The past few days ive really thought about this. I am torn between my morals and my wallet. I personally believe that you should give back to the community as a bussniess. In example...I sent a operators and 2 skid steers to Joplin Missouri to help with tornado cleanup, During the Arkansaw ice storms I pulled all my equitment to go help them out, I bushog and maintain a military familys house while the husband is deployed oversees. And other stuff like that. My point is this is costing big dollars. I have the machines, I just feel to help. But from a bussniess stand point I dont know if ime doing the right thing. I wana hear your thoughts on weather this is something thats profesional and a good way to operate a bussniess?
If you have the time, money and equipment to spare think of it as any other hobby or gesture you'd do for others or what you want to do in your spare time, if your short on funds, lack the time and equipment maybe concentrate on making money, second ask yourself if you were in need of help would all those people come to your aid like you did theirs? I'm not sure where you do business but if your not doing business in those areas then maybe donate locally instead, you know support those that support you and your business kind of thing. I try to help out locally and support those that I do business with and give good will where its needed as I see fit, there are times everyone needs help but its not my nor your job to help everyone, just those that we can, when we can. If your wanting to do donation work there is a need for that kind of thing but those that do that kind of work generally rely on donations to keep going, I'm not seeing where you can do both and survive, donation type work and charging type work. Just my opinion though.
i help in my town. i have plowed snow, cut fire line, provided water trucks. this spring the dust was so damn bad in between storms from the sanders i couldn''t take it. so we swept all over town. through the cop shop, spent a good half day on it. when i asked the town manager if i could sweep beforehand he said " no problem, but we can't pay for it" so no worries we get it done. next thing you know a cop pulls me over for fully stopping a stop sign but not yielding to him. so this all goes down in front of my house, anyways no ticket. then the county comes down on me for my shop. there goes 20k in dealing with them. so now i am over it.
I am going to try to explain my thoughts on this in 10,000 words or less: To start with, I was an officer and paramedic in the Fire Dept. for 21 years. I left when the county decided to try to go from a volunteer fire service w/ a few paid people, to a 24hr paid service with some volunteers. For various reasons I no longer felt like I was doing anything worthwhile. I basicly don't do anything for government for free, like parks, schools and etc., because I don't believe that that will result in a benefit to the taxpaying citizens, as government will just spend (waste) the money somewhere else. I really don't care about providing benefits to the leeching citizens. When we have tropical storms, and the occasional hurricane or tornado, I will send my equipment out immediately to clear the roads and driveways, and get trees off powerlines, but I don't haul the debris off for free. When we do disaster work, I don't figure in any more profit than in normal work. If I can find someone who has made good life decisions, worked hard, and needs help; I am glad to help them. There are always people asking for help to keep them from having to work, or to tide them over so they can make another terrible decision. I am not interested in them. As an example: A few years back, the Highway Dept took the land one of our volunteer f/fs lived on, and gave them 3 months to move their trailer. He started clearing a new lot by hand, and was getting it done. Then, his wife had a baby, and they didn't think it was going to survive. For over a month, he worked during the day, then drove 75 miles to the hospital to spend the night w/ his wife and baby. A few days after the baby came home, he went in the hospital for a week. He came to me to ask me to help him write a letter to the governor after the Hwy Dept refused his request for a 2 week extension. I took a machine over and cleared the lot. He worked hard as he could while I was doing it, and his wife drove me crazy, insisting on giving me sandwiches, cake or lemonade, every few minutes.
I have tried to help my small town, when plowing snow I will catch a spot or two for them. The town is about broke mostly from very poor managment, and they have a couple good workers and a couple who work real hard to keep from working. As far as the rest of the community, I try to do more for less money for the ones that can't afford, to pay full price. Most appreciate it, and a thank you, still goes a long way with me.
helping people athough i feel the need to and desire ive been burned in the past so now im very selective and almost none any more. some people ruin it. i did a quick pull of a drive way in the winter and plowed the little bit in front of the house on the boulavard of a 90 year old man that lives by him self. his stuck up starbuck drinking nabours with 3 able body kids decided if he got it they should, when the city called back with the complaint that was the last time. restsure their house next time around was skiped during the residential city plow.
Intresting how we all have different views on weather or not to help.
Sometimes it just gets a bit complicated. I often take machines to bush fires and I dont charge if it is on private land however if it is on government land then I charge the full rate plus cartage. I never used to charge on government land until the goverment started charging a fire levy on land owners. Now I agree with a levy IF the government are supplying a fire service, but where I am that service is supplied by us farmers, so Im sure everyone will see my point. I was going to take on the fire control officer job from my father on his retirement, but now the government has tied that job up with politics and copius amounts of paper work, not to mention litigation if something goes wrong, so I am not going to take the job and it appears that no one else is either. Sure makes you wonder where the world will be at in 20 year time. cheers.
I feel sorry for those who feel they have been burned,mistreated,underapreaciated,and just plain fed up with the goverment and helping them out. I guess I am many times fed up with the goverment but I do the work sometimes that the goverment would be in charge of the good of the people and not to help the goverment just to help the people.
