As you’re reading this column, you may have just returned from the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International in Louisville. That’s where you saw the latest equipment for the portable sanitation industry from restroom manufacturers, truck builders and companies that sell many types of accessories designed to make your workday go smoother.
If you’re still jazzed about a product you saw at the Expo, or if you got a lot of value out of the Education Day seminars, or even if you’re still on a high after seeing country star Dierks Bentley perform at the Saturday Evening Jam, I’d love to hear from you. Your feedback helps me plan our coverage of the Expo for the following year. Let me know what you thought of the greatest show on earth for PROs.
If you couldn’t make it to the Expo this year, I’d like to invite you to attend the 2012 event, to be held in a new town, Indianapolis, and at a new and exciting venue, the Indiana Convention Center. I think you’re really going to like the new location, with convenient access via several nearby premium hotels — connected to the convention space by indoor skywalks — and a huge variety of restaurants and attractions in Downtown Indy. Watch future issues of PRO or go to www.pumpershow.com for more details as the Indy show nears.
Speaking of new initiatives, I would like to invite you to go to www.promonthly.com and take a look at the editor’s blog posts. The blog is something that started early in 2010. Its purpose is to bring you snippets of timely portable sanitation news, personal observations and commentary meant to educate and entertain. Through the blog, I can more immediately respond to industry developments and provide a way to share your thoughts about any topic. It’s just one of many ways we’re changing the PRO website to make it more meaningful for you.
INFORMATION FOR YOU
The following are some of the topics I’ve touched on in recent months at the editor’s blog. At the PRO website, you can read all the blogs I’ve posted and respond by e-mail with your comments.
Seasonal trends
Late last year, I used the blog to share several tips about preparing service vehicles for efficient winter operation. Some of those same tips, like checking battery life and coolant strength, are important as you head into the 2011 busy season as well. Earlier in the year, I wrote about the most requested service upgrades by customers heading into the summer season. At the time, we published a story asking restroom contractors for their thoughts. They said hand-wash stations and hand sanitizers topped the list of upgrades sought by their customers.
Portable sanitation in the news
In August, a blog post explained how former President Bill Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, ordered $15,000 in portable sanitation equipment for her VIP wedding. The story pointed toward the need for more customer education about the availability of lavish restroom trailers for special events.
In May, I reported on the antics of unruly attendees at the Kentucky Derby, who have established a tradition of racing across the tops of portable restrooms placed in the Churchill Downs racecourse infield. The Internet is rife with videos of drunken revelers “running the gauntlet’’ across the rows of restrooms, while other spectators throw cans of beer at them. This causes a business liability nightmare for restroom providers.
In October, I wrote about several reports of portable restroom burnings in San Francisco. Going back to 2008, portable sanitation companies had reported dozens of restroom fires throughout the Bay Area. A 27-year-old homeless man was arrested in the most recent case.
Restroom trivia
Which Michigan PRO was sued by longtime Tonight Show host Johnny Carson in 1977 for using the trademarked phrase “Here’s Johnny’’ for his products? True or false: A company 30 years ago unsuccessfully marketed collapsible cardboard portable restrooms? Can you name the toilet paper brand that started selling the first rolls with no cardboard core in 2010? The answers to all of these trivia questions can be found in my blog.
Marketing opportunities
Georgia PRO Nix Tank Inc. believes having its own blog can help build brand awareness for its services. You can read more about the company’s new website tool in a blog from last summer.
Have you thought of approaching your local city officials about placing restrooms in downtown tavern areas to help stamp out public urination among late-night partiers? They’ve done it in College Station, Pa., home of Penn State University. Read about the initiative in a blog from last June.
SHARE YOUR IDEAS
I’ve touched on dozens of topics in the editor’s blog over the past year, but I’m always looking for new ways to use this 21st century communication tool. Is there a question you’d like to throw out to the portable sanitation community about marketing, customer service or another topic? Have you discovered a timesaving procedure or technique you’d like to share with others in the industry? Do you have news of note to announce, like a new location, expanded staff or updated website?
The editor’s blog, and all the content at www.promonthly.com, is an extension of PRO magazine. Both the magazine and the website are important tools COLE Publishing uses to spread valuable information and, it is our hope, contribute to the professional standards of a growing industry. You can help by sending your news, tips and questions to editor@promonthly.com.
Video Series Launches on PRO Website
A portable sanitation reality video series, Riding Shotgun with Gretchen Menard, debuts this month at the PRO website, www.promonthly.com. The series will follow the Detroit-area restroom contractor as she serves special events and a new high-profile assignment providing restroom trailers for the ABC-TV crime drama Detroit 1-8-7, which films on location in the Motor City.
Menard, owner of Poopy’s Potties in Holly, Mich., is using compact high definition (or HD) digital video cameras to provide an up-close, day-in-the-life glimpse of the challenges she faces each day and her service techniques on location. In new installments on the PRO website throughout the year, you’ll hear her commentary on service, equipment and disposal issues.
Menard has positioned herself as a boutique supplier of upscale single restroom units and small restroom trailers. Since Michigan started offering tax incentives to television and film production companies in 2008, Menard has gone after related portable sanitation opportunities. She landed a job providing trailers for the Transformers 3 movie set. Most recently she’s had a five-day-a-week job shadowing the production company for the crime drama.
