MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
BEHIND THE SCENES,
SAVING YOU MONEY
Support for AOCA pays dividends for members,
especially in Government Affairs
Greetings once again from the beautiful city of Magnolia, Ark. There are two things you'll never hear
anyone say. One is "Hand me that piano" (George Carlin). The other is "I went through Magnolia on my way
to ...” I’m not suggesting Magnolia is out of the way, but there are a few places you can't get to from here.
I was talking to Bryan White, the executive director of AOCA, about ideas to for a topic. He offered several
really good ideas, but of course I decided not to use any of them. However, one topic got me to thinking
about something completely unrelated to that topic, so I decided to write about that instead.
Every year about this time, I start preparing my budget for next year. I print out the past two years’ detailed
expenses and compare the two years line by line. I look for where I can cut $500 to $1,000 a month, then
$100 to $500, so forth and so on. In most cases, I can't find $1,000 a month to cut, but I can find a lot of
$10 a month to cut. It's a fun exercise, and it keeps me focused on the little things.
This year was a little different. I saw some big savings versus last year. One big one was what I saved in
credit card processing by signing up through the Saving4Members program offered to AOCA members.
That savings alone was more than $5,000. That got me thinking: How much do I save by being a member
of AOCA?
As it turns out, not only do I have direct savings from benefits such as the credit card processing program,
but because I learned about the problems with the KIA and Hyundai engines, I didn't have to pay for an
engine that seized shortly after we did an oil change. That one item alone saved me $9,000 this year.
Another example is the Monday HR Minutes from Affinity HR Group. I am not an HR guy, but the information
contained in these short weekly emails has prevented me from making costly mistakes.
But the biggest savings – or should I say the biggest benefit for keeping huge additional costs from ever
hitting our business – is the work done behind the scenes by our Government Affairs people.
Although it has a sexy name, Government Affairs is the most complicated, convoluted, confusing thing I've
ever been involved with (kind of like marriage). These people (politicians and government agencies) must
stay up late at night to come up with some of the dumbest business killing ideas they can think of. Joanna
Johnson and the GA Committee work tirelessly and endlessly (because it never ends) to keep our world
of business normal. And the sad thing is most people in this industry don't even have a clue about what
almost just happened. Folks, it's scary, and without the membership and the dollars to fight these battles,
we will lose the war.
I just heard that the state of California is trying to ban the practice of tree hugging. It appears it's harmful
to the environment and leads to global warming and acne for teenagers.
Until next time,
David Haney
AOCA PRESIDENT
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DHANEY3283 @ GMAIL .COM
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