(THESE ARE BITS AND PEICES OF INFORMATION EXTRACTED FROM THE MANUAL IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER AND ARE COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTEXT.  IT'S JUST TO SHOW YOU SAMPLES OF THE TYPE OF INFORMATION YOU WILL FIND IN THIS MANUAL. ALL EXCERPTS ARE GREATLY ABBREVIATED.)

                               NOTES ON CERTAIN EQUIPMENT


MOONBOUNCE

The Moonbounce is a giant, inflatable pillow type ride that kids bounce up and down on like an enclosed trampoline. It is known by many other names such as Moonwalk, Space Walk, Jupiter Jump, etc. It comes in a variety of sizes by MANY manufactures. I wouldn't buy anything smaller than a fifteen foot by fifteen foot model. It may or may not require a separate insurance policy from your general liability policy.

It is by far the most popular major attraction for the kids that you will have to offer unless you later get into other kiddie rides. They are expensive, there is some element of risk, maybe extra insurance and certainly a pain when it rains. They have to be cleaned. Many states require some kind of fencing around it for protection. However, they are outrageously popular, profitable, colorful, festive and give your company a big time, professional image. You can have a rental business based on birthday party business alone!

Another consideration is weight. Anything over two hundred pounds may require more people to lift and roll up than just one or two.  If you want to be a one person operation, stick to the smaller, lighter bounces.  Also, consider that some states frown on the type that are not enclosed in the front. They and some insurance companies feel that it is too easy for kids to bounce out the front of this kind and be injured. I prefer the fully enclosed type. Some types have a roof and some are open at the top. The versions with roofs may scare some children if the bounce starts to deflate by accident. There is no real danger, but it still scares the kids (and the parents) nevertheless. It does somewhat provide shade for the kids on a hot day, however, I have never found that to be a problem anyway.

A roof does somewhat help you to continue to operate during a light sprinkle of rain. If your bounce has an open top, the surface gets wet quickly and bouncing becomes riskier. A roof will somewhat prevent leaves and such from getting onto your bouncing surface. A roof is higher and therefore more of a spectacle. However, it costs more. Some versions have netted sides and some have canvas sides. Parents can see their kids better with netted sides, but I don't think that's a major consideration. Kids putting their fingers into the netting and hanging on the netting is always a problem because they can tear the netting.

HIGH STRIKER

A high striker is the thing you’ve seen at county fairs all your life. It’s where you swing a mallet and try to ring the bell. Men have been trying to impress their girlfriends and buddies for generations by trying to ring that darn bell. It’s a very versatile piece of equipment and fairly popular. They also have a kiddie version of this device. The one point I want to make about the high striker is about safety. I always cordoned off the area for the striker because if someone isn’t paying attention and they stray into the area where someone is swinging that big heavy mallet, they could get seriously injured. I’d suggest that you rope off the area for both the adult or kiddie version. You’re asking for a negligence lawsuit if someone is injured.

TRACKLESS TRAIN

I’m a big fan of the trackless train because it’s so versatile. You can rent it for almost any event or promotion. Try it at car dealerships (with concession machines, balloons, advertising inflatables, Sky Dancers, etc.) I would only send this out with an experienced, reliable employee. I wouldn’t rent it to the public without an attendant even though it is literally driving a riding lawn mower. There’s just too much potential for an accident because of some volunteer who’s not paying attention. I sell this train, if you’re interested, go to my Webster. It’s a dandy, and the leader in the industry.

GEMSTONE MINING SLUICE

Want something hardly anyone else has that both kids and adults love and is very profitable? Try my Gemstone Mining Sluice where people mine for rough gemstones in an 8 foot, portable mining sluice. It has a Plexiglas liner inside that prevents any leaks. You sell plastic bags of sand and gemstones mixed together. They pour the bag into a strainer type device and dip the strainer into the flowing water. The water mixes with the sand and it goes through the strainer, leaving the gemstones in the strainer. The folks pick out all the gemstones and put them into the plastic bag to take home. Also, a great educational device to rent to schools or use it yourself at carnivals and festivals. Very versatile and suitable for almost any type of event. Investment is around $2000. This is a great product that your competition probably won’t have and won’t know where to get it.

