When the going got COVID-19 tough, your APRO team got going – providing critical information, support, guidance, & connection during a year of epic uncertainty & global distress.
Someday, the year 2020 will be a chapter [yes, a whole chapter, don’t you think?] in history textbooks, and American schoolchildren will learn all about the political divisiveness, the racial reckoning, the contested election … the unmitigated mess of a year it has been.
But the breakout star of the 2020 story will definitely be The Pandemic. It has affected every single American – and almost all people the world over – delivering death, illness, unemployment, financial hardship, social disconnection, fear, grief, anxiety, loneliness, panic, handwashing judgment, hand-sanitizer hoarding, broken hearts, and above all, ubiquitous uncertainty.
At this writing, we’re not yet on the other side of it – in fact, COVID-19 has just launched its big autumnal comeback, and it looks like it’s doing so with a vengeance. Yet rent-to-own, to date, seems to be surfing the crest of the coronavirus wave with a fair amount of resilience. But how?
“During the whole shutdown of the country, the APRO Alerts were always what I needed at the right time. I’m very grateful for my APRO membership.”
Joe Bird, Owner J&M Leasing LLC, dba ColorTyme in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Last March, Executive Director Jill McClure and her team at APRO were busily preparing for the association’s two biggest events of the year; they were planning for the 2020 RTO World National Convention & Tradeshow, scheduled for August in Tampa, and making final arrangements for the APRO Legislative Conference, scheduled for April in Washington, D.C.
Then, the pandemic hit. One day America was watching news reports of face-masked crowds halfway around the globe, and the next, our country was freefalling into lockdown. In Florida, APRO President Chris Kale Sr., – co-owner of CPL Group Inc. dba Rent King – and other rental dealers arrived at their workplaces one morning to find bright yellow bulletins taped to their storefronts.
“We had a heads-up from mostly just the local news about mandatory business closings,” Kale remembers. “Then all of a sudden, we all began getting these big notices taped up on our front windows saying we were being ordered to close immediately due to COVID-19. At our store, we had already begun writing up new protocol, taking the stance that we were going to deem ourselves ‘essential’ until we got some formal clarification. But to be safe, we locked our doors.”
Rental dealers nationwide, like the rest of the business world, were more or less blindsided by this turn of events. That equivocal boundary between being officially considered an “essential” business or not suddenly meant you could stay open and operate in some capacity, rather than being forced to close your doors for an indeterminate amount of time … Days? Weeks? Months? And who could survive that, business-wise?
One thing became clear: Being an “essential business” could very well mean the difference between survival and shuttering. So the biggest question for rental dealers was Are we essential?
“The APRO board of directors and APRO staff got together and agreed, what our membership needed most at this time of uncertainty was answers,” recalls McClure. “They needed accurate information and insightful guidance, and APRO was the industry’s vehicle and venue to fulfill that vital need.”
“I’m very thankful for all the communications APRO has been sending us during the pandemic. I signed up for every webinar, and they have all helped me and my business.”
Richard Rineberg, President Rental City Inc. in Topeka, Kansas
The APRO team regrouped, refocused, and set about to provide the answers their members were all desperately seeking. But the burning issue of essentialness wasn’t as straightforward as one might hope – because it was being defined by hundreds of different governmental entities all across America.
“Regulations were coming out literally all over the map,” APRO General Counsel Ed Winn III notes. “Federal recommendations, state recommendations, recommendations from county health departments and municipalities. Every location was being mandated to do different things. We took a look at some of the first language coming out on regulating shutdowns, and our conclusion was that rent-to-own was essential. We’ve maintained that position and maintained it strongly.”
The entire APRO staff began tracking executive orders from state, county, and city departments all around the country, wherever RTO stores were affected. Then APRO began to issue policy alerts to its membership, fast and furiously, in response to those orders, detailing why rent-to-own businesses were essential.
“Either we were essential because we weren’t included on the official list of non-essential businesses, or we were essential because of the types of products we offer,” explains Winn. APRO instructed members to tell local leaders and decisionmakers how rent-to-own provides the very products Americans were going to need more than ever [toilet paper notwithstanding]: laptop computers and office furniture for working and schooling at home; TVs and gaming systems for keeping up with the news and zoning out after another anxiety-producing day in Coronavirus-ville; and an affordable way for many people to attain or replace big-ticket, truly essential items – like refrigerators or tires – during such a financially stressful time.
“At the beginning of the shutdowns, we were closed for the first couple of weeks,” says Wade Shaefer of Mainely Rent To Own in Lincoln, Maine. “But then, in an APRO Alert, we read about essential businesses, and I felt confident that we could open back up. Without that alert, I don’t know what my business would have done moving forward.”
“I’m very thankful for everything APRO is doing for the RTO community during the crisis. The support it’s providing and the staff’s ability to pull together these resources in a timely manner is very, very impressive.”
James MacAlpine, Senior Vice President Benefit Marketing Solutions, Mesquite, Texas
The APRO team continued tracking executive orders – which would eventually number 182 in total – and pushing out timely and thorough alerts to member inboxes. Wherever essential status was unclear, Winn offered his legal opinion, empowering many dealers to advocate for the essentiality of their businesses and industry.
“Many regulations listed furniture stores as non-essential and shut them down,” Winn attests. “And because our storefronts feature so much furniture, many locations were at risk of being lumped together with furniture retailers and being shut down, too. We fought those fights alongside individual dealers and were largely successful. Had we not been on top of the situation, we would have lost in many places. But nowhere, to my knowledge, did a policy office declare no, RTO is not essential.”
