Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2
I n s i d e t h i s I s s u e
Changing the Perception of the Towing Industry 2
New TRPI Members 2
2013 TRPI Scholarship Application to be Available January 3
Allen, Newberry Join TRPI Steering Committee 4
Understanding CSA and Why it Matters 5
Winter Driving Tips and Precautions 7
Four Good Reasons to Become a State Association Member 7
Calendar of Events 8
Major CSA Changes Impacting Towing 5
A d i v i s i o n o f t h e I o w a M o t o r
T r u c k A s s o c i a t i o n
Towing & Recovery Professionals of Iowa
717 East Court Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Phone: (515) 244-5193 Fax: (515) 244-2204
[email protected] www.iowatowingprofessionals.com
TRPI Steering Committee Names Chairman and Vice Chairman
TRPI Working for the Future of Iowa’s Towing Industry
when he married Julie Hanifen, the third generation owner of the Des Moines towing company. Allen is the light duty and sales manager for the 89-year old operation. “Being a part of TRPI gives us all a voice with the legislature and public,” Allen said. “We’re all small businesses and it’s hard for us to have a voice anymore. But TRPI provides the towing industry that opportunity.”
At its meeting that was held November 1, the TRPI Steer-ing Committee named its new chairman and vice chairman. Carmela Darrah-Chiafos, of Darrah’s in Hiawatha, and Collin Allen, of Hanifen Company in Des Moines, were respectively named chairman and vice chairman. Both were appointed to two-year terms. Carmela is a second genera-tion owner of Darrah’s, which was founded in 1981 by her father, Fred. Carmela first got involved in 1985, working
nights answering the phones. As her roles and responsibili-ties increased through the years, Carmela elected to took over Darrah’s as president in 2003 when her father retired. “The members of TRPI are a great group of professionals,” Carmela said. “I’m both ex-cited and honored to have been chosen to lead this committee that strives to move our indus-try forward to a better and safer place.” Allen has been involved in the towing industry since 2002
TRPI NEWSLETTER
The steering committee of Towing and Recovery Professionals of Iowa has recently gone through a few changes. As a result, we are working to create a bigger, better and stronger associa-tion for Iowa’s towing industry.
One of the main goals is to increase our membership by 50 new members by the end of 2013. We realize to get more of you involved we must become an organization that you will want to be part of. We know we must become a value to you as an owner or operator, to spend your hard earned money and time to be an active member.
So the following are some items the steering committee is working on to create a stronger towing association:
Creation of a new membership category for suppliers of the towing industry Adding drivers and operators to the list of member contacts so they can get information on
upcoming training and regulation changes that effect their jobs Organized TRAA training seminars Management seminars that will help TRPI members grow their businesses Quarterly newsletters filled with helpful information and business ideas Improving the image of the towing industry in Iowa Opportunities to network, communicate and socialize with other industry professionals
TRPI Working for the Future continued on page 4
By Collin Allen, TRPI Steering Committee Vice Chairman
Changing the Perception of
about towing. We are on our backs under trucks pulling drive lines in the mud, snow and whatever else is along the road. But there are ways to stay cleaner!! When you have to work on your back, lay a small tarp or plastic on the ground. Use gloves to keep your hands clean.
Your truck or fleet of trucks should be kept clean inside and out. If a customer should have to ride in your truck, can he or she get in it without trash lying all over or
stepping into a sea of pop cans? What does the customer see when they get into your truck? Will they call or use you again after riding in your truck?
Trucks should be in good working order when they are sent out to do a job. You or your driver should be able to perform the task at hand without doing major repairs to the truck every time it’s used. What does your customer think when you spend half your time working on your truck before you can perform their service? Can you or your drivers find chains, straps and other
For some reason, the general public has an image of the towing industry as a bunch of red-neck, no teeth, greasy, dirty guys who do nothing but try to rip people off. Why is that? Is this an image that we created for ourselves? Is it an image we desire or deserve?
Disney Pixar has done it with the movie Cars. Take a look … a rusted out truck with buck teeth. There is even an anti-freeze advertisement running on TV right now portraying a tow truck as the grim-reaper.
This is not the image that most of us work for in the towing industry. We all spend a lot of money on quality towing equipment to tow our customer’s vehicles. We spend hard earned money on training our employees, and we all take great pride in both our towing vehicles as well as our employees.