WAX HANDS

Wax Hands is a very popular item that is also quite versatile and is primarily, but not exclusively for kids. I would also not send this product out without my own experienced employees to run things. The machine is expensive, not a no brainer to operate, there is a series of steps in making the hands, and a learning curve to getting the hands off the real hands without breaking. I had a booth across from one of these at a big festival and there was hardly two or three minutes of every hour that there wasn’t a line of kids lined up.

DUNK TANK

A dunk tank is a tank of water that a person sits over. Another person throws balls at a target. If they hit the target, the person falls into the water. They are very popular, but only work well if it’s a hot day. And you can never plan for sure on it being a hot day no matter what month it is unless you live in a warm weather climate. Manufacturers are listed later in this manual. It is a huge crowd pleaser if you can get selected management people to take the good natured plunge. It’s also a great rental item for fundraisers.

POPCORN MACHINE

This machine will get the least amount of use of all your concession machines. Popcorn can be made at home and is available everywhere. Not the same with cotton candy and snow cones. Gold Medal makes every kind of machine you could want. There are all kinds of models. I would get one that is durable and going to last. Remember, you are going to be renting this equipment to people who could not care less about your equipment and are not going to take good care of it. Get a good sturdy model, but a smaller size.

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                                              OPERATIONS

STORAGE OF EQUIPMENT

When you are first starting your business, your garage, basement or a storage shed would hold all of your equipment just fine if you have sufficient space. If not, rent a public storage space. In Cincinnati, a 12' X 20' storage space costs around $65.00 per month. This is a perfect size because it will not only house all of your startup equipment, but has extra space for you to grow into as you add more equipment. However, a small space can be used at first, then you can move up to a larger space as you need it. That's assuming the storage facility has a larger space the size you need available when you need it. I ran into this problem. I would take the first 12' X 20' that became available for the reasons I mentioned before.

The best way to make economical use of the space is to build or buy shelving. I made sets of shelves out of ordinary lumber. The shelving units were four feet wide and four feet deep. This way there is no waste of lumber since plywood and boards come in lengths of eight feet. I used four 2 X 4's for each corner, eight feet high. Against the two 2 X 4's on each end of the shelving unit, I nailed 2 X 2's across them every 6 inches to make shelf brackets. Having a bracket at every six inches in height makes the shelves very adjustable. This will become important as you add new equipment and need to make efficient use of space. Then I nailed four foot 2 X 2's across the back of the two end pieces to keep them from spreading and to stabilize. I cut 4' X 8' half inch plywood into two 4' X 4' pieces. These were my shelves.

Build as many of these units as you need depending on how much space you have to work with and how quickly you add new equipment. It is best to keep equipment off the floor if there is any chance of flooding or dampness in your storage space. Mildew is also a no-no. (This will happen if you put your bounces away when they are wet. Don’t do that.)

If you rent a storage space, make sure that you have access to the facility at all hours and that you can back your vehicle into position for loading. Obviously, the more secure the facility is, the better. Use a rust resistant, heavy duty lock. It would be a plus to have an electrical outlet or an overhead light in the storage space. You may want to use it as a temporary work space for some project in the future.

Eventually, or maybe even starting out, depending on your budget, you will need to rent an office / warehouse facility to accommodate all of your equipment. I won’t waste a lot of space describing how to go about renting a building or part of a building. You’re an intelligent person. Just utilize the shelves as much as possible and make efficient use of all of your space. If the space has an overhead door, so much the better. Water faucet outside the building is helpful. Ability to pull your trucks into the parking lot and leave them there is a must for efficiency.

