space, Capt. Cassidy inspires groups to embrace the “never-quit” mindset and shows how it’s in each and every one of us to recognize opportunities, shape them and take action to thrive in clutch moments and achieve more than we thought was possible as we leave our marks in this world, while bringing others up along the way.

 

Kellar Equipment
Allison Collins
34075 Avenue J
Yucaipa, CA 92399
(951) 202-3948
Info@KellarEquipment.com

 

CRA members, their employees and their college-age children are all eligible to apply for an RSIF Scholarship. Every student can use a helping hand. Perhaps you are considering continuing your education or would like to attend a trade or certificate program that will enhance your job skills. One of the missions of RSIF is to promote education in the rental industry, and that applies to adult students of all ages and at many levels. Complete the application and return it to CRA by Dec. 31.

 

A new proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Labor could make it more difficult to classify workers as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The new rule would replace the existing January 2021 rule, which focuses on two factors — control over the work and opportunity for profit or loss — to determine a worker’s independent contractor status.

Peer Executive Groups (PEG) revealed the order of the Top Gun Award winners at the Meeting of the Minds Conference (sponsored by Genie) and Top Gun Recognition Dinner (sponsored by Rouse) in Scottsdale, AZ, on Nov. 9, 2022. The Top Gun PEG Pinnacle Award for Financial Excellence recognizes the outstanding achievement of rental store operators. The award is given to the top 25% of stores, based on EBITDA as a percentage of revenue. This is the fifth year PEG has presented the award to equipment rental companies.

 

 

CRA's 2023 equipment and party rental tradeshow will be back at the South Point Hotel & Convention Center — a great venue choice, with the convenience of having the convention center and hotel on the same property.

 

Reserve Your Booth Today:
Booths start at $1,795* for CRA members and $2,195 for non-members. Corner booths are an additional $300. Optional events, such as the cocktail party and gala, are not included in the booth fee.

Save Money:
• Buy two booths or more and receive a 25% DISCOUNT on each additional booth of equal or lesser value.
• For even bigger savings, buy five booths and RECEIVE THE SIXTH BOOTH FREE!

 

Exhibitor Links:
• Exhibitor Application
• Exhibitor Floor Plan

 

Outdoor demo areas will be available on Monday, Jan. 23, at Dig This Vegas. The optional outside demo area is available only with the purchase of a convention-hall booth at $400.

 

Event Staging, Seating, Tent Flooring, Scaffolding. Since 1947, BilJax has offered real quality, real safety, and real values. For well over the last 70 years, demanding event companies, scaffold service companies, retailers and rental yards have counted on Bil-Jax to deliver the world’s most durable and reliable products, and customer-focused industry. Their North American steel is sourced almost entirely from longtime partners in Chicago. Over 94% of their part numbers are made in the USA. Not only is Bil-Jax ISO 9001 certified, all their core suppliers are ISO compliant and are required to meet or exceed strict ASTM standards.

 

Tent Ballast Solutions & Accessories. B&R Innovations is a highly skilled team with years of engineering and design experience for the event rental market. Staking tents is not always an option. The goal of B&R Innovations was to develop a system for ballasting tents that offered speed in installation, safety, easy storage and transportation. The Block and Roll system answers all of those needs, featuring blocks that offer forklift friendly, pallet-free moving and storage as well as a sleek, lightweight hand truck that provides hand-moving for up to 700lb weights.

 

The California Young Rental Professionals (CYRP) help facilitate opportunities for strengthening and amplifying the success of young professionals within our trade in order to continue the growing legacy of the rental industry.

 

Excavator attachments for your toughest challenges. Epiroc's range of excavator attachments is a reliable choice for construction, demolition, pipe line work and much more. Customers in the mining and infrastructure industries turn to Epiroc for higher productivity, safety and sustainability. Epiroc operates in a decentralized way through five divisions, all with global responsibility for their respective businesses.

 

Modern Rental Software for QuickBooks & ERP Rental Management System. Increase profitability and lower operating costs of your company’s rental business with the integrated rental asset management software, integraRental. Feature rich and easy to use, integraRental allows you to conveniently reserve, track, schedule and maintain assets across multiple locations.

 

Losberger DeBoer is the premier structure manufacture in the world. Size range from 3m (10') to 60m ( 200'). Losberger De Boer is one of the world’s leading suppliers of temporary and permanent space solutions. Our structures and buildings are used for commercial purposes, public use, events, as well as military and humanitarian applications. All Losberger De Boer buildings and tent structures are designed and produced in-house. All their products are available for sale or rent/lease.

 

MCS Rental Management Software. You can customize your rental solution from their "mix and match" options to find the perfect software combination to fit your unique operational needs. You can even keep using your other best-of-breed systems you already know and love! With the widest range of technology integrations from accounting solutions to telematics providers, you can create your ultimate workflow by bringing them all together into one end-to-end rental business solution and make a real difference to your world.

 

Abrasives-Diamonds-Flooring / Tile Equipment. Professionals all across the country look to Pearl Abrasive Company for a full line of technologically advanced abrasives and diamond products. Pearl professional products also include the company's patented Hexpin® Surface Preparation equipment, tile saws, masonry saws, concrete saws, core drill rigs and dust containment systems. In addition, they offer solutions for the tile and masonry contractor with the Tuscan Leveling System®, Smart Spacer™ and Roto-Wedge Spacer™. They provide fast delivery and friendly service from fully stocked warehouses throughout North America.

 

Quipli is a U.S. Based maker of advanced software that lets independent rental companies accept customer orders, receiving payments online, manage inventory, track equipment rentals, and much more. In the fall of 2020, Quipli’s founder had a frustrating experience trying to rent equipment online from a large, national rental company. That experience led to the founding of Quipli. Quipli enables local rental companies to offer the technology of the industry’s largest players, at a fraction of the cost. Quipli is a fast-growing company powering the online storefronts of dozens of companies from upstart rental companies to 8-figure rental businesses.

 

Online Marketing for Rental Companies. Consumers are faced with advertising messages from all angles and in many platforms, from mobile phones to websites, from social networks to traditional mediums. Digital is everywhere — and it’s in everything you do. As a recognized global leader in digital marketing, ReachLocal makes local digital marketing even more powerful because they're obsessed with getting impactful results for your business.

Propane, Propane Generators. Ted Johnson, our founder, built this company on the idea that safety is our number one priority. Propane is a hazardous material and a flammable gas, so it is imperative that we respect the product that we sell and therefore make sound decisions when it comes to our equipment and our actions. Ted Johnson Propane is an innovator in safety and customer service and is committed to those we serve and work with.

In a recent online article by Tom Quimby, senior editor of the CCJ Daily Report, it was stated that the 15 fleets that participated in North American Council for Freight Efficiency's Annual Fleet Fuel Study in 2021 (a total of 75,000 trucks) not only collectively saved $540 million last year but they also cut carbon. Click on "Learn more" to read the article, "Cut carbon with diesel latest NACFE fuel study shows."

The California Center for Jobs & the Economy California Business Roundtable has posted the monthly updates from the most current November 2022 fuel price data (GasBuddy.com) and September 2022 electricity and natural gas price data (US Energy Information Administration).

 

Some of the Key Takeaways:
• The core costs driving California’s energy prices are the state’s regulations and policies. We recently reported these additional regulatory costs estimated at $50 billion annually to households and employers and growing when California prices are compared to the averages in the other states.
• Regardless of the policy debate, state agencies understand how to reduce these costs. Specifically, testimony presented to the Energy Commission in November indicates that the largest daily gasoline price drop on record came in early October, as a result of Governor Newsom overruling the agencies to allow early production of the lower cost winter formulations to counter the supply shortages that led to price spikes.
• However, the governor’s proposed oil tax is yet another fuels production tax, which continues the policies that have led to the state’s high energy costs and carries the risk of increasing prices — even more, both directly from the effects of the tax and from increased risk of supply shortages in the future.
• If approved, the tax would also increase the costs of all other goods in the state economy due to the reliance on oil to manufacture and deliver essential products to Californians. This proposal would be the fourth major tax increase resulting from legislative action this year, even as the prospects of renewed recession appear to be growing.
• The proposed tax would in essence act as a price control. As experienced from comparable price controls enacted under President Nixon in the 1970s, price controls limit supply — both directly in immediate markets and longer term by reducing the incentives for capacity investments. They don’t solve a fundamental supply problem. They make it worse.
• Past investigations into the causes of California’s periodic gasoline price spikes have clearly defined the causes of the state’s periodic fuel shortages and price spikes. Rather than deal with these root causes, the state has consistently ignored the results and imposed more taxes and regulations that lead to more and higher price spikes in the future.
• Although fuel prices showed sharp drops as refinery capacity and suppliers returned to normal, Californians still paid 48% more than the average in all other states due to the state’s regulations on fuel formulations and production — the highest in the nation fuel taxes and the state’s general higher operating costs.

