Feb. ’70
ARA gives Special Service Award to Leo Swan, founder and president of Equipment Development Co. at ARA convention in Houston. Local association members place an ad in influential Life magazine promoting the annual convention. Swan wrote an RER column for quite a few years entitled “Salt ‘n Satire.”

1970
Elmen Rent All, Sioux Falls, S.D., acquires United Rent-Alls of Sioux City, Iowa, bringing the Elmen chain to seven branches. The company predicts it will top $1 million in revenue in 1970.

March ’70
An affiliate of U-Haul Truck & Trailer Corp. acquires A to Z Rental through federal district bankruptcy court. Amerco Inc., U-Haul owner, appoints 15-year U-Haul executive Logan Frank president of A to Z.

April ’70
RER predicts that as the rental industry becomes more professional, the phrase “We Rent Most Everything” will fade from use, with the exception of small towns where the general rental store will be the dominating force. In larger metropolitan areas, RER predicts, the rental specialist who focuses on targeted market niches, will become the dominant trend.

April ’70
A rising young rental company owner Don O’Neal of A-1 Rental Service, Fort Worth, Texas, predicts: “The future will bring forth a ‘new breed’ of owner-managers for the rental industry. The general rental center of 1980 will be more specialized than it is today. There will be more affluent owners and investors in this growing industry. Individuals and corporations with substantial capital will be investing in this industry. Managers to head up these dynamic rental operations will be higher educated and skilled men with abilities in all phases of the rental business. … As the rental industry becomes larger, it becomes a more attractive target for big money and big business.”

April ’70
RER proclaims the 1970s, “The Golden Age of Rental.”

April ’70
The first Earth Day is celebrated on April 22, 1970.

May ’70
RER runs a cover story: “3 Ways to Build Your Business.” The three ways, each of which it covers in an in-depth discussion are “Banker — Friend or Foe,” “Cartoon Advertising,” and “Courtesy Cards.” Bill Cushing of Diablo Rental, Pacheco, Calif., says, “We have fallen down in not spending time in indoctrinating our bankers as to the potential of the rental industry as a whole.” Cushing offers tips on developing relations with bankers, such as inviting local bankers to attend company meetings to understand rental problems, and for “statewide” companies to invite branch managers from all over the state to visit. The same could be applied nationally.

As for cartoon advertising, RER for years ran rental-related cartoons that were immensely popular with readers. Rent-All Plaza in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., printed some of them in local newspaper ads, and they caught on in popularity with customers.

Courtesy cards were cards with information about the customer, including drivers’ license number, bank account number, address, employment information, address and a few other points of information. The customer would have a customer number that could be stamped on a contract, making the contract process almost instantaneous, and would provide a type of preferred customer status for that customer.

Aug. ’70
A survey of its readership conducted by Contractors and Engineers magazine reveals that 68 percent rent construction equipment and 32 percent do not. An officer of a top construction firm told C&E: “We, and many other contractors, are deserting rental-purchase plans to go strictly rental on more and more pieces of equipment. This provides more new units as we move from one jobsite to another. We don’t have to pay for moving these units, and, in addition, we get the benefits associated with newer equipment — greater productivity and less downtime.” Another stated benefit was renting the more appropriate unit rather than attempting to adapt a unit the contractor owned.
The article predicts increasing usage of rental in the years to come.

Sept. ’70
NFL Monday Night Football premiers on ABC on Sept. 21, 1970.

Oct. ’70: California lieutenant governor Ed Reinecke addresses California Rental Association convention’s general assembly.

Feb. ’71
Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Feb. 9, 1971.

March ’71
Bob’s Rent-All installs a dual-lens camera system that takes a picture of each customer along with his driver’s license and rental equipment simultaneously. The company hopes that the system, which costs less than a penny per picture, will help cut down conversion theft.