PRICING YOUR PRODUCTS / SERVICES

To a large extent, pricing your rental fees and other fees is dependent upon what your competition is charging. You don’t want to be too high or too low. There are certain things you can stress about your products that may be superior to your competition. For example, if you have bounces that have fronts as opposed to open fronts, stress to your customer that yours are safer because of that aspect. You may find that the size of your units may be more conducive to the customer’s needs. Point out that your weekday prices are lower than the weekend rates. Try to sell other supplementary options to the customer such as spin art, concession machines, sand art, tattoos, etc. Other companies may not have such items to rent or sell and you may get the job over them because of that or the convenience of getting all of these elements from one source.

If it’s a company picnic, especially, give the customer some freebies, such as free scavenger hunt sheets, or free balloons, or a free jug of snow cone syrup. These items cost you very little and often go a long way in getting the business over your competition. Always try to throw in some freebies of some sort.

Most amusement rental companies have a birthday party rate that is lower than their commercial rates (festivals, corporate picnics, carnivals, etc.). Birthday party rates are usually lower because individuals usually don’t have the budgets that companies do, plus the rental time period is usually shorter. Most party rates are two to four hours. Most commercial events are for four to eight hours.

Call all of your competitors and get the rates for as many products as you can. Ask them to send you their price sheet and brochure. Ask if they have a web site. (Don’t worry, they will be pricing your company as well once the Yellow Pages come out.) Price yourself at the same price or slightly higher than your competition. Sometimes you can get more money if your unit is larger than theirs or if you are throwing in some freebies. Offer a free concession machine if they order over $500 worth of business. Give them an extra hour of use if it means losing the sale without it. Waive the delivery fee if they order a large order. Wheel and deal with customers. Give them half price off of a major item on their next order if they use you instead of someone else.

I could give you prices of what I charged, but it would be meaningless because rates go up all the time and it varies from city to city. Once you know what your competition charges, fine tune your fees similar to theirs, but add the further enticements such as freebies, half of a major item for their next order, etc.

Build your products in Birthday Packages, Carnival Packages, Picnic Packages, etc. Have four or five packages for each type of event. Demonstrate to the customer that with a package, you get a better value because you get a volume discount for ordering more items. This a good way of upselling to your customers.


COST OF CONCESSION SUPPLIES / PROFITS / RETAIL SALE PRICES

For a complete run down of the cost per servings of most food concessions and what the price range is for selling them at retail prices, go to this web site:

http://www.gmpopcorn.com/profits.htm



ESTABLISH A RAIN POLICY OR BAD WEATHER POLICY

Have the customer make the decision as to whether to have you deliver the equipment or not. If, in this process, the customer loses their deposit, you need to make a record of this for future reference. Also, if they do have a credit coming, you need to document that as well.

Mark the ticket or order with some designation that on this date, the customer lost their deposit or garnered a credit and why. Meaning that this customer has no credit coming for this past rental or that they do have a credit of a certain dollar amount coming and why.

Note the name of the person who made the decision as to whether you should deliver or not, because a different person from the same household, event or company could call back later claiming a credit due. You need documentation as to what happened back on that date for that rental to know if their claim for a credit due is valid or not – and you need proof to back it up.

Keep all of these tickets or orders in a DEPOSIT FORFEIT / CREDIT file so you can find them quickly. This way, if someone calls later and claims a credit, you can look in your file and see if they really do have a credit coming or not. Put a time limit on credits due. Maybe six months or a year at most.

GOOD IDEA!  10% INSURANCE FEE

Here’s a fairly common practice used by many rental companies of all types. When the customer is ordering your items for rental, you give them an option. Explain to them that they are responsible for any damages to your equipment while it is being rented. Explain that these damages, especially to major items such as bounces and other inflatables, can be rather expensive when they have to be repaired. You might have to ship the unit back to the manufacturer, have it repaired, ship it back to you again, etc. This could end up costing the customer a few hundred dollars. Give them the option of insuring themselves against any fees to pay if the rental item is damaged while under their care.

For 10% of the rental fee, (i.e. If a bounce is being rented for $400, this fee would be 10% of $400 = $40.) they customer can buy insurance against any damages they might incur. If they pay this fee, they won’t have to pay anything if it should become damaged. (They still have to give a security deposit for any items that are not returned, late fees, cleaning fees, etc.) Explain that this is only an option. However, many people prefer to play it safe and not have to worry about any damages. Sometimes the customer will opt to pay this 10% fee – sometimes not.

However, when they do, it’s like money in the bank for you because the overwhelming majority of the time, there is no damage done to your items. Not only do you not have to worry about taking someone to small claims court, or alienating a customer when there is some damage and you tell them they will have to pay for it, but you pocket 10% of the rental fee on a fairly regular basis.

This will add up to thousands of dollars over the course of a year’s time. Sure, you will have to pay for the damages yourself, should there be any damage from that customer, but just like all insurance companies, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that there won’t be any damages. You make out like a bandit! I know of a big amusement rental company in Indianapolis that does this and literally generates thousands of extra "free" dollars every year with this policy. I think it’s a fine idea you should consider.

CREDIT CARDS

Credit cards are a must. They are so convenient for customers, most of which place their orders over the phone. When they book in advance, many times they have paid their credit card bills before their event takes place. As with checks, there are always going to be a small number of people who are not hones or ethical that will take advantage of you. This is true in any business. A few problems with bad checks and credit cards are to be expected with any company of any kind. It’s just a part of doing business. Ninety nine, point nine percent of your transactions will be problem free.

You will find credit card companies galore on the Internet. They also advertise in business and entrepreneurial magazines. It really pays to shop around for this vital service. Your local bank is usually not the best deal around, I can assure you. You can also have PayPal payments available on your web site. This automatically gets you good rates and little problems in signing up without various fees and restrictions.

However, not all customers have computers, plus, some customers will just stop by your place of business. That’s kind of awkward paying with PayPal in that circumstance unless you let them use one of your computers to go onto your site and pay with PayPal that way. That doesn’t help the customer who phones in their order, but doesn’t have a computer. Shop around, you’ll find a good deal.
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                              MARKETING AND PROMOTION

BROCHURES

Assuming that you mail your brochures before you make personal phone calls to your potential customers, your brochure will be the first impression your customer has of your company. Your brochure will be the most important marketing tools you will have. It will pay to have the most professional brochure you can afford. If you can afford full color with pictures, go ahead and do so. It pays off handsomely. Full color will sell much better than black and white or even two colors. Full color just leaps off the page.

I have two sources at the end of the manual where you can get 5,000 full color, tri-fold brochures for $395! (at the time of this writing). It’s the best investment you’ll ever make. That even includes the company doing the design layout for you. They will probably be able to get some pictures for you. You can get pictures from suppliers who you buy the equipment from.

In the beginning, you won't have pictures to be able to put in the brochure. Make it a habit of taking pictures at all of your events with a good camera until you have an ample supply of photos that can be used for your brochures and/or a photo album that you can use for promotional use.

Don't send out a tacky brochure. Photo copies and typewritten materials don't make a good impression. In fact, they are a total turnoff. Typewritten material is fine for correspondence and listing services in a letter, but it is not a good substitute for typesetting. Do it right. Spend the money to send out a quality brochure and one good event of rentals will more than pay for the entire project.

Your brochure is not only your customer's first impression, but the most lasting impression (other than a professional video) and the most referred to piece of literature you will have. It will be passed around the table to the members of the event planning committee or viewed by the customer having their home party or whatever. Their impression of your brochure is critical. They need to feel confident that they are dealing with a professional operation. If your brochure looks cheap and tacky, they are going to assume that your level of service and expertise is also sub-standard. If you don't make a good first impression, you may not get the opportunity to make a second impression.

You should do two mailings per year for schools - January and August.

You should mail to all churches once per year. You should also mail your brochures once a year to all companies in your area that have twenty or more employees. Usually most companies with less employees than that don't prove to have the budget for your services. You can get a list of these companies from several sources.

