Vanloads of people typically storm our neighborhood annually to capitalize on the high candy-per-step ratio, but this year was exceptional. Even with hours of rain, hundreds of people didn’t miss the opportunity to go up to strangers, ask them for free stuff, and then proceed to throw trash on their lawns, sidewalks, and streets.
On November 1st, my kids weren’t thrilled when I reminded them that it was time for our annual tradition of roaming the block with trash bags to clean up the aftermath of what has become one of their favorite nights of the year. While trying to motivate them to be good neighbors, I focused on analyzing the most popular candy debris thrown on the ground (I’m pretty sure it was lollipop sticks, by the way).
I was fairly absorbed in the task and actually got a quick jolt of adrenaline every time I saw a little flash of metallic film sticking out of the grass or hiding in a muddy gutter. I began to feel a sense of smug satisfaction anytime I found something one of my kids had missed. I even felt a sense of supercilious superiority as I uncovered a whole smashed Kit Kat my usually-fastidious father had overlooked. My bag was looking pretty full…
But guys, then I remembered something. I was picking up trash.
That’s not a special skill I have.
I’m not actually gifted at it. I don’t possess a particular aptitude for spotting and collecting bits of garbage.
That isn’t something I should be prideful about.
I just happened to be trailing behind them. So of course I was going to find things they missed. Just like someone behind me was very likely to find things I hadn’t seen.
The very nature of the job is that there are a lot of tiny pieces of trash in a vast space; the human eye can only take in so many. In order for us to get all of it, we needed a lot of people to go over the whole area or one person to go over the same area multiple times.
It just isn’t possible for one person to see and pick up every bit of trash on the first pass. And probably not even on the second.
So why should you care?
There are lots of things like this in your rental business too. You have tasks and areas that need attention from either multiple people or multiple passes, because that is their very nature. If someone misses something the first time around, it isn’t because they are bad at it or lazy or untrained. Some tasks just require multiple checks and sets of eyes in order to catch everything.
Here are a few tasks in your rental business that might need multiple sets of eyes or a double- (or even triple) check:
- Pre-event inventory inspection
- Timeline confirmation
- Counts for multiples (especially smalls like forks, votives, vases, etc.)
- Custom item specifications
- Weekly scheduling (crews and trucks)
- Post-event inventory inspection
- Annual inventory counts
To dive deeper into just one of these, let’s unpack Pre-Event Inventory Inspection a little more. Depending on your target market, your definition of “rentable condition” will be different. For instance, if you are serving a budget-friendly customer, rentable condition might be defined as “Used but functional condition. Scratches, dents, stains, and nicks (the size of a quarter or smaller) are acceptable, but wobbly legs, holes, tears, or broken parts are not. Scratches wider than 2mm or longer than 3/4,” or dents, stains, or nicks larger than a quarter are unacceptable.” On the other hand, a company with luxury clientele may define rentable condition as “Like new. No scratches, dents, stains, nicks, holes or tears are acceptable. Nothing may be broken, wobbly, or less than like-new condition onsite. All items are properly secured, leveled, shimmed, and functional.” The rigor of the pre-event inspection must correspond to the company’s definition of rentable condition.
In the first case, all items will need to be pulled and inspected with enough time to repair or replace items on the order before the event needs to be loaded on the truck. You’ll likely only need each piece to be inspected by one crew member. The standard is such that one pair of eyes can catch the problems in a single pass.
However, in the case of the luxury company, not only will the inspection take more time, you’ll want more than one person to inspect each item to make sure that it is up to the standard. The standard is very high. You’ll need to look very closely at every detail. There are a lot of opportunities to miss something. Humans can make errors. So you need a system that accounts for human error. Because the stakes are higher, it is wise to have each piece inspected by at least two different people so that nothing is missed.
If something is missed, the first inspector isn’t punished or bad. Rather, the system worked. We anticipated this. We knew this might happen. That’s why we planned to double-check, or some things may be so important we even triple-check.
Just like the saying “measure twice, cut once,” the idea here is that you’re setting yourself up for success. The second time you measure doesn’t always yield a different number. In fact, most of the time it shouldn’t. It should serve to confirm that you got it right the first time. But that confirmation is what gives you confidence in your system. You can move forward knowing you aren’t just winging it. You aren’t just crossing your fingers and hoping that you arrive with everything you need at the venue. You aren’t just operating with a “we’ll figure it out” mentality.
You know you can be depended on. Your team knows. Your vendor partners know. Your clients know.
