Blog posts tagged with 'party rental'

The Party and Equipment Rental Industry is undergoing a mass transition from paper based processes to software based processes – not only to keep up with the technological times but also in an effort to standardize rental processes, become more efficient and therefore more competitive in this industry.

Investing in software of any kind can be a time consuming and often anxiety ridden process. Having the right questions available to either ask the software vendor or your team will help guide you along the process and ensure you’re choosing the best rental management software for your business needs.

1. Is there a limit on the number of inventory products, number of contracts issues or number of concurrent users you can have on the software?

Asking a question like this will ensure that the software solution is scalable and able to grow with your organization. There’s nothing worse than being stuck with a system that limits your growth so knowing the answers to all three of these is important.

2. Can it be accessed from a client site, from the road, at the office and pretty much anywhere at anytime?

It isn’t reasonable to expect to be tied to a computer in the rental industry so having the ability to access the rental management software to track the location of your rental fleet, take photos of equipment at the job site and tie back to a customer’s contract, get signatures upon delivery and the ability for drivers to mark when a delivery has been made and that they’re moving to the next job is super important.

3. Is there a service level agreement for the software solution?

You want to know that there’s levels in place to ensure that you have as close to 100% uptime with the software as possible. If the software is going down, and you’re unable to operate your business having a service level agreement in place helps ensure the company can be held responsible. Most cloud-based software solutions should have this in place.

4. What reputation does the support team have?

You want a software vendor that has a stellar support team so if anything goes wrong, you can access support in a quick and timely manner. Support should be available 365 days of the year during your regular business hours. Additionally, a number of software vendors should have a user forum where their customers can go to troubleshoot their own issues before escalating the problem.

5. Can the software be customized?

Most rental management software – and any enterprise software these days for that matter, is customizable to fit an operation’s needs. Writing down ahead of time what specific items you need to be customized – such as custom reports to run your rental operation – will help ensure the software can be altered to fit your processes and how you best do business.

6. What software integrations does the rental management software work with?

I can imagine that as a rental company you could be running a customer relationship management solution such as Salesforce or SugarCRM and an accounting system such as Sage Simply Accounting or Quickbooks. Life is so much easier with a closed-loop process so being able to integrate all your current software with your rental management software is worth inquiring about. Map out your current rental processes to ensure that you’re comfortable

7. Are there regular updates to the software?

Requirements in the rental industry change from year to year. Perhaps the country you reside in enforces a new law that you need to track in the software, or Google Glass becomes how we all do business – whatever the case may be, knowing that the software vendor is continually updating the software ensures that you stay ahead of the trends instead of behind them.

8. What analytics does it track and what reports can you run?

Realistically you want to be able to run reports so you’re able to work ON your business not IN your business. Being able to track things such as seasonal inventory demand on a year over year basis for example is an important report to have.

9. Is there training and a self-service knowledge base available?

Implementing a new rental management software is only one half of the puzzle – the other half is actually being able to use it. You want to make sure there’s adequate training available and self-serve knowledge base articles so you can help yourself. Having the articles available in video demos as well would be helpful.

We have been selling crystal and glass glassware for a while now but we lacked a storage and transport solution. I’m pleased to announce we now have medium and large catering glassware boxes in stock.

Our catering glassware boxes offer a secure solution for storing and transporting glassware for party rental companies and caterers. Featuring strong, durable polypropylene plastic corrugated material, the boxes can be safely stacked on top of one another for easy storage. Ideal for the storage or transportation of glassware to and from events. They also ship and pack flat when not in use to allow for cost savings and increased storage space.

We have two sizes available – a medium and a large catering glassware box. For more information on each of the sizes please see below:

Medium Catering Glassware Box:

• No handles
• Available in Black
• Ships flat - some assembly required
• Box exterior measurements: 15 7/8" W x 23 7/8" L x 7 1/2" H
• Interior glass compartment measurements: 3 3/4" W x 3 3/4" L x 7 1/2" H
• Maximum glass diameter: 3 5/8"
• Number of compartments: 24

The following National Event Supply glasses fit the medium catering glassware box:

• Victoria Crystal 10oz Old Fashioned Glass
• Victoria Crystal 13oz Highball Glass
• Eclisse 7oz Wine Glass
• Eclisse 10oz Wine Glass
• Eclisse 6oz Champagne Glass
• Eclisse 11oz Water Glass
• Eclisse 12oz Beer Glass
• Eclisse 14oz Beer/Water Glass
• Copa 9oz Wine Glass
• Copa 12oz Wine Glass

Large Catering Glassware Box:

• Handles for easier pick up
• Available in Black
• Ships flat - some assembly required
• Box exterior measurements: 16 3/8" W x 24 3/4" L x 9 1/4" H
• Interior glass compartment measurements: 3 3/4" W x 3 3/4" L x 9 1/4" H
• Maximum glass diameter: 3 5/8"
• Number of compartments: 24

The following National Event Supply glasses fit the large catering glassware box:

• Serenity Crystal 7oz Champagne Glass
• Serenity Crystal 12oz Wine Glass
• Serenity Crystal 14oz Water Glass
• Serenity Crystal 16oz Wine Glass
• Serenity Crystal 19oz Wine Glass
• Serenity Crystal 22oz Wine Glass
• Eclisse 12oz Wine Glass
• Eclisse 14oz Wine Glass

Both catering glass boxes are available in additional colour choices for special order. Minimum order and manufacturing lead times will apply.