I have started giving back to the local community the way they give to me. Lately they have not gotten much. Playing favorites and politics with someone does not serve the community well when my tax money goes to them and I get no opportunity to get some of it back.
I use to think that if you did something good from your heart that you would have it come back to you. And in the good old days it would. A prime example was my dad. He would go out of his way to help people when he could. If they offered or insisted on paying never took very much. When he retired from farming and had an auction his stuff went very high for the time because the people he helped paid him back. Don't know it thats so true today. Seems that everyone is looking out for number one. But having said that I still help some people out when needed without expecting pay or compensation. Now that I own a TLB if there is a disaster in my area I will volunteer my time and equipment just because it's good for the area and the people living here. Several of my kids live in the Fargo ND/Morehead MN area. They are not in the flood zones but they fill sand bags every time it's needed, just for the common good. As far as your situation is concerned at least with a company name or logo on your equipment you are getting advertisementment out of it plus the write offs that you can take as long as you have documentation. I know that if I were looking to hire some work done I would be willing to pay a bit extra or at least give first shot to a contractor who was doing his civic duty in my mind. Kinda like changing a flat for an elderly couple in the rain or at -20 (done the -20 thing more than once). Rick
I was a volunteer firefighter for years and lived in a very rural area of Virginia, I was closest to the box we called the department and would do whatever I could to give back in other ways. Where I lived and worked was 60 miles and quite often if I was moving equipment the owner of the company would let me take the truck and trailer home since more than three times a week I passed my home coming back to the shop, we ended up having a rather heavy snow and I had a bobcat on the lowboy, called the owner and he said we were not working and if I need the bobcat use it and do not worry about it. 3 feet of snow later I dig my way out and clear the truck with the bobcat, proceed to the house which was a mile up the mountain so I clear the road as I go, well all the people living on the road had clear road and to the house after clearing it. Well the next day I have a state road supervisor at my house with a State Trooper asking was it I who cleared the road, well I said yes and said it was for the best for some since we had elderly people living up on the mountain. Trooper and the state road man shook my hand and thanked me, come to find out they were related and the aunt who lived below me had a heart attack the night before and the only way she lived was the ambulance could get to the house. I will take my chances on doing what can be done.
Got once a good deed went unpunished.
I help when I can. Back last winter we haf 12 inches of snow second time in 23 years. I had an old plow I had on a junk truck and I put it on a QC plate. I put it on and plowed all my neighbors places the elderly couple down the road, and everyone out to the main road where th state took care of it. I went and did my vets lot and one lot at the hospital. I plowed 12 hours that day and had one complaint that I wouldnt take any money. We run a private landfill for a plant and during tha April storms we opened on the weekends to take rubbish from the town and folks cleaning up to help out. We got screwed by one place they hauled in 3 cubic yards of house hold trash that they were hiding under brush. We also got turned in for some bogu crap with DEQ because we wouldnt take other house hold rubbish. One outfit I dont help is the local law enforcement or DOT cops. I figure they like to Harrass the working man they can help theirselves. I was doing a job in town for a friend and the law gave us grief and I got a 150 dollar ticket littering as some trash blew out of my truck I was loading. They called wanting some work done at the local bal lfield I refused.
I could never give back as much as this community has already taken from me. But.......:soapbox Thanks to the good natured, generous and kind folks that frequent this board, I don't feel an iota of remorse for being honest when I admit to the way I feel about my community with all of its greedy politicians, crooked cops and other jerks ( Riv. Co D.A. Ray Ram-er-iz) who get paid to get in my business and tell me "No"....... unless I buy that special permit or license or end up paying their special use tax or fee. Yeah....its a beautiful day in the neighborhood. ps.... Ray.... you may have won the battle but know this.... I'll win the ____ing war!