What can we do as an industry to change our perception to the general public? Well let’s first look at ourselves and our employees. Do we start the day in clean clothing or uniforms? Uniforms are a great way to keep employees looking nice. They are very reasonable in price and can be easily replaced if they get torn or stained. You can split the cost with your employees, and it’s usually cheaper and easier than buying and caring for their own clothing. Every morning your employees look clean and fresh to start the day.
We all know that there is nothing clean
A Message from the TRPI Steering Committee
items in a timely manner without digging around looking for them? Remember all of this shapes a perception for your customers. A truck in good working order also quickens up your time to perform the task of towing, and lessens your time and exposure along the road.
Operators of towing equipment should be well trained on the operations of their trucks. Using this equipment can be very dangerous to the untrained operators as
well as people around them. A well-trained operator can use their trucks very effi-ciently to take care of their customers in timely manner, and can eliminate possible damage to your customer’s vehicle. A well-trained operator can also perform the task at hand quickly to limit how much time they must spend along the road.
Charges for service are also a problem that tarnishes the image of the towing
industry. We are not trying to tell people what they should charge for towing services, but the result of overcharging directly affects the image of the industry. We all are entitled to a fair market price for services rendered. But let’s be realistic. There are many towing providers that charge two or three times what the fair market price is for the service. And they do it just because they can!
We cannot develop an attitude that we can price what we want because of our geographic location or lack of competition
2 T R P I N e w s l e t t e r | D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2
Welcome New TRPI Members
Lone Star Truck & Tire Brooklyn, Iowa
Contact: Dana Stevens
Ray Mount Wrecker Service, Inc. Waterloo, Iowa
Contact: Connie Mount
This is not the image that most of us work for in the towing industry. We all spend a
lot of money on quality towing equipment to tow our customer’s vehicles. We spend hard
earned money on training our employees, and we all take great pride in both our
towing vehicles as well as our employees.
Contribute to the TRPI Scholarship FundContribute to the TRPI Scholarship Fund
The TRPI Steering Committee recently established a TRPI scholarship through the Iowa Motor Carriers Foundation. An annual scholar-ship will be awarded to an employee or family member of an employee working for a TRPI member. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the TRPI Scholarship Fund. To offer your donation, please fill out the bottom portion of this donation form and return it to the address listed below. Any amount is accepted and appreciated. If you have questions, please call (515) 244-5193. Company: Name: Address (City, State, Zip): Amount Donating: _____ $50 _____ $100 _____ $150 Other
Return this contribution form with a check to: Iowa Motor Carriers Foundation
c/o TRPI Scholarship Fund 717 East Court Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309
Applications for the 2013 Towing and Recovery Professionals of Iowa Scholarship will be made available in January on the TRPI and Iowa Motor Truck Association Web sites. The TRPI scholarship is a $1,000 award and any employee or family member of an employee working for a TRPI member is eligible to earn the prize. The applying student must also be a permanent resident of Iowa and currently attending or planning to at-tend any of the following institutions: A community college in Iowa A public or private trade school
located in Iowa A private college or university
located in Iowa A public college or university
located in Iowa The TRPI Scholarship is presented through the Iowa Motor Carriers Foundation, which is a division of the Iowa Motor Truck Association that has been awarding scholarships since 1986 to Iowans pursuing an advanced degree at an Iowa college or university.
For more information, please contact DeAnn Moody at (515) 244-5193
2013 TRPI Scholarship
Application to be Available January
business or how to charge for their ser-vices. We are only pointing out areas that are most commonly the concerns of the general public that tarnishes the reputation of the towing industry. We sincerely hope we do not offend any company or person with this topic but, as a steering committee, we feel we should point out areas of concern. Many items touched upon are often overlooked. There is the old saying “you cannot always see the forest through the trees.” Sometimes we just don’t think about how we are doing things and the effects that it may have. We all work and live in a time when the Internet and social media has taken over the way people talk and communicate and even make buying decisions. It only takes a few key strokes from a cell phone or a computer and your reputation can be ruined in seconds. People use these sources nowadays to determine who is fair, honest and will take care of them – relying on the experiences of other people to determine who they will pick to provide them a service. Each and every towing provider has the responsibility to work at preserving the reputation, image and perception of the towing industry in Iowa. The TRPI Steer-ing Committee is determined and commit-ted to working with the towing industry in Iowa to create a reputation of our industry that is second to none.
in our area. Casey’s General Stores does not charge more for a pizza in small town Iowa because they are the only pizza place in town. The price is the same at every Casey’s throughout Iowa.
We also cannot take advantage of situa-tions like natural disasters to try to capital-ize on it. Companies like Home Depot or Lowes do not charge more for plywood and generators at their stores in an area of a hurricane. Neither should we. In times like this, our customers and our communities need our assistance and we should be there for them, providing a fair price for services rendered. Besides the fact that it is unethi-cal, it is also against the law. There is also a mentality in the towing industry of “who cares the insurance company is paying the bill.” It should not matter who is paying the bill. Charges should be consistent for all. Every time an insurance company is over billed, it has a direct reflection on rates that you, your family, your friends and your communities pay in there personal insurance premiums. If we all wonder why insurance rates are going up, it’s because insurance fraud and over charging is the No. 1 contributor. One of TRPI’s goals is to create an image and perception of the towing industry with the general public that we deserve and have worked hard to create. It’s not the goal of the TRPI Steering Committee to try to tell someone how to operate their
the Towing Industry
committee meeting, Carmela Darrah-Chiafos became the new chairman of the committee. Carmela is a second generation owner of her family’s towing business in Hiawatha – Darrah’s, Inc. Growing up in the towing industry, Carmela knows what it takes to be successful in today’s business world. We will all benefit from her leadership skills and will see Towing and Recovery Pro-fessionals of Iowa grow to something great with her leadership. I would like to personally thank Carmela for making the commit-ment to TRPI as our new chairman for the next two years and look forward to working with her. As you can see, we have some exciting changes on the horizon. I would like to thank all of you who have been members over the years and look forward to building onto our success together. For anyone who is not a member, I ask you for a chance. Join us for one year! We will show you the benefits of being a member of Towing and Recovery Professionals of Iowa. Anyone with questions or concerns about joining TRPI is invited to contact any of the steering committee members. Listed below are the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for each steer-ing committee member.
4 T R P I N e w s l e t t e r | D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 2
Carmela Darrah-Chiafos (Chairman) Darrah’s, Inc.
Hiawatha, Iowa (319) 363-7900
Collin Allen (Vice Chairman) Hanifen Company Des Moines, Iowa
(515) 243-3205 [email protected]
Doyle Kepley (Secretary/Treasurer)
Dave’s Auto & Truck Service Ames, Iowa
(515) 232-4954 [email protected]
Barney Bushore
Barney’s, Inc. Newton, Iowa (641) 792-1505
TRPI Steering Committee Members
Legislative Advocacy is an Intangible Membership Benefit
Not to be left off the list as one of the most important benefits of being a TRPI member is our affiliation with the Iowa Motor Truck Association as a voice at the Iowa State Capitol. Brenda Neville and her staff at the IMTA do an outstanding job of staying on top of the issues that affect our industry, and they work very hard to combat legislation that can negatively impact our livelihood. This alone is a benefit worth the price of membership. I had the opportunity last spring to work with Brenda and her staff on strengthening Iowa’s Move Over Law. I cannot begin to count out the number of road blocks and hurdles I ran into during this process. Brenda and her staff found a way around every one of these obstacles to help make the changes in the law a reality. There are many issues every year that goes through our state legis-lature that directly affects your small business and cost you money. Everything from compliancy issues, insurance, worker’s compensation, federal and state DOT regulations. Who has time to stay up on all of this, and who has the money to combat these is-sues? Brenda and her staff at the IMTA stay on top of all these issues, educate us to the changes and work hard to combat nega-tive legislation that affects us all. As I stated before, you cannot put a price on this benefit. The TRPI Steering Committee is also excited about the change of leadership we experienced this past November. During our recent
TRPI Working for the Future continued from page 1
Elected back in September, Collin Allen and T.J. Newberry were officially wel-comed to the TRPI Steering Committee when the group held its recent meeting in November. Allen, who is the light duty and sales manager of Hanifen Company in Des Moines, has been involved in the towing industry for more than 10 years. As a second generation owner, Newberry has spent nearly 30 years in towing, including the past five as the leader of his business in Keokuk, Iowa. The TRPI Steering Committee is com-prised of eight members elected to two-year terms. The group meets 3-4 times per year to discuss issues impacting Iowa’s towing industry and what can be done to improve TRPI as an organization.
Allen, Newberry Join TRPI Steering
Committee Bill Crom
Bill’s Towing & Wrecker Service Fort Madison, Iowa
(319) 372-8650
Joe Jennings Jennings Towing & Repair
Spirit Lake, Iowa (712) 336-3120
T.J. Newberry Newberry, Inc. Keokuk, Iowa (319) 524-4014
Norbert Bertling Trebron, Inc.