Just as wedding trends can become the hot item of the season or year they can also die out just as fast. It seemed for the latter half of 2014 and beginning of 2015 – a lot of these trends were going strong. Brides.com, Special Events Magazine and Gurley Events have predicted the 2015 wedding trends that are passé with the help of event planners on the front lines.

Check out the trends that are out of style that you may want to consider retiring from your inventory.

1. Patterned Cakes like Chevron, Stripes and Polka Dots (Source & Photo Source)

2. Blush Pink in favour of bolder metallic and jewel tones (Source & Photo Source)

3. Mirrors as centerpiece anchors (Source & Photo Source)

4. The Boho theme (Source & Photo Source)

5. Chalkboards for anything and everything (Source, Source & Photo Source)

6. The seated dinner is out – with strolling food stations becoming the trend for better networking (Source)

7. Fake back dropped photo booths with cheap decorations to play with (Source, Source & Photo Source)

8. Candy Buffets (Source & Source)

9. Mason Jars (Source, Source, Source & Photo Source)

10. Burlap (Source, Source & Photo Source)

11. The Roaring ‘20s / Great Gatsby theme (Source & Photo Source)

12. Glowing Furniture (Source & Photo Source)

13. Macarons (Source)

14. Large elaborate weddings (Source & Photo Source)

We know we’re not the only game in North America for event supplies but we’ve heard horror stories of our customer’s thinking they’re getting a good deal from the US only to find out it isn’t the fairy tale they initially thought. We’re all for trying to make our customer’s lives and businesses better so we thought it made sense to compile a list of questions based on hidden fees / costs that are often found when buying from United States event equipment suppliers.

Here are questions to make sure you ask / costs you are aware of so you have the all-in pricing to compare against Canadian event supply companies.

1. Do they have the items in stock?
2. Do they charge a credit card processing fee? What is it?
3. What is the exchange rate your credit card provider will charge to convert US Dollars to Canadian Dollars?
4. Is there any minimum order quantities required?
5. Do you have to pay for skids (if you are ordering skid volumes)?
6. Where is the product shipping from?
7. Do you have to pay shipping from their US warehouse to their Canadian warehouse and then from their Canadian warehouse to your location? Or do you only have to pay shipping from their US warehouse to your location?
8. What customs fees, brokerage fees and duties are associated with the products you’re buying? Most companies (ourselves included) know the duties and customs/brokerage fees associated with exporting products.
9. How long will it take for them to ship your order?
10. How long does it take once the order is shipped for the order to get to you?

Hopefully this list gives you the questions needed to ensure you get the products you need for your rental inventory. If we’re missing any questions – let us know so we can update the list!

60 inch Round tables are a must-have when hosting any sort of event – whether it be a wedding, a meeting with dinner, a community centre gathering or another special event. Party rental companies, hotels, banquet halls and even churches and community centres know the benefits of having an inventory of 60 inch round folding tables in stock as they are one of the most popular sizes of round table. They fit a generous amount of people (generally 6-8) and allow guests the opportunity to easily socialize given the table shape. Because we supply thousands of companies across Canada with 5ft (60in) round folding tables in both wood and plastic, we recognize the importance of knowing how much to budget for new 5ft round tables. If your organization is in the market to replace your 60 inch round folding tables or are looking to make the switch from renting to owning, one of the first questions you’ll likely ask is "How much does a 60 inch round table cost in Canada?" This post attempts to answer this important question so you can begin your buying process.

60 inch Round Wood Table

The range in pricing for 60 inch round wood tables will depend on how thick the table top is, the type of locking mechanism used to keep the legs erect, the material and thickness of the legs and the type of wood being used. 60 inch round wood folding tables will range in price from $129.95 to $329.95. Keep in mind that companies that sell primarily to commercial organizations will also provide volume discounts with the cost per table decreasing based on the larger number of tables being purchased.

60 inch Round Plastic Table

The range in pricing for 60 inch round plastic tables will depend on how thick the table top is, the type of locking mechanism used to keep the legs erect, as well as the material and thickness of the legs. Because of this, 60 inch round plastic folding tables will range in price from $110.00 to $158.95. As mentioned with 60in round wood folding tables, 60in round plastic folding tables also will have similar volume discounts from commercial focused companies.

Hopefully this post gives you a good idea of the pricing available in the Canadian market for your refreshed 60 inch round table inventory.