sorry....i apologize for that..... but someone just had to get me started.:badidea
I hold a voluntary position as President of the Board of a regional Community Welfare organisation. The organisation is quite unique due to the wide range of community services we deliver. Aged care services are the largest of our service delivery areas and are incorporated into some of our other service delivery areas as well. We cover the whole community though, from children with our after hours school care and vacation care programs, youth services programs, a community radio station, community bus, Mens Shed (with Pirate Band!), respite care to provide relief for those who care for elderly/disabled relatives, a community development worker and more that I can't remember. As President of the Board along with other voluntary Board members and our excellent CEO, we perform the Governance functions required to make sure our organisation does the very best job it can in a competitive environment. We also are involved in strategic planning for the organisation which at the moment has us starting construction of a one million dollar dementia care facility in my town. And no, my earthmoving business will not be involved in this project. It's important that board members seen to be not in a position which could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Most of the funding for what we do comes from the various levels of Government, Federal, State and Local and we also do our own fundraising for specific projects. We employ over sixty permanent staff and have over 150 volunteers in the organisation including board members. As the largest locally based charity in our region it's a good feeling to contribute productively to our community. There isn't any specific reward for all this, just a good feeling that you are making a positive difference in your community and providing infrastructure that I or my family/friends may need someday. It's also good to work with board members and the organisation's CEO and staff with a common purpose. We have a good relationship with each other and make a lot of significant friendships. We take a great deal of pride in being damn good at what we do. We have been acknowledged by our clients as being their preferred organisation for the services they need, above similar organisations who are way bigger than us and have offices across Australia. It's not a big obligation to be a volunteer in the community such as ours, attending meetings monthly and doing the diligence on our decisions and finances doesn't take more than 10 hours a month. There is always more to do if you have time though. However there are also the responsibilities and challenges that come with any managing role. You are not going to be able to keep all the people happy all of the time. It only takes one dud employee to waste an incredible amount of time for the organisation and they are not easy to remove. Managing the finances well means having a very good CEO and Financial manager which we fortunately do have. But many similar organisations have failed in this area. But my community is where I will be living for the foreseeable future and it's good to be involved in making it a great place to live for everyone. AusDave (Apologies for the longwinded dissertation)
if your asking if you think being a good corporate citizen is something that will help your business the answer is a def YES in my oppinion. I think when you have a business, it is part your job to watch over and help the community. Businesses, in my oppinion, are the only organizations that have the resources to provide this help, obv our government falls short far too often. When you include all of your stakeholders (employees, customers, surrounding community, etc) in your business decisions it will, over time, improve your bottom line. It will be hard to notice at first, but over time it will pay off. Word of mouth goes a long way, esp in small communities. You also feel better as a person. When you do these good deeds, when your done dont you say that felt good to help?? I know I do. Is it better to give a gift or to recieve one?? You obv have to help out the right amount of course, if you are helping so much as to prevent your business from being profitable then this wont help as your business wont be in business for too long...just my oppinion
I help turn boys into law abiding stand up men. I'm an assistant scoutmaster in a Boy Scout troop.Many times I have also donated my time and equipment for Eagle projects.
As crappy as it sounds, I don't see much sense in giving to the community. You are the only one who knows you are doing it for free, or cost, or whatever. When you see someone plowing snow, or cutting grass, you assume they are getting paid. That's what everyone else thinks when they see you doing it. Then the town comes along, assumes you are getting ahead somehow, and sends their minions out to climb all over your operation. Or you accidentally damage property and it bites you in the ***. Any free work i do (and i do plenty) its for my immediate neighbors who i see every day. We support each other and it works well. I can't stand to watch someone struggle their ass off, when i have the machine to make it easy. So i step up.
Lot's of equipment must be equipped with AM radios.
I am like watglen just above me. I never turn down one of the local neighbors when they ask for something or I see that I can make something easier for them or accomplish in a few minutes what might take them hours. It might be as simple as a ten minute job with the welder or cutting torch, get a large piece of limestone out of crop land, pull them out if they get stuck in the snow in the winter. I can also say that it always comes back to me in spades too. This is what it should be about. Help the neighbor down the road and the neighbor down the road does not forget it.
Over the last 10 years we have installed and absorbed the cost of 12 dry hydrants. This has helped to change ISO fire ratings for part of the county. The ISO fire ratings affect the amount of money it cost to insure a structure for fire insurance. A few years back we provided the county with 50 loads of fill to build up a place for some athletic fields. One weekend a year we setup a mineral panning day for the local boy and the girl scouts. We provide everything including food. This might have been the last year for this after 3 different boy scout troops and 2 different girl scout troops showed up. We were planning on close to 75 kids from what we were told, but ended up with over 200. When it comes to the county doing anything for us it comes down to a struggle. There have been a few times when we have tried to get them to put up “truck entering highway” signs and get nothing but trouble. Were planning on being at our current location for 16 months to 20 months. After getting all the permits and sorting out the red tape we submitted the county with all the needed info for the sings and paid the $500 paperwork fee 3 months before starting to bring in machinery. The plan was for around 50 dump trucks loads a day and a rang of support vehicles. Once our traffic picked up we installed our own sing on our property making sure it was not part of the road right away. After the second accident from speeders in the other direction we made a deal with property owner across the street that we could put up a sign if we did some ditch work for him. The county stole both of my signs and posts and fined us for putting them up. The week after the sings were taken down a speeder was killed when he swerved to miss a lowboy. The next week the sings were reinstalled and they returned the property they had stolen from us. I found out it was the son of someone that worked in the county permit office. I know that sings do not stop accidents, but I do feel that they do prevent a few. I also want to say I don't believe in accidents; 99% of the time it was someone stupidity that lead to the issue.
If you go down the road of voluntarily doing something, do it for yourself, not the adulation of others. When you start expecting, it just leads to disappointment. Then you end up being a grumpy, cynical pri$k like myself, and nobody wants that........do they? Tom
I personally support the organizations that support the community. The local baptist church in the area i keep my business is doing a remodel of their stage and alter pulpit. Im donating all the steel work and ADA railings to them under my cost and am PERSONALLY doing the work for them. As they do the greatest good for the community bar none. i do some work for the local after school program they wanted a covered patio for the garden area where they could bbq and cook. the local framer did the carpentry and I supplied all the Simpson buckets and custom embed brackets. I Don't mind doing things in that way cuz they came willing to pay. I don't however like being leveraged for handouts. I will ususally charge them materials and i eat the labor as they are usually volunteer heavy so they can supply labor.