Usually the Chamber of Commerce has such a list. They may have it broken down into one list of employers with twenty to one hundred employees and one hundred to five hundred employees, one list of five hundred to one thousand employees and over one thousand employees. Mail to everyone at the same time, but concentrate your phone calls on the largest companies first because they will have the largest budgets for their events. They will be the most profitable.

Be careful with the Chamber of Commerce list though. Many times their list is only of members of the Chamber and may not include hundreds of other applicable companies you need to mail to.

You can also "rent" a mailing list from any number of mailing list companies that you will find listed in the Yellow Pages under "Mailing List Companies". These companies specialize in renting you a list such as you need. I use the term rent because you are supposed to use it only one time. You are supposed to pay again to use it again in the future. The way they supposedly prevent you from using it again without paying for it a second or more times is to "seed" the list.

To seed the list, they simply insert their company's name and address onto several labels in the list. When you do your first mailing using the list, they will get copies of your literature. If you do a later mailing, they will get your literature a second time. That's how they will know if you use the list again without paying for it. Apparently, they don't think people will go through the list and remove the mailing company's labels from the list. This way you literature will not go to them and they will never know how many times you use the list.

When ordering your list, it is useful to have it coded in a few ways. I ordered a list that was coded A, B and C. The companies listed with A had over a thousand employees. The B companies had five hundred to one thousand employees. The C companies had one hundred to five hundred employees. This is very useful information because it enables you to prioritize your phone calls by calling the largest companies (who are the most profitable) first.

You should also have the labels addressed HUMAN RESOURCE DIR. / EVENTS ORGANIZER on the first line of the label. This is because the Human Resource Director or someone else working in the Human Resource Department is most often the person in charge of the picnic. In some companies, however, the boss's secretary or the boss themselves may be lining up the event, or sometimes it's just a regular employee, or sometimes it rotates to different people each year, or sometimes it's an entire committee. The majority of the time though, it's someone in Human Resources.

After you put HUMAN RESOURCE DIR./ EVENTS ORGANIZER on the first line of the label, then list the company name, address and zip code with the A, B, or C code in the upper right hand corner of the label. I also ordered a second list that included all of the above, but also had the phone numbers of the companies listed. This batch of companies with phone numbers was just printed out on sheets. I used it solely for a phone calling sheet, so they didn’t need to be on labels. This saves you countless hours of looking up phone numbers to call these companies.

You can also get lists for outlying cities within a close enough area to service these cities. You may find that the Chamber of Commerce list may have some companies on their list that are not on the rented list and vice versa. No one single list is fully accurate, so it makes sense to get both lists and cross reference them to weed out duplicate names.

When you receive your lists, have them retyped or run them off on a computer that will be a suitable format for the use of Xerox labels (actually Avery labels). These self adhesive peel off labels come on a sheet of thirty three labels per page. It's three rows across and eleven labels down the sheet. These are available at any business supply store. When you have them transposed to this format, every time you need to do a mailing, you just Xerox the listings onto these label sheets and your labels are ready to go. You don't have to retype them every time. Once this formatting is done, you will never have to do it again. Just Xerox the new labels and mail them out. Then you follow up with your personal phone calls after that.

When you are ready to do your mailing, don't make the same mistake I did at first. I spent days peeling off the labels and sticking them on the brochures, attaching first class postage, inserting flyers and stapling them shut. Later, at a business trade show I discovered that there are mailing companies that will do all of this work for you and best of all, it doesn't cost you any more than if you did it yourself!

The reason is because these companies use bulk mail which costs dramatically less than first class postage. Because you save so much on the postage, the savings pays for the rest of the labeling, inserting and stapling. The end result is that you don't have to do any of the work and it costs the same as if you did it all yourself!