1971
Starbucks opens first store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1971. Starbucks is named after the first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

March ’71: The California Rental Association initiates a bumper sticker campaign to promote the rental concept. It holds a contest for best slogan; winners were “Don’t Invest — Rent the Best” and “Be Cool — Rent a Tool.”

1971
Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood, opens in 1971 and is a big box office hit.

Aug. ’71
In an RER survey of contractors, while 40 percent rated the service of rental firms as excellent, 48 percent rated it only as “fair” and 11 percent rated rental service as “poor.”

1971
In 1971, Southwest Airlines begins service between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Southwest ends its inaugural year with four aircraft and 195 employees.

Oct. ’71
California lieutenant governor Ed Reinecke addresses California Rental Association convention’s general assembly.

Oct. ’71
Walt Disney World opens in Florida on Oct. 1, 1971.

Dec. ’71
Hire News, a new magazine for the equipment rental industry in England, publishes its first issue.

1971
The 26th Amendment of the Constitution is adopted in 1971 giving 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds the right to vote.

Feb. ’72
Jim Kerr, owner of Rent-All Plaza in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., obtains a building, installs floors, telephones, brings in equipment, puts up signs and opens a branch in nearby Hopwell Junction in six days time.

Feb. ’72
On Feb. 2, 1972, George Foreman beats Joe Frazier by a knockout in two rounds to lift the world's Heavyweight championship from Frazier. It is HBO Boxing's first telecast.

May ’72
RER publishes a feature entitled: “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Computer?” The article reports that owners of smaller rental companies were just beginning to consider the possibility of using a computer system to help manage their operation. The article illustrates how Alhambra, Calif.-based A-1 Lou’s, a three-yard operation with an inventory of about $900,000, installed a software system. The system gives a complete monthly breakdown of what was rented, how often, to whom, average dollar amount, by equipment group, as well as a review of charge customers. A-1 president Dale Peterson says the system has done wonders for receivables, inventory analysis and more.

Junior Keene of The Tool Crib says the idea that computers are only for large companies is a myth, pointing out that when inventory is computer controlled when small, growth is much easier.

Nov. ’72
Rental Tools & Equipment, a multi-branch rental company based in Bladensburg, Md., opens what it calls “the world’s first automated rental yard.” The 43-foot-high building features a 40-foot-high by 60-foot-long “racker stacker,” an automatic storage and retrieval system that picks up and delivers a pallet-load of stored equipment and brings it to the loading area. After the equipment is loaded, the system restores the pallets to their original positions.

Rental Tools’ first branch using the system is in Fairfax, Va., and the company plans to open another with the system in Norfolk, Va., the company’s sixth location.

Dec. ’72
Newly elected ARA president James Keenan says there are far too many rental yards with a sub-par image. Keenan criticizes “stores with signs hanging, weeds growing on the property, signs faded and illegible, no customer parking, trash of all kinds lying everywhere, counters that look like workbenches, old tools around on the floors, oil smears, dust and dirt, and dirty restrooms and drinking facilities.”
Keenan points out that rental centers rent pressure washers, paint spray equipment, floor-cleaning equipment and other items that they fail to use to clean their own facilities, communicating a poor image of the industry. “Why is it that so many stores and yards across the country are more junkyards than rental facilities?” he asks.

1973
JLG adds its first scissorlift to the construction market.

Jan. ’73
Mary Anna Anderson, a Los Angeles attorney, files a lawsuit against Northridge Equipment Rentals for its refusal to rent her a roto-tiller because of her gender.

April ’73
Dr. Martin Cooper, a former general manager for the systems division at Motorola, is considered the inventor of the first modern portable handset. Cooper makes the first call on a portable cell phone in April of 1973, calling his rival, Joel Engel, head of research for Bell Laboratories, which introduced the idea of cellular communications in 1947 with the police car technology. However, Motorola was the first to incorporate the technology into a portable device that was designed for use outside of an automobile.

Aug. ’73
Eighty-one members of leading Japanese rental associations visit rental centers in northern and southern California. NBC television covers their visit to Sam’s U-Drive in the Los Angeles area. The Japanese visitors praised U.S. rental centers for their cleanliness, saying their Japanese locations are not as clean. However, the visitors said their yards are considerably larger in Japan, with larger equipment and inventory, and more inclined toward heavy equipment, with virtually no interest in rentals on the part of homeowners.

Sept. ’73

Miami-based truck rental company Ryder announces entry into the homeowner and light contractor rental arena with a pilot rental center in Dallas known as Ryder Rental Center. The pilot operation carries about $250,000 in inventory. Ryder says it will open a second rental center by the end of the year, and hopes to open 100 within three to four years.

Sept. ’73
ARA releases 1972 Cost of Doing Business Survey results, indicating the average revenue of respondents climbed from $256,000 in 1971 to $370,000 in 1972. Profitability also increased with pre-tax profits climbing from 6.3 percent of revenues to 8.5 percent, with return on investment growing from 14.5 percent to 22.6 percent.

Sept. ’73
A Los Angeles Superior court judge denies request from California Rental Association for an injunction against U-Haul Co.’s renting of van trucks from service stations in commercial zones in Los Angeles. CRA’s suit was based on the Los Angeles Municipal Code’s prohibition of such rentals. The judge ruled the L.A. code’s meaning wasn’t sufficiently clear to grant the request.

Oct. ’73
RER goes behind bars to interview more than 80 inmates of the State Prison of Southern Michigan, the world’s largest walled prison, about how they approach and prepare to overcome alarm systems.

Oct. ’73
Sam Greenberg, of Van Nuys, Calif.-based Sam’s U-Drive, is appointed to the Los Angeles Airport Commission by recently elected L.A. mayor Tom Bradley. The committee is responsible to the Mayor’s office in the formulation of policies and programs for the current and future development of the L.A. airport, then one of the world’s largest.

Nov. ’73
United Rent-Alls celebrates 25-year milestone. URA president Robert Feinstein says that in 1973 the average store volume increased 25 percent.

Feb. ’74
Second-term ARA president James Keenan creates the “President’s Image-Building Award” to be presented annually to rental companies that help the industry upgrade the image they present to the public. To qualify, the company must have undertaken a major building project, either erecting a new building or remodeling an existing structure, including improvements in layout and display. The first award is presented to Horton and John Hillier of a rental company in Toronto.

Feb. ’74
On Feb. 27, 1974, People magazine is published for the first time.

March ’74
As a severe fuel crisis hits North America, resulting in long gas lines and causing severe hardships to the rental industry, an RER survey indicates that only 11 percent of rental industry participants believe the official explanations from the U.S. government and oil companies. The price of diesel fuel more than doubles, in some areas, compared with the previous year. “Thank God I don’t have any diesel equipment,” says one rental operator. “Because it just wouldn’t be running.”

April ’74
A group of California rental people stage a mock OSHA raid at several southern California rental centers to evaluate the amount of improvement rental companies must make to comply with newly created OSHA regulations. Among the violations spotted were electrical cords in need of replacement; third prongs missing or bent backwards on electrical plugs; ladders without shoes; splits in scaffolding planks; oxygen and acetylene tanks not separated by the required distance; no safety decals on machines; lack of rear-end warning devices on towed vehicles; fire extinguishers unmarked and overdue for inspection; and an overall lack of warning signs.

April ’74
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron blasts his 715th home run, a shot to left center field at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, moving him past Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homeruns on the career homerun list.

July ’74
Sioux Falls, S.D.-based rental chain Elmen Rent-All develops convention service to help attract revenue during long winter months. The staff designs and rents exhibit equipment as well as delivers it, puts it up and takes it down.

Oct. ’74
United Rent-Alls president Robert Feinstein acquires the franchise rental chain from parent company International Industries. The company, based in Los Angeles (originally founded in Lincoln, Neb., in 1948) has about 250 franchise rental centers.