Low Down

The High Cost

by Steve Calitri

Every time a tower is killed on the side of the road doing his job, the entire industry feels it. Feels it in its bones. As importantly, feels it in its pocket book. These fatalities hit home; every tower senses it each day out there: that he could get clipped in a split second and at any moment. It’s not much of an incentive to stay on the job, or to take it in the first place.

The peril of working America’s roadways costs the towing industry an immeasurable amount of money. But let’s ponder that cost. How does it affect the wages you pay your tow operators? The pool of willing applicants and those who stay on the job past the first week shrinks in the face of perceived peril. What does it cost your company to be short of drivers— short of quality employees—who are in charge of your equipment and your customer base.

Of course, the family members of those killed would cringe bitterly reading about what it all costs the towing company. Their financial and emotional loss is devastating.

Creating awareness of the Move Over laws, promoting safe driving to help all first responders to do their jobs with reduced risk, is a cause that should be front and center with every tow boss. It’s detrimental to our industry when towers fear for their lives every time they suit up and drive out.

While we are talking about the risk towers take, it is worth looking at what we are paying these operators who put their lives on the line each and every day. One can barely live on less than $15 an hour. A family man

needs at least $20 an hour. If you’re paying less than these figures, you’ve got problems in hiring and keeping good towers—good people—and those problems translate into dollars lost, business lost. Not only do tow operators need a living wage, but other companies in the transportation industry are competing for the best drivers.

Motor clubs, nationwide dispatch companies and municipalities who set the rates paid to towers bear some responsibility with tow bosses for the industry’s ability to field qualified tow operators; but the tow business owners must be proactive in requiring a rate structure that is sound. Tow business owners must take the lead on this issue just as they must on the issue of safety.

Probably the greatest trait a boss can have is always looking out for the well being of one’s employees. That kind of boss will have employees who look out for the company.

To help promote awareness of Move Over and tow-operator safety, American Towman and B/A Products last month announced The Spirit Ride. Go to ATSpiritride.com for more information and sign up to be part of this odyssey.

By participating in The Spirit Ride across America, tow bosses will make a statement to their operators that they understand the risks their men and women take and that they are urging American truckers and motorists to Move Over.

Tow Tank will debut at Tow Expo in Dallas (Arlington), taking its cue from the hit tv show, Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs pitch ideas to billionaire investors like Mark Cuban. In the Tow Tank tow bosses will throw out their creative ideas for making money in towing and related businesses. Be there for this and many other exciting American Towman seminars, August 4-6.

TowIndustryWeek.com

broadened its scope two months back by offering daily news along with its weekly news and features. 20,000 towers access TIW each month, and as many as 12,000 weekly.

American Towman TV's Emily Oz was at the South Point in Las Vegas covering the recent AT ShowPlace and Tow Industry Week Conferences. She'll be in Arlington as well.

RepoTimes.com is producing the Repo Conference at Tow Expo, delving into all issues repo, including skip tracing and certification. Mark Lacek joins an exciting roster of presenters for this dynamic conference.

American Towman Magazine unveils a new theme for the American Towman Exposition in the July issue. Stay tuned.

Towman Unknowingly Hauls Stolen SUV

A tow truck driver apparently thought nothing was out of the ordinary when he was asked to haul an SUV nearly 70 miles from a Santa Clara, Calif., amusement park to Vallejo.

That was before he learned the 2014 Mercedes GLK 250 he had was stolen and instead delivered it to Hercules police.

Officers met with the tower in Hercules, according to a police report. He told officers he had been dispatched from Mountain View to the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, where he met two men who had the vehicle and requested for it to be towed to a gas station in Vallejo.

Neither of the men provided identifying information, aside from a motorclub card. The driver headed north and was met at the Vallejo gas station by several people who unloaded items from the SUV.

It was then that the tower’s dispatch informed him the Mercedes was stolen and told him not to leave it in Vallejo. So he drove away and ended up in Hercules, where he met with police.

Hercules police recovered the Mercedes and moved it to a local tow yard, as requested by Santa Clara police.

Source: eastbaytimes.com.

Discrimination Suit Dismissed

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Delaware State Police by a woman who runs a towing company

Katharine Morris of First State Towing claimed in the lawsuit that state officials unlawfully excluded her in selecting companies for towing assignments, favoring male-owned businesses instead.

According to the lawsuit, First State Towing became an approved tower in 2001 and was assigned an area covered by Delaware State Police Troop 6 in Wilmington. But Morris claimed her company has had difficulty since then competing with other male-owned companies for additional territories and assignments.

The judge said the lawsuit, which involved purported harms dating back more than a decade, was filed too late.

Source: washingtontimes.com.

Guilty Plea in Tow Fixing

Vernita Greenfield, a former D.C. government employee, pleaded guilty in a bribery scheme with a local towing company. Greenfield pled guilty to a federal charge alleging that she accepted more than $35,000 in bribes in exchange for “giving favorable treatment to a towing company,” according to a Department of Justice statement.

Arrested by the FBI in November, she faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and financial penalties. Most likely she will get 24 to 30 months in prison and a fine between $10,000 and $95,000, the statement said.

Sentencing will take place July 19.

Source: patch.com.