What's Holding you Down?

We are a week after the IFAI Tent Expo 2013 and one of the main focuses this year was the new ballasting study. How do you make the decision to weight your tents? The ever-escalating cost of doing business as it pertains to weighting tents often drives business owners to make decisions towards “what they can get by with”.  IFAI has spent a significant amount of money over the years on studies about staking, and now ballasting. My question is, how many people have or will actually use these tools to make the correct decisions when it comes to weighting? Maybe it is the age old, "Well... I've been doing tents for 20 years and I know what is best" or is it more a case of, “My competition doesn’t use the correct amount of weight, so if I want to compete, I can’t either".   

 Our thought on this… If you think you cannot compete because your competition is cutting corners, We would say that your business cannot afford for you to do it incorrectly.  One accident resulting in an injury or damage to property will cost more than taking the time to ballast a tent correctly.  A message to all of us 'know it alls' out there... do you actually know better or have you just been lucky? If we do not teach the next generation to perpetuate our industry in a safe and professional manner, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.  Tools such as the ballasting study can be a valuable asset if the information is used as it is intended. Weighting tents is an on-going issue and should not be taken lightly… Get it?... lightly :)

Tell us your ballasting war stories!

How to use Ballast!

To Weight or not to Weight... that is the question. Unfortunately in this day and age, using alternative ballast to hold your tent down is more prevalent than ever. I had a customer that called me and explained that they had just installed their first tent using the stakes we provided with the initial purchase. What is curious is that this call came 4 years after they purchased the tent. This does not mean that they never rented their equipment. Rather it means, prior to this event, for 4 years all previous installations they used ballast. Tent weighting is always a hot button for debate, and now the IFAI Tent Rental Division has come out with a guideline and ballasting tool to help with the process. For information on the IFAI Ballasting tool visit  http://tentexperts.org/posts/blog/258

After you check out the IFAI ballasting tool let us know what you think...

Is this a helpful tool?

Will this give you the data that will help you and your local code official sleep better at night?

Better off

 Over the last two weeks the prime time tv has been monopolized with the speeches from the political conventions. Both sides have their views on the world and both sides disagree on most topics. One topic that has been in the fore front for both sides is if America is better off today than it was four years ago.Let's boil this down even further and ask you, the tent renter if your business is doing better today than it was doing in 2008.  Let us know....

Borrowing is Stealing

I remember years ago, in my rental days, going to a sales call for a very elaborate wedding. After the initial introductions the client handed me a picture that the previous rental store had left behind and asked me if there was any way our company could do such an amazing event. I looked at the “fabulous” picture and said, not only COULD we do such an event, I actually DID the event in the picture. This was back in the days before iPads, so I took out my company brochure and showed the client the entire project, not just the one picture that the competition presented as their own.

With the advancement of technology, today it is much easier to search photos and event designs online. It used to take a lot of nerve to physically copy someone’s idea and pass it off as your own. The world-wide-web has made piracy more tempting, more anonymous and accessible to everyone. Unfortunately, in today’s world it has become a common business practice.

Example of Losberger photos used by competitors

How does your company deal with this issue?

Do you support companies that participate in such business practices?

Do you give credit to vendors when a photo is showing more than your product?

This is such a wide spread problem. I would appreciate any and all comments or share examples of your own!

When is it time to blow the whistle?

Nobody wants to be a “tattle tale” but when is it time to say something about an unsafe tent installation? We have all seen some installations that are not exactly by the book. In most cases the event goes on and nobody is ever the wiser. I am not talking about sour grapes because you lost a project to another company or a dirty tent but a true unsafe installation. At the end of the day any incident that occurs where people are hurt or property is damaged will affect all of us... you, your competitors, the industry. When should you speak up?


Check out these situations...

Hundreds of people under a Bail Ring tent that is installed with the king pole staked to the same 3 stakes holding the side pole.

Entrance tent with a less than 60lbs of weight holding it down for a week long festival?

Obviously, this is a touchy situation but we all stand to lose from inadequate safety.

If you saw these, what would you do?

Raw Goods Hard Facts

Hard Fact #1
According to Daily Finance July to December, 2011...
Cotton went from 84 cents a pound to $1.68... up 100%.
Crude oil went from $74.49 a barrel to $90.10... up 21%.
Corn went from $163.92 per metric ton to $251.02... up 53%.

Reality #1
In your world this means your Tommy Bahama shirt went from $90 to $120, your grocery bill is up $40 a month and the most obvious place most of us see this kind of movement is at the gas pump. But then again, it wouldn't round out a week without griping about the on-going cost to just get around town, let alone fuel your delivery trucks.

Cold Hard Industry Facts
Aluminum is up 18.5%
Vinyl components went up an astonishing average 130%
And again that 21% increase in crude


Industry Reality
Obviously, raw goods produced yesterday equal the products that service our Industry today.
How are you handling and preparing for the rising cost of doing business? Are you in tune with what is happening in the world around you? Tell us your ideas and share your feedback here.

Dennis Remsberg joins the Losberger US Team

Dennis Remsberg joins Losberger US as Rapid Deployment (RDS) Product Manager. Dennis is former Co-owner of Remsberg Tent and has been in the industry for over 25 years.

In the past, Losberger RDS has been proud to assist many world disasters from earthquake victims in China to tsunami survivors in Thailand. Under Dennis's full-time guidance, Losberger US will now have the resource to support and service all aspects of rapid deployment shelter needs from military to first responders.

Dennis will be based out of the Losberger US office in Frederick, Maryland and can be reached at dremsberg@losbergerus.com. We are priveledged to have such an experienced asset join our team. Please join us in welcoming Dennis.