 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
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 Rent-to-own News
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Rent-to-own News - Illionois, New York dealers gear up for meetings next weekThe Illinois and New York Rental Dealers Associations each hold annual meetings next week that include a host of legislative and legal updates, vendor presentations and officer elections.
Illinois dealers kick off their meeting October 19 at the Hilton Springfield Hotel where IRDA President Kevin Milliron will welcome dealers and lead the association's business meeting and election of officers.
APRO Legal Counsel Ed Winn III then leads a spirited discussion of RTO Legal issues including such topics as customer privacy, bullying in the workplace and dealing with difficult customers.
State senator Larry Bomke will address attendees regarding relevant state legislative issues followed by Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Doug Whitley who will lead a talk on "Reversing Our Economic and Jobs Turndown".
Illinois is home to 239 rent-to-own stores that employ 1,434 and pay out $50,190,000 in annual wages, $7,680,000 in annual payroll taxes and generate $175,866,000 in annual revenues. New York Dealers kickoff their annual meeting Oct. 20 at the Residence Inn Syracuse Carrier Circle in East Syracuse.
Of primary interest is New York's new rental purchase statute, enacted last year, that went into effect January 2011. It is the most comprehensive regulation of the RTO industry in the country. Read more. NYSRDA President Dave Edwards will lead dealers in discussion of the impact of the legislation among New York rent to own dealers.
Mike Frye will demonstrate his new invention, the Bug Out Thermal Extermination System, which uses high heat and a rental delivery truck to kill bed bugs that have infested mattresses and furniture.
Frye is followed by Rita Haney of Protect-A-Bed who will demonstrate her company's mattress encasements for protection against bed bug infestations.
New York is home to 281 rent-to-own stores that employ 1,686, pay out $59,000,000 in annual wages, $9,100,000 in annual payroll taxes and generate $206,770,000 in annual revenues.
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2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
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RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
 CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine March-April 2012.
A New Rent-to-Own Experience by Neil Ferguson Here’s the lowdown on APRO’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show, July 24-26 in Memphis. The RTO industry’s big event will offer many valuable experiences, including insights on how to turn your stores into “experiences”–the good kind for consumers
Who Is Your Competition? by Bill Keese In order to expand your customer base, you can learn a lot by observing your competitors. But first, you need to figure out just who they are. If you think your only competition is the rent-to-own store down the street, you’re not considering the bigger picture. APRO’s executive director offers a big-picture perspective.
A Review of Online Customer Complaints by Ed Winn III While rent-to-own companies have not cornered the market on negative reviews posted on consumer complaint websites, it’s no surprise that there are cyberspace beefs against RTO. APRO’s general counsel reviews some of them in search of a pattern and he considers appropriate response to online complaints.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VIII by Kristen Card Our series of family-run rent-to-own businesses continues with profiles of the Homeiers in Kansas and two Texas-based sets of kindred colleagues, the Spangles and the Weisblatts.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |