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Ken,

Very well said. Here in Nova Scotia tow operators are paying $6.83 a gallon and on average are being paid $30.00 base rate for a motor club call. From start to finish many operators are averaging 16 km's to complete a city call while the club usually demands 10 free km's and pays the operator only one way. On average it would cost an operator $10.00 in fuel to do this call including the idling time for the truck at stop lights, traffic and providing the service. After you pay the driver there's not much left for other operating expenses or future replacement equipment.

I have been actively involved in the industry for many years and just came back from two weeks vacation with an e-mail box full of messages from tow operators working here in Canada. As the cost of doing business continues to climb, I have never witnessed operators being so nervous or angry as they are today. There is clealy a crises.

Like many of our American friends tow operators in Canada are begging and pleading for price increases to no avail. They have to do this because the roadside compnaies have taken over such a huge portion of the market and there's pratically nothing left for operators to feed on unless the operator is fortunate enough to be in a huge industrialized city.

From what I can see price adjustments to support the increase of fuel and labor is falling on deaf ears because increases for tow operators are no in the corporate budget. Operators are being bullied and manipulated to the point that in some cases operators are actually being threatened they better not be sharing information or discussing rates the roadside companies are actually paying.

It has become evident throughout the years that we have lost our ability to negotiate rates based on what it cost to operate our business. We have often been told if we don't live in the box with motor clubs then we won't be here. From what we've all seen is there really a difference between living in or outside the box. Many operators get crapped on when they speak and make comments that they can't get decent rates. Many respond if you can't make money doing club calls then, don't do it.

Such comments can be easily said when you don't own a towing business or again, if you come from an area that is well industrialized. This leaves about 75% of our industry in limbo because they can't get paid a reasonable rate for the services they provide because market share has been swallowed by the mighty muscle of the roadside world.

In this day and age you cannot get people to work for peanuts. Current career oriented employees and employers are frustrated because they can get losers to apply for job openings. With the cost of everything going up in this world people quite simply cannot afford to work for slave labor rates and hours for less then our rep pays for his lunch snack.

Applicant's hear what we get paid and laugh or look at you like you have two heads. Bet there aren't too many motor club reps that would jump out of bed two or three times a night to service any of us for $6 or $7 a pop. When we have $5000. damage claims from racing to their member do they give us any increases to assist pay for the next 266 calls that it takes us to pay for the damage done. Not likely.

We have been a sacrificial meal to the marketing juggernaut of the roadside companies for years. The greedy competitiveness between roadside companies has caused one motor club to increase its service by offering and asking tow operators to provide minor roadside repairs for its members. As a result tow operators are now losing more calls because the only way car dealerships can compete with roadside is to put their own service vehicles on the road and service their own customer.

Where do we draw the line? We need to say enough is enough and become more vocal about our predicament. We need to pool our resources and hire a competition lawyer then file a class action lawsuit towards the companies who engaged in manipulating our prices and tearing down our industry. If we file we need to start naming all their clients as third parties who have been selling our services for unrealistic prices and in some cases $0 a month.

We need to realize that just because someone clubbed us with a bigger club, we don't need to lie there because the games over. Obstacles are only things we see when we take our eyes off our goals. Lets rally together. Take a stand and take action to preserve the prosperity of the industry we all worked so hard for.