Just take your brochures, labels and flyers (if any) to the mailing company and they will do all the work, categorize them according to zip codes, bag them properly for the post office to accept it as bulk rate, take it to the post office, pay the postage, mail them, send you a bill for the total along with a receipt from the post office proving that they mailed the correct number of brochures that you are being billed for. It's the only way to fly.

By the way, don’t ever print your prices on your brochure. If you do, whenever you change your prices, the brochure will be out of date and difficult to use them anymore without causing problems. Always print your prices on a separate sheet that can be folded and inserted into the brochures. You can change those with no problem and no great expense.

Also, for the same reasons, don’t print something like, "We’ve been in business for 17 years." Because next year, that information will be wrong also. Say you’ve been in business since …..(whatever date you started your business). That way your brochure won’t be out of date regardless of whenever you give it to someone.

WEBSITE

Having a web site for this business is great for the same reasons one should have a web site for any business. You don’t have to have as much information on your brochures because the brochure can direct them to your web site for a complete list of services. It can include all the details, pictures, lists, descriptions, and so forth that you don’t have space for on a regular brochure.

It can save you hours on the phone too. It saves you from having to repeat all the standard information that anyone can read for themselves on your web site. It’s a total waste of your time to have to do this. Plus, you may forget certain things that are important. Your in the Internet age. Use it to your advantage. (It can save you from attending committee meetings sometimes too, although you should always try to get invited to a committee meeting because it enables you to bond with the committee. You’re no longer a stranger to them and you can provide input and on the spot advice and suggestions that your website can’t do.)

Some companies think they don’t even need a brochure since they have a web site. WRONG! If a customer sees you in action somewhere, you can give them a brochure. They will stick that in their drawer of files for future reference. Six months later, they won’t remember your name, but they will remember that they have one of your brochures. They will dig it out and then go to your web site or call you. Without the brochure, they have no way of remembering you. A business card is fine, but doesn’t convey nearly as much information as to what your company is all about as opposed to a brochure. Plus, you still need something to mail to customers or potential customers who don’t know you exist. Brochures and web site – best of both worlds.

Another reason I would strongly suggest having a web site. It adds a strong degree of professionalism. Plus, it makes you look bad if all your competitors have a web site and you don’t. If you’re not comfortable in designing one yourself, go to CITYMAX.COM. That’s the web site building company that I use. It’s for novices and the more savvy web site builder. You won’t believe how easy it can be. Trust me on that. You can build a web site. If I can, anyone can.
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                               WHO WILL MY CUSTOMERS BE

BIRTHDAY PARTIES

Home based birthday parties are a mainstay of this business. A bounce is so popular that kids will have their parents book the bounce six months or more in advance. Explain to customers that you offer bounces at a discounted rate to home parties, but not on Saturdays during the summer months when they are in such demand that you can’t afford discounts. Parents will opt for Sundays or weekday evenings to get the discount.

Lower prices for birthday parties are justified because parents don’t usually have the budgets that commercial jobs do, it’s easier to deliver and set up at a home party, you can get all of your money easily upon delivery and because there are so many parties going on year round. If you schedule properly, you can doing several of them in one day.

Offer free balloons, or carnival games prizes if they rent your favorite package. These prizes, for only 10 or 12 kids, costs you pennies. Try to put together birthday packages such as: one bounce, one cotton candy machine (because it’s so much easier to clean and there’s not so many different accessories), three carnival games, free prizes, balloons, temporary tattoos, and spin art. Have about four or five different birthday party packages at different prices for them to choose from.

In addition to my standard discounted rates for two to four hours, I had a $95 special for birthdays. It was $95 for one hour! I could book a job at 9:00 am, another at 11:30, and at 2:00, and at 3:30 and at 6:00. That’s assuming all of the bookings were relatively close together. I booked a full day of five rentals many, many times at that rate. That’s a total of $475 for the day just for the bounce. That’s better than a one time rental of $300 for the day.

Plus, I made more money from the other elements I rented to them times 5 parties instead of just one. Even subtracting gas expense and staff expense, you should still net around $1300 for the day. That’s just for one bounce, one concession machine, concession supplies, one spin art machine, carnival games and one delivery person. Multiply that times five or six delivery people per day.