Coralville, Iowa (319) 337-5999
A D i v i s i o n o f t h e I o w a M o t o r T r u c k A s s o c i a t i o n 5
Major CSA Changes Impacting Towing In a conference call on December 3, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Anne Ferro announced that several previously published changes to the Compliance, Safety, Administration (CSA) program were uploaded “over the weekend and are now in place.” These changes were applied to the monthly update of carriers’ Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores. The FMCSA usually updates carriers’ scores on or about the 21st of each month, but chose to update the December scores early using the newly uploaded SMS changes. Below is a summary of the SMS changes that took effect on December 3 with ramifications to towers:
Moving load securement violations into the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC.
Renaming the Cargo-Related BASIC the Hazardous Materials (HM) Com-pliance BASIC.
Renaming the Fatigued Driving BASIC the Hours-of-Service (HOS) Com-pliance BASIC.
Attributing to motor carriers those violations found on equipment offered/provided by an intermodal equipment provider that should reasonably have been identified by the driver during his/her pre-trip inspection. A list of these violations is available through the FMCSA Web site (www.fmcsa.dot.gov).
Removing from consideration in the Unsafe Driving BASIC all speeding violations between 1 and 5 mph over the posted limit. This change will be made to all such violations retroactively (for the prior 24 months) and moving forward.
Reducing to “1” the severity weight for those speeding violations where a mph is not indicated. This change will be made retroactively to all such violations that occurred on or after January 1, 2011, and moving forward.
Making the severity weights for comparable EOBR and logbook violations the same. Previously, some hours of service violations (e.g. form and man-ner; no logbook) carried more weight for paper logs than for EOBRs. Now, all form and manner violations (both paper and EOBR) will bear a weight of “1” and failing to have a log will carry a weight of “5.”
Ensuring all recorded violations accurately correspond to the relevant in-spection type. In other words, only driver violations (not vehicle viola-tions) stemming from “driver-only” inspections will be counted and vice-versa.
Changing the terms used to describe carriers that do not have enough in-spections to be measured in a BASIC from “insufficient data” to “less than five inspections.” Also, the performance of those without adequate viola-tions to be scored will no longer be labeled “inconclusive,” but instead “no violations within one year.”
Assigning a percentile score (e.g., zero percent) to those carriers with a sufficient number of inspections, but otherwise lacking sufficient viola-tions to be scored (does not have at least one violation).
Revising the “Summary of Activities” section of a motor carrier’s infor-mation on the SMS Web site to separately list fatality and injury crashes.
The FMCSA is expected to propose, evaluate and implement additional changes on an ongoing basis. To that end, the FMCSA will likely propose another set of program improvements early next year. These proposed changes will likely include:
Adjustments to the severity weights assigned to violations.
Fine-tuning the utilization factor used to incorporate vehicle mileage into the exposure measure in the Crash Indicator and Unsafe Driving BASIC.
Modifications to the safety event (peer) groups the FMCSA uses to compare carriers of similar size and exposure.
Understanding CSA and Why it Matters
Through CSA, the FMCSA will rate all compa-nies operating commercial motor vehicles based on crash data and roadside inspection violations that are logged by law enforcement. Within the CSA Operational Model, the Safety Measurement System (SMS) quantifies the on-road safety performance of individual entities (carriers and drivers) to: Identify entities for interventions Determine the specific safety problems an
entity exhibits Monitor safety problems throughout the
intervention process Support the FMCSA‘s proposed Safety
Fitness Determination (SFD) process The roadside performance data collected is input-ted into the SMS, which ranks an entity‘s relative performance in the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs). Carri-ers are measured in each BASIC according to the number of adverse safety events (violations re-lated to that BASIC or crashes), the severity of violations or crashes and when the adverse safety events occurred (more recent events are weighted more heavily). A ranking of 100 percent means that carrier is the worst in its safety event group. If one or more of a carrier’s BASIC rankings rise above threshold, which vary depending on the type of carrier and BASIC, that carrier becomes a candidate for an intervention. Any company deemed by law enforcement to be a high-risk car-rier (above threshold in three or more categories) will almost immediately be subjected to an inves-tigation and cooperative safety plan.