The Center for Jobs and the Economy has released their initial analysis of the October Employment Report from the California Employment Development Department. 

 

Recovery Progress
The October numbers showed mixed results, with the nonfarm job numbers posting a rebound strong enough to take the state just over its pre-COVID peak. Employment on the other hand posted a growing contraction for the third month in a row. The national numbers showed a similar result, with nonfarm jobs up and employment showing its first drop in four months, taking the national total just back below its pre-COVID level. Compared to the February 2020 pre-pandemic peaks, California was 0.2% above that recovery mark for nonfarm wage and salary jobs\ and backslid to 1.2% short for employment. Jobs, however, have substantial ground to recover in order to achieve recovery defined as return to trend. For additional information and data about the California economy, click on "Learn more."

There is near unanimity among economists that the United States will experience a recession in 2023. Last month, the Conference Board predicted a 96% likelihood of a recession in the U.S. within the next 12 months due primarily to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes. Relative to other states, California is ill-prepared to weather a recession, especially a severe one. But even without a recession, California’s Legislative Analyst predicts a $25 billion shortfall for fiscal 2023-24. The deficit, which the LAO calls a budget “problem,” is mainly attributable to revenue estimates that are $41 billion lower than previous budget projections. Moreover, the LAO acknowledges that programs that include inflation adjustments will make the problem worse: “Our estimate of a $25 billion budget problem understates the actual budget problem in inflation-adjusted terms.”

 

Particularly surprising is that all this bad news from the LAO doesn’t even assume that a recession is imminent. “While our lower revenue estimates incorporate the risk of a recession, they do not reflect a recession scenario.” If a recession does occur in 2023, the LAO says that revenues could be $30 billion to $50 billion below its initial revenue outlook. If the legislature took seriously the report from the LAO, it would take immediate action to blunt the damage from the economic downturn predicted for 2023. But that is unlikely because California’s political leadership lacks the will to reduce spending as well as the high tax burden which drives that spending. Government spending is California’s growth industry, exploding 600% since 1989-90. ($49.1 billion to $303 billion).

 

California’s out-of-control spending leads to the second reason why an economic downturn will hurt California more than other states: A reduced tax base due to outmigration of businesses and productive taxpaying individuals. This column has reported numerous times on how California’s high taxes, heavy regulations and lack of affordable housing have led to an exodus out of California. The well-known satire site, Babylon Bee, recently featured an image of a high speed train emblazoned with a U-Haul logo with the caption: “U-Haul Builds Bullet Train from California to Texas.” Humorous, but capital flight out of California is no laughing matter. To read the entire column, please click "Learn more."

ACTNEWS (Advanced Clean Tech News for the Ccommercial Transport Sector) recently reported that the move towards electrification for California fleets has been given a boost in the form of the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) Rule (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/advanced-clean-fleets), which has many speculating how they will meet this regulation in time.  

 

In the clean fuel sector, California has long been the beacon for pushing the needle closer and closer to zero-emissions transportation. With the introduction of the ACF Rule, this may become a reality much faster than many expected. The rule, if approved, aims to transition to 100% zero-emission vehicle fleets — where feasible — by 2045, with an accelerated transition schedule for drayage trucks and public fleets in line with Governor Newsom’s Executive Order.

 

To ensure this potential goal is met, fleets need to start planning now, and they need the right utility partner to develop an effective electrification plan. PG&E has been working diligently during the past few years to implement both its EV Fleet program and Business EV rate plan to help fleets easily and cost-effectively install charging infrastructure for their electric vehicles (EVs).

This month, we asked members about their thoughts concerning CRA's Rental Rally Tradeshow. If you have additional ideas for surveys for CRA members, please send your request to CRA at info@calrental.org. 

Gerald Dobbs, from AAA Rentals in Redwood City, is the winner of the December Survey Raffle. Congratulations Gerald!