“With all the information going on, I really had to turn to the APRO Alerts to help filter what I needed to know,” says Mary Humphrey, Owner of Transformation Investments LLC dba Rent It 2 Own It in Clinton, Missouri. “I needed all of the legal things broken down and made understandable, and that’s what the alerts did for me.”
APRO also created written materials members could [and did] use to plead their case with their local officials.
“We had a driver get pulled over by a sheriff for a perceived curfew violation,” recounts Alex Melvin of MTM Ventures LLC dba Buddy’s Home Furnishings in Hendersonville, North Carolina. “We defended him by using the right-to-work letter APRO provided to us. I’m really grateful for APRO, now more than ever.”
“Our concerns came in waves,” Kale recalls. “Once we knew we could stay open, the next wave was how do we operate in this new reality? How do we stay afloat financially, how do we support our employees, and how do we interact with our customers?”
As other businesses closed – many of them for good – and unemployment skyrocketed, rental dealers worried that even though they could legally keep their doors open, their customers were losing their jobs and would be unable to keep their payments up, ultimately resulting in rent-to-own stores going under, too.
“Going into the pandemic, a lot of people were freaking out, honestly,” continues Kale. “We felt we might be down for weeks or months, and at our companies, we were already developing worst-case scenarios. Dealers thought they may be facing a potential four or five months of being shut down, and nobody could stay in business – not even the strongest would be able to survive that.”
APRO Alerts continued with evolving information on COVID-19-related operations, employee, and customer issues. The association also began sending out regular Coronavirus Impact Surveys – to both rental dealers and vendor members – gathering info about best practices and speedily returning results to the membership. And APRO began hosting webinars on various critical pandemic-centric topics.
“I’m even more appreciative of the alerts than ever,” says John Jenkins of Jenkins Rental LLC dba Aaron’s Sales and Lease Ownership in Longview, Texas. “Because of the information from APRO, I’ve been able to apply to several programs to help support my business when it needed it the most.”
“APRO delivered dozens of alerts, tools, resources, and counsel on everything from PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] supplies to PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] loans,” McClure affirms. “When the first stimulus package was approved by Congress, things began to look a whole lot better – but it also produced some more new challenges.”
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act [CARES Act] was a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed into law on March 27, 2020. It included $300 billion in one-time cash payments to individual Americans, $260 billion in increased unemployment benefits, and the creation of the PPP – a $669-billion program providing forgivable loans to small businesses. Some of APRO’s most popular webinars walked participants through the PPP process – how it was working, how to apply for a loan, and how to make sure that loan stayed forgivable.
“Just one of the PPP webinars was worth my dues,” says Gloria Homeier, Owner of A Full House in Russell, Kansas. “Thanks to APRO, I was able to apply for the program, and I received the funds my business needed.”
“When the PPP came through, it gave our members a way to keep paying their employees and avoiding furloughs or layoffs,” McClure explains. “Many of our member companies never furloughed or laid off a single worker. Combined with the money sent to all Americans and the unemployment assistance, the CARES Act was a big benefit for RTO businesses, because customers who had been hurting financially suddenly had money in their pockets, and they spent some of it catching up on their bills – including their rental payments.”
“The RTO industry really needed APRO to face this pandemic. The whole APRO team has done a great job keeping us updated and informed.”
Robert O. Briley, Owner Briley Investments Inc., dba Aaron’s in Abilene, Texas
To the industry’s great relief, rent-to-own business began an impressive upturn. But since day one of the pandemic, APRO had become a hub for solid information, exceptional guidance, and crucial sharing amongst its membership – and that’s not about to change.
“APRO brought together industry professionals, members, and vendors from across the country,” Kale notes. “We were communicating with each other, offering helpful insights and ideas to help get us all through this difficult time. Whether we rent furniture and appliances or tires and wheels, APRO members are family, and we can always count on each other and on APRO to have our backs.”
Eventually, APRO created a special resource page on its website [www.RTOHQ.org/resource] especially for important COVID-19-related information, from statements about responsible shopping to the Centers for Disease Control’s coronavirus guidance for businesses and employees.
“I thank the APRO team for everything it’s been doing to support all of us through this incredibly difficult time,” says Russ Moserowitz, Owner of Passaic Ventures LLC dba Aaron’s in Bloomfield, New Jersey. “If anyone ever doubted the value of their APRO membership, the organization’s support through all of this has demonstrated it beyond question.”
By the close of 2020, the APRO team had tracked 182 executive orders, issued 63 policy alerts [40 more than the year prior], conducted 16 member surveys, held 10 webinars, and received dozens of notes of gratitude and positive feedback from members, a handful of which we’ve featured here – just so you know this hasn’t all been an exercise in extreme navel-gazing.
“Our newer members hadn’t been around to experience APRO in an industry crisis, fighting for them and winning – against crippling legislation, excessive regulation, untenable taxation,” McClure notes. “Now they have, and we’re proud of the support and guidance we’ve been able to give our members during the pandemic. Safeguarding our membership and our industry is one of APRO’s core missions – it’s why we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
“In my 38 years in this industry, I’ve never been more impressed with and proud of the efforts of the APRO staff and leadership,” Kale concludes. “APRO gave us way more bang for our membership buck this year than ever before; they’ve been absolutely invaluable. Just as the association helped rental dealers get deemed ‘essential,’ I believe most dealers would deem APRO the same – essential to our fight to survive.”
Kristen Card has been a contributing writer for RTOHQ: The Magazine for more than 15 years.
