Recently the city of Indianapolis announced that fees for licensed businesses would be increased. For example a plumber will now pay $217.00 annually to stay in business instead of $35.00 for their license. Al Capone would be proud that the city is using the tactics of his old protection racket. Don't you wish you could arbitrarily raise your carpet cleaning prices by "only" 50%?
About thirty years ago a small group worked to gain control of the industry. One of their tactics was to interest government in licensing cleaners. Thanks to much hard work by many in the business they were defeated. Be thankful that those who tried to get California to license carpet cleaners have found other pursuits to pass their time. Or have they?
I don't think CRI was involved in the California licensing scam, but they seem to be on a similar quest for control of our business. It's interesting that some of the perpetrators of the licensing fiasco were involved in fighting against the original SOA program which was all about training. CRI's new SOA is all about controlling and profiting from cleaners and their suppliers while it should be about training and certification.
CRI should concentrate on the real causes of nearly all complaints related to carpet which are: installation, bad sales practices and bait and switch advertising. They should "86" the new SOA program. More bureaucracy is the last thing we need in the cleaning business in these trying economic times.
©Bane-Clene® Corporation 2010 Reprinting or electronically publishing this article is strictly prohibited without permission from Bane-Clene Corp.
