Published on 10 May 2012

by Staff

(OfficialWire)

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (USA)
OfficialWire PR News Bureau

Floyd Mays, a pioneer in the commercial insurance industry and a successful Virginia businessman for more than 35 years, understands that local businesses have more than the usual challenges in the current business climate.  And he’s offering the benefit of his experience to assist other local business people when he speaks at:

Citizens and Farmers Bank’s “Business Beyond Banking” educational business networking event  on Thursday, May 17.

As a B2B, Mays is offering the type of advice—surviving and thriving during challenges—that businesses truly need.  “I plan to be candid about my biggest business mistakes and what I learned from them.  I certainly hope someone in attendance can use those experiences to avoid stepping in the same holes,” Floyd explained.

Reserve your seat to hear Floyd and join fellow business owners at this month’s forum at the Citizens and Farmers Bank at 100 E. Williamsburg Road in Sandston, Virginia 23150.

To RSVP for the event, contact Jennifer Dixon at 804-737-7005 or jdixon@cffc.com.

My recent email newsletter on tow truck operators’ price gouging, “dirty tricks,” and expensive legislation struck a chord with a lot of folks. Several towing service operators and owners weighed in on the issue of using legislation to protect consumers from unscrupulous tow truck companies.

My main point was that unscrupulous tow truck companies are the root of nearly all legislation. Worse, the legislation ultimately benefits the very towers it is design to suppress–at the expense of those who give the consumer a fair shake. No matter who and what, crooks always find a new way to cheat the public, resulting in even more “protective” legislation.

I am opposed to regulation, because I rarely see it permanently correct anything. Free market activity always puts the crooks out of business; the problem is that it may take time and doesn’t help the people already injured by the crooks.

Below are selected comments from our readers:

“The key to dealing with the crooks in the towing business is to enforce the laws that already exist. It is already illegal to steal. Removing a sticker from a vehicle is theft and then towing it because it does not have a sticker is theft. Taking a vehicle from a space it is legally parked in and claiming it was in a no parking zone is theft. Simply enforce the laws that make stealing illegal and the problem is solved. Making honest tow companies obey new laws will not make crooks obey old laws.”

– Edward D. Johnson, Coliseum Towing

“I agree with that. Those that do deceptive things should be punished directly…not those who follow the rules…try to maintain positive image, etc.”

– Rick, Midway Towing VA

From the selected comments above, here are my additional thoughts to putting a stop to unscrupulous tow truck companies and expensive legislation:

Police are rarely interested in catching small-time criminals and getting into a dispute about whether a car was parked legally or not before towing. They’re not going to get involved in a dispute about whether a sticker was stolen from a windshield, because proof is nearly impossible. The crooks know this and take advantage.

Just as with any profession or industry, it needs to police itself. Crooked lawyers—well, most of them—are disbarred. Medical doctors who harm their patients get their licenses revoked. The towing industry needs to take a strong position on illegal practices and expose unscrupulous tow truck operators. We also need to educate consumers.

There’s always a way to bring public attention to consumer issues and to help the consumer. These include public relations campaigns, complaints to consumer watchdog programs in the media, and more.

The industry needs to take the initiative and educate the consumer. The reputable businesses will create a more positive reputation for the towing industry, and drive business away from the rogue operators.

Essentially, tow truck companies must take initiative in educating consumers about the tow truck industry and charges for their services affect the tow truck company as a whole. In addition, tow truck companies may want to implement (if not already) a code of ethics and together with consumer education should keep the consumer happy and legislation at a minimum.

If you didn’t know, Kansas City, MO is ranked high as a city with the worst price gouging from rogue tow truck companies. Just recently, the Kansas City City Council approved a new approach to put an end to tow truck company price gouging and protecting its motorists.

Here are my thoughts on the Kansas City Star solution and how it relates to issues in our current legislation:

“Unscrupulous tow truck companies are the root of nearly all legislation.”

In certain areas of the Commonwealth, tow truck companies have been authorized to park in private parking areas such as apartment complexes or shopping centers. Certain tow truck companies have been cruising the lots at night, looking for cars parked in the reserved area who were not supposed to park there. Sometimes if they find none, tow truck drivers scraped the parking authorization stickers off cars that were legitimately parked and then towed them away. The owner would not have any recourse, because the tower would not release the vehicle until its owner paid for towing storage—usually demanding cash only—no credit cards or checks.

In another instance, a tow truck company that had a contract with a shopping mall was cruising for wrongfully parked vehicles. Finding none, they took action to create some. They removed the “no parking, towing enforced” signs from areas where no vehicles were parked and relocated them to the areas where cars were parked. Then, they towed them! Amazing!

These are the kinds of dastardly bad business practices that stimulate legislation. The irate owners of the wrongfully towed vehicles appeal for help and motivate their legislators to correct the situation. The legislators try to write laws that will solve the problem. Unfortunately, the solution comes with a price tag: the ethical tow truck companies bear an overhead burden brought on by their unethical competitors.

My observation is that legislation, ultimately benefits the very towers it is designed to suppress—at the expense of those who give the consumer a fair shake. Crooks always find a new way to cheat the public, resulting in even more “protective” legislation. The cycle is endless. Ultimately, we have a book of regulations that drives the price of towing to the point where the consumer still feels injustice and the tow truck operator is pulling his hair out trying to continue to stay legal. From time to time crooks get shut down by local authorities and guess what happens? The very next day, their cousin opens the same operation with a slightly different name, using the same trucks and storage lot, and the unethical practice continues. The larger the population, the easier it is for crooks to thrive.

I am generally opposed to regulation because I rarely see it permanently correct anything. It is usually frustrating to wait for it to happen but, in my experience, free market activity always puts the crooks out of business. Unfortunately, those who were initially harmed by these crooks, while we are waiting for free market justice, do not usually enjoy restitution, as the market sorts itself out.

In my dealings with many tow truck companies over the 35+ years I’ve been in business, I have found very few who struggled with doing the right thing. I have found them to be hard working people in a tough business, worthy of my respect and I enjoy doing business with them. The hours are hard and long. Often, there is never a holiday or weekend that one can count on not being called out. The cost of being in the business is another issue. Have you priced a truck lately? Tires? Fuel? Payroll overhead? Local storage lot ordinances? Motor Club standards relative to Motor Club compensation? Insurance?

Mayo Clinic on Aspirin
Dr. Virend Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic, who is lead author of the report in the July 29, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Most heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6 A.M. and noon. Having one during the night, when the heart should be most at rest, means that something unusual happened. Somers and his colleagues have been working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame. 1. If you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a day, take it at night. The reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour “half-life”; therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be strongest in your system.

2. FYI,

Aspirin lasts a really long time in your medicine chest for years, (when it gets old, it smells like vinegar).

Please read on.

Something that we can do to help ourselves – nice to know. Bayer is making crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on the tongue. They work much faster than the tablets. Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It’s about Heart Attacks -

There are other symptoms of a heart attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating; however, these symptoms may also occur less frequently.

Note: There may be NO pain in the chest during a heart attack.

The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep.

If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water.

Afterwards: – Call 911. – Phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by. – Say “heart attack!” – Say that you have taken 2 Aspirins. – Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and …DO NOT LIE DOWN! A Cardiologist has stated that if each person after receiving this e-mail, sends it to 10 people, probably one life could be saved! I have already shared this information. What about you?