I realized early on that the parents had the kids ride the bounce for a while till their hearts content, then they had to move on to other things such as the cake cutting, spin art, carnival games, etc. With only 10-12 kids average per party, the kids would each ride for their 3 minutes, then the next shift would go. Each child would be riding every 3 minutes. As much fun as they were having, still, the novelty of it wears off when you are riding that often. After a half hour, not only had the novelty worn off for the moment, but they had to move on to other things. The average party is only between an hour and a half and two hours.

Therefore, why have the bounce there for two to four hours when they had already ridden until they were blue in the face, plus, they had other things to work into the time frame? It was a waste to have to pay more money to have the bounce there for more time.

We structured it so they would ride for the first half hour, go do spin art for twenty minutes and then back for another 10 minute farewell bounce. That added up to a full hour with every kid riding more than enough.

During that twenty minutes, the delivery guy, who would normally be standing around doing nothing, supervised the spin art for the kids. It sped up the activity, kept things clean and added value to the customer’s package.

Then they returned to the bounce for their final ten minutes of bouncing. After that, while the delivery guy packed up the bounce and the spin art machine and supplies, they continued on with carnival games and cotton candy by themselves. By the time my delivery guy was packed up and ready to leave, the parents were done with the carnival games. The driver would load the three games into the van and leave. The customer would then continue on with balloons , temporary tattoos, cake cutting, etc. after the driver left.


The schedule went like this:

8:30 – 9:00          Driver arrives and starts to set up bounce & other equipment

9:00 – 9:30          First half hour of bouncing

9:30 – 9:50          Spin Art

9:50 – 10:00        Final ten minutes of bouncing

10:00 – 10:30      Driver packs & loads bounce & spin art equipment

                          Parents do carnival games & cotton candy by themselves

10:30 – 11:00      Driver loads cotton candy and games, goes to next job

                          Parents continue with balloons, tattoos, cake cutting, etc.


All it took was getting the customer to agree to this tight schedule and making sure I sent out a driver that could control and maintain this tight schedule throughout the day. As a back up, I had the driver always take pre-packaged cotton candy in bags that we made up the morning of these jobs. We had it in the contract that if we were running short of time because the carnival games were taking too long, we would provide the pre-packaged cotton candy instead of taking time to make it with the machine. That way we could just hand it out and quickly be on our way. They understood that we had a tight schedule and they had to adhere to this to fit everything into our time frame. They were getting such a bargain that they didn’t care at all.

Offer free balloons, or carnival games prizes if they rent this package. These prizes, for only 10 or 12 kids, costs you pennies. Try to put together birthday packages such as a bounce, one concession machine (try to make it cotton candy, because it’s so much easier to clean quickly and there’s not so many different accessories), three carnival games, free prizes, balloons, temporary tattoos, and spin art. Have about four or five different birthday party packages at different prices for them to choose from.

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                                               INSURANCE

ALL RISK COVERAGE

Going into any business without insurance is foolish. Common sense would indicate that especially in this business where kids are playing and bouncing on your equipment. Some organizations such as schools, churches and county fairs will want you to have at least one million dollars in coverage. Some will want you to list them as additional insured on your policy.

Most rental insurance companies cover your company against claims arising from you being at fault. It will not automatically cover the parties renting from you, nor will it cover injuries arising from the customer’s operation of your equipment.

Since each state has different regulations that affect insurance companies, you should get quotes from a number of companies and agents. Go with a million dollars coverage, it’s not much more than a half million. Generally, there are two different types of insurance companies that will insure an amusement rental business.

One that insures carnivals, fairs, concessionaires, etc.

One that insures rental companies. The companies they normally insure are not necessarily in the amusement rental business, but rent such items as tables, chairs, lawn mowers, generators, etc.

