WSA Member Update 12.15.24

WSA Member Update 12.15.24 December 15, 2024 Dear WSA Member, I assume you all receive the monthly (soon to be bi-monthly) WorldSweeper e-newsletter I’ve put out for going on 20 years. However, in case you missed it, I suggest you make sure to read our annual “Minimizing Employee Stress and Defining Company Policy During the Holidays.” The same is true for our article reminding about the 2024 Section 179 program that allows accelerated write-off for equipment purchase and the 92 small business tax deductions experts say to use now as well as the 11 you should never try. Each month I review a number of articles, keeping in mind what might be helpful to WSA members. One complaint I have heard many times through the years is how sweepers go through tires. That’s true, but the question is how you might minimize tire wear as much as possible. That’s why, for this issue, I chose a WorkTruck article entitled “How Fleets Can Maximize Tire Lifespan.” Some of you may view me like a broken record (while others of you are probably right now thinking “What’s a record?”) when I keep bringing up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) programs. Reminds me a little of Mark Schwarze’s initial skepticism about the value of the new ‘internet website thing’ back in its infancy. However, when they got a call from a university ready to buy from them after looking at the first website in sweeping I’d subsequently built for the Schwarze family, Mark understood it was a wave of the future. In the past months I’ve seen great advantages in implementing AI to get answers to questions. I hope you have, too. If not, here’s the answer the one I use primarily, Perplexity.ai, gave to my question: “How can AI be used in a contracting business for improving both internal management and working with customers and routes for delivery of services to them?” Some of the response you’ll find more useful than other parts of it, but I left it all there for you to scan through. Note the ‘citation subscripts’ in the article; these are links to websites where the information came from. I also encourage you to upload to AI contracts you are sent and ask the program to outline for you any negatives to your company in your signing of the contract. Very informative and helpful. When I discussed the changes in WSA’s 2025 operation and renewal process in our last Update, as a way to keep the membership at the same price, I was cheered that only one WSA member said they didn’t plan to renew for 2025. Thank you. I’ll get the membership renewal invoices out later in the month so you can renew in either this year or in the next. One thing I’d like to cover next year are questions from you about topics to write about to address your business questions. In each Update I’ve mostly been coming up on my own up with topics that might help you. If you have ideas about things you’d like to know more about, please don’t hesitate to let me know. This month, our Safety First! post has info centered around the upcoming Holiday Season as well as preparations for the winter cold. December’s Safety First! message discusses the following: Traditional Seasonal Safety Reminders Cold Weather Safety Reminders  Cold Weather Ergonomics Reminders As always, if you have questions or comments about this WSA Member Update, or anything else to do with the World Sweeping Association or power sweeping in general, please let me know. Good Sweeping, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, Executive Director World Sweeping Association PS This is the first year I’ve used an AI program to make a Christmas picture. I asked for a “photo of Santa in a sleigh that sort of looks like a street sweeper powered by a couple reindeer.” What I got was the image at the top of this Update.