Winter Driving Tips and Precautions
Winter is just around the corner. Besides the normal headaches for drivers with winter driving, this season creates an entirely different environment for drivers of tow trucks. Tow truck drivers not only have to be prepared for winter driving, but they must be able to safely operate their equipment in order to assist the motoring pub-lic in their times of need, all while keeping safety in their minds at all times. Tow truck drivers are required to be out in all kinds of weather and situations that often times leaves them towing vehicles from ditches, out of snow, that won’t start and many other less-than-ideal situations. The most important thing for tow truck operators is to be prepared for winter. Drivers are usually the best source for winter driving safety tips, and the following are some driver suggestions for win-ter driving safety that could be helpful: Complete a thorough pre-trip inspection, ensuring the truck
is safe to operate and has no safety related defects before leaving.
Allow extra warm-up time for windows to defrost. Allow extra drive time, taking into consideration reduced
speed for slippery roads. Keep headlights, tail lights and mirrors clean of snow and
dirt. Remember routine maintenance items such as tires, wiper
blades, fuel filters, light bulbs, windshield washer fluids, etc. Give snow plows extra room and don’t pass near bridges. Watch out for black ice, leaf covered roads, children playing
in snow banks and cars sliding through intersections. Increase following distance to allow for slippery roads. Not
only can this prevent you from being involved in an accident, it can also allow you enough room to move around traffic that has lost traction on hills.
Consider carrying chains and sand in case extra traction is needed.
Check safety items in the truck, such as triangles, flares and fire extinguishers.
Keep the fuel tank as full as possible. Not only in case of an emergency, but it’s also better for the truck.
If the vehicle becomes stranded, stay with your vehicle and call for help. Don’t try to walk to the closest assistance. Win-ter winds can chill a person in a matter of minutes. Staying in the cab, out of the wind, is always the safest option.
Use extra caution when climbing in and out of the vehicle and when working on and around the vehicle. Remember to use three points of contact at all times.
Clear snow off of the top of your vehicle and vehicles you might be towing. Blowing snow from vehicles while driving down the road can create a hazardous situation on the road-way, where other vehicles might have trouble seeing what is ahead of them.
Wear good quality boots and footwear. Slips and falls can have serious outcomes.
Carrying extra clothing and a “survival pack” is a good idea. An extra coat, hat, gloves, boots, blankets, candles, flash-light, coffee can and snacks might be needed if the weather changes or you become stranded.
Always wear your seat belt. Winter creates extremely hazardous conditions, especially for tow truck operators. The key is being prepared and always having a sense of caution and safety. If you are properly prepared, winter can be a beautiful time of year. Let’s treat it with the respect and safety it requires and we will all get home safely at the end of the day.
By Don Egli, Iowa Motor Truck Association Director of Safety and Security
Why Join Up?
1. Communication: The towing industry lacks adequate communication. This needs to change, and the associations are the ones to make this happen — not just in communication with each other, but also with other stakeholders involved and around the towing industry.
2. Speaking with One Voice: By coming together, we’ve proven over and over that this industry can get things done if we operate from unity, strength and with a common purpose and goals. The problem is that most of the time things fall apart again until the “next big thing” comes along. We need long-lasting and consistent unity that brings forth constant, positive things to the industry.
3. Legislative and Regulatory Issues: Consistent monitoring and lobbying is needed, not only to fight bad elements when they come at our industry, but also to promote positive elements consistently and to educate those who make the laws and rules that regulate us. We need to challenge questionable issues before they become big issues.
4. Training and Knowledge Building: Not just “how-to” about tow trucks but also for business applications, safety, etc. We need to invite people in the industry to promote existing knowledge and also promote persons from outside of the industry to gain that fresh perspective — that “out of the box” approach.
Four good reasons to become a state association member
A D i v i s i o n o f t h e I o w a M o t o r T r u c k A s s o c i a t i o n 7
FEBRUARY 7, 2013 Hazmat Educational Seminar
IMTA Office
Des Moines, Iowa
FEBRUARY 13, 2013
Drug & Alcohol Regulations and Supervisors Training Seminar
IMTA Office Des Moines, Iowa
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
Truck PAC Iowa Boxing Night
Embassy Suites on the River
Des Moines, Iowa
If you have interest in attending any of these events, please contact Phillip Nicolino by e-mailing [email protected] or calling (515) 244-5193 to register or get more details.
TOWING & RECOVERY PROFESSIONALS OF IOWA 717 East Court Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50309 www.iowatowingprofessionals.com
POSTAGE
Calendar of Events