Insurance companies that insure rental companies seem to have the best rates for businesses that do not use their staff to operate their equipment. (The list of insurance companies that follows is not an endorsement or recommendation – just a list.) Make sure the company that you use completely understands the nature of your business and whether you are providing staff to operate the equipment or not, and whether you allow customer pickups or not.

Find out how much the company charges you for an Additional Insured to your policy. This protects your customer just for the rental period that they are renting from you. It can be free or perhaps go up to $50. You can pass this cost on to your customer if you wish.

VERY IMPORTANT: Always make sure you get a policy that is an "OCCURRENCE POLICY", not a "CLAIMS MADE POLICY".

An occurrence policy means that as long as the accident occurred during your coverage term, you are covered during the policy and after the policy has lapsed. Meaning that if someone is injured during the period of your coverage and they file claim during your coverage or even after your coverage has lapsed, you are still covered. That’s what you want, a policy that protects you no matter when they file a claim against you.

A claims made policy only covers you if the accident happens during the period of coverage and the claim is made also during the period of coverage. Meaning that if someone is injured during the period of your policy and files a claim then, you’re covered. However, if they are injured during your policy coverage, but they don’t file a claim until after your policy has lapsed, then you ARE NOT COVERED. YOU DON’T WANT THIS. Someone could file a claim against you the day that your policy ends and you would not be covered. YOU ONLY WANT AN OCCURRENCE POLICY.

You want to make sure that you are covered for anything and everything relating to your business. Obviously, you want to have general liability and product liability for your rental items and your staff and a Non Owned Auto policy. You need to decide if you are going to provide attendants or staff with your services, which will pay off hugely for company picnics. Many rental companies can rent you equipment, but most will not provide their customers with attendants that will do all the work for the customers. I would strongly recommend a one million dollar policy.

In this day and age, in the most litigious country in the world where everyone thinks an injury (regardless of how serious) is an opportunity to make a quick buck, anything less than a million dollar policy would be foolhardy, in my opinion. The price difference between a half million and a million is not that much different anyway.

About Non-Owned Auto coverage. This is coverage for your employees who may have an accident on the way to or from or at your picnic. Talk to your insurance person and explain that you want all risk coverage for everything possible that you might get roped into including Cargo Insurance which protects your equipment from loss or fire at all times. I'm not an attorney or insurance person. I'm not trying to give you legal or insurance advice other than to consult the experts in this field and get full coverage for everything possible.

The above mentioned scope of coverage may be expensive, but it's not only worth it - it's absolutely necessary. Shop around for insurance. Call all the companies I have listed in this section of the manual, then call your local companies. It took me years to find the best deals. Ordinary run of the mill insurance companies won't even blink at you regarding this kind of coverage. You have to go to a specialty company or broker that specializes in this type of coverage. You may find that the companies I have listed will be the best deal around, but don't hesitate to shop for local companies anyway.

Check first with your American Rental Association. That what they are there for. To provide services to rental companies. They are your greatest resource and friend.

CERTIFICATES OF INSURANCE FROM SUBCONTRACTORS

You can make a lot of money in addition to your rented items by using subcontractors. Just package a company picnic, a customer appreciation day, a grand opening or any other event by supplying a full package of services such as catering, strolling entertainers, tents, tables and chairs (if you don’t already rent them), flowers, pony rides, etc. You just get a discount from each of these vendors or a finder’s fee and you make a ton of extra money by just setting up the deal with each vendor. This is all in addition to all of your income from your usual rentals. It’s so easy.

Just to play it safe, it is a good idea to get a certificate of insurance from all of your subcontractors that you can. Only use caterers, tent companies, rental companies, etc. that have a goodly sum of liability insurance. Getting a certificate of insurance just assures you that they are covered and this further insulates you from a lawsuit if they are responsible for any problems. Most of your live performers will not have insurance (other than clowns), but most of them are low risk elements anyway. Always try to get listed on their policy as an additional insured, if possible. Sometimes their company may charge them $25 to $50 to do that though, so don’t press it if that’s the case.

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