InTents April/May 2021 - 19

to come in and install whole systems in
your actual warehouse.
" When it comes to technology, there are
two camps of incorrect notions, " she adds.
" People think it's either free, or it costs a
million dollars; there's no in between. So
they try to piece together things with free
tools. It's nice to have free tools, but your
system won't be built with the speciϐicity
and design and thoughtfulness of an
industry-speciϐic tool. "
For example, Jeff Hall, owner of Legacy
Events & Rentals near Zion National
Park, Utah, likes a speciϐic inventory
feature that Goodshufϐle Pro offers called
" Wishlist, " which integrates his inventory
with his website.
" The system creates a beautiful
showcase of our inventory and leads to
some rentals we might not otherwise
get, " Hall says. " Besides event rentals,
we also have a separate amusement
company and we decided to allow those
inventory items to show up in Wishlist
on the event rental site. One customer
shopping for wedding rentals explored
everything in Wishlists and ended up

renting the mechanical bull for her
wedding. If she had called, we would
have ϐilled her order of tables and chairs,
but would probably not have discussed
mechanical yard games. "

CHOOSING SOFTWARE
With all of the software options
available, how does a rental company
make the right decision?
It can be difϐicult to ϐind the cost of
software and/or subscriptions services
on the websites of the companies that

LEFT: Companies looking into rental software
often run into the issue that Kim Rixon, owner
of Muskoka Party Rentals in Bracebridge,
Ont., Canada, did. Rixon thought she needed
software but, it " was very, very expensive, " she
says. Photo courtesy of Muskoka Party Rentals.
RIGHT: Trying to keep track of this kind of
inventory can be daunting without rental
software, says Jennifer Rodriguez, general
manager of Marianne's Rentals. Photo
courtesy of Marianne's Rentals.

CLOUD CONTROL

M

any people use a radio
frequency identiﬁcation-
RFID-system in their personal lives
without even knowing the term. Do
you have a Tile to keep track of
keys or a phone? If so, you're using
RFID, which uses electromagnetic
ﬁelds to identify and track tags
afﬁxed to various objects.
Darren Morizet has owned a rental
company for 20 years in Poughquag,
N.Y., but just last year started Easy
RFID Pro, believing that RFID is the
best way for rental companies to
keep track of their inventory. " We
couldn't ﬁnd anything else in the

market that was reasonably priced
that was going to solve the problems
that my rental company had, " he
explains. " So that's how Easy RFID
Pro was born. We we solved our own
problems and knew we could help
others having the same problems. "
According to Morizet, the system
works by applying tags to inventory
items and then using a handheld
scanner to record outgoing and
incoming assets. The information is then
available via the cloud on any computer
or phone with the right software.
" I no longer need to unroll the top of
a tent to get details about it, " he says.

" I know what customer it went to last,
I know how many times that top was
washed, I know right now if it's dirty,
if it's wet, or if it needs a repair. "
RFID systems have been around
for years, but not at a price point
that most rental companies could
afford. " These custom systems were
complicated and in general were
somewhere between a quarter to
a half million dollars or more, so
you had to have a pretty sizable
operation to even want to consider
it, " he says. " With Easy RFID Pro,
for example, you can get into a
system for less than $10,000. "

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InTents April/May 2021

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