Hi readers! It’s me, Pointy – I have access to more than 600 years of in-store rental knowledge and thousands of years of life experience, so I’m pretty good at solving rental problems, sometimes even successfully. If you have an issue I can help with, please send it to me at [email protected].
Dear Pointy,
My teenage daughter has recently changed her behavior, and it’s concerning me. Items from our house are sometimes missing, then turn up days or weeks later. We have strangers showing up to our house at all hours. She’s always carrying around wads of cash and there’s a bunch of new paraphernalia in the shed out back. She’s not getting any sleep, and when we try to ask her what’s wrong, she walks by muttering something about people owing her money. She never used to be like this. Can you help?
Sincerely,
Concerned Parent
Concerned Parent,
It sounds like your daughter’s actions are incredibly dangerous for her and for you – trying to track rental inventory, customers, and payments is almost impossible to do on your own. I know when I first got into rental, I must’ve really driven my parents crazy, too.
Here’s what I’d do, as a parent myself now:
- Set some business hours. Late-night returns make it hard to sleep comfortably and that makes everyone irritable. Customers will learn to return items on time; if they aren’t, you can charge them for the extra day.
- Get some rental software and a payment gateway/processor. She’ll be able to track her inventory and customers more efficiently, as well as follow up with delinquent accounts. Obviously I recommend Point of Rental, which even has a cloud-based version that’s super-easy to get started on and fits into a startup’s budget. You don’t want to be carrying a bunch of cash around – it’s unsafe.
- Negotiate subrental rates. Look, if she’s lending your household items out, you should be able to get a percentage of that rate – it’s only fair. It’s time you teach her to follow fair business practices.
Good luck and I wish you and your daughter great success in the future!