WSA Member Update 2.1.24

February 1, 2024 Dear WSA Members,  We welcome our newest member, The Street Cleaner, which does business in the Greater Houston, Texas, marketplace.  FYI: V-Belt Supply, one of our member benefit discount providers at WSA, is offering a whopping 29% off its normal pricing – but only until February 8th. Word from members is the company’s belts are as good or better than other suppliers but pricing is much better. Note that WSA members normally get a 10% discount.  WSA has recently received several inquiries from members on two topics: tips on buying a used sweeper and on choosing applicants when you’re hiring. So, here are a couple of links to info on those topics. The first is an article first brought to you in August of 2021 entitled “The Non-Negotiable List: 20 Red Flags for Interviews.” The 20 are a good reminder about some red flags to watch out for. If you add some of your own, please consider adding them to the bottom of the article in the comments section. It’s easy to make mistakes when you buy a used sweeper. This is especially true when you are purchasing a preowned sweeper from a remote state and/or from a private party.  The late Carl Austin was the Used Sweeper Manager for Schwarze Industries. He provided a host of good advice on buying and selling sweepers. If you haven’t already read the info you’ll find it informative, whether you are new to the industry or an old pro.  The information will help you know what to look for in a used machine and the questions to ask the seller. The article also contains advice about how to prepare for selling, as well. (Example: “Those in the business of buying and selling sweepers report that a customer will buy equipment with new paint over something that is mechanically sound – even when told that the rougher-looking machine is a better one than the one next to it that looks like a new penny!”)  If you went to NPE and/or PAVE/X, WSA would welcome your assessment of which one was better. And, if you went to both, do you think both will be able to survive?  If you haven’t already, please renew your WSA membership as soon as possible. We have a shipping station set up in the office for sending out the renewal packets, which need to be in boxes due to the new addition of the cups. It would be nice to get that disassembled as soon as we can! (And since all renewal invoices have been sent electronically, please let me know if you didn’t receive yours.) 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 You will get a call from Rico Tucker, if you haven’t already. His assignment is to make sure you know about our new Telwell nationwide urgent care medical benefit. This is so potentially important that I thought it worthwhile to ask him to do that.