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[Jonathan Goodall]

I rent gear but I do not and will not dry hire because there is simply no way to police the gear. Even people who aren't malicious can be careless, a pair of 3yr old powered speakers got their first scratches last weekend when a customer I was setting up for tried to be helpful and placed them on the stage as monitors but didn't notice they were upside down.. and then proceeded to slide them across the stage into position. The scratches aren't terrible but that just goes to show.. the first time I allow somebody that isn't me to handle some gear it suffers damage.

So the only way to do this and keep gear in good shape involves a big time investment, I deliver, setup, and strike all of my rentals

Totally agree with this.  I have had more cosmetic damage done to my gear from people that "wanted to help out" than by anything else.  The last lot was by a couple of people who decided to help bring out gear to the van after a show (without being asked).  I turned around and they were stacking up some EAW monitors on the road (chunky gravel type road) without any covers     Inspection later showed various chips and garks out of the paint work.  Yes it could be more or less repaired with a sharpie but that's not the point.

[Scott Olewiler]

Steve

I rent out DIY DJ systems (just add laptop or ipod, etc) for weddings almost every weekend during the busy season, May thru September. I have been doing this for 3 years and have never had a piece of equipment come back damaged due to anything that happened at the event.

Here is the key: myself (or a helper) always delivers, sets it up and then retrieves it after the event.   I charge a flat fee for the equipment and also mileage.

Takes about 45 minutes to set them up and less than 30 minutes to tear it down.  I average about $80/hr for my time including driving back and forth twice.  We often have two or more systems out a weekend. When I need a helper to take system out, he makes about $55/hr. The main system I use  for this paid for itself in the first 10 rentals.   You cannot be personally attached to the gear. It is a tool to make you money. 

If you are going to sell it any way, why not rent the piss out of it and wring every last dollars you can get out of it? You've already have the makings of two DJ rigs that can each rent out for what you were asking for one speaker sold.  If you were asking $2000 to sell, that's only about 7 rentals. And after 7 rentals you'd still have the gear to continue to rent out.

[Geert Friedhof]

Only crossrent here, to and from people I know. We have a nice deal in place for that. Everything else is babysitting.

Selling stuff: I am willing to sell stuff after 3 years, or 100 uses. 100 uses for most of my stuff is now about 16-18 months. I calculate my rent cost price at 40-50 uses. So after 100 uses it has made at least double its cost in revenue, but I can still get a good price for it, because it is in good shape, and current.

[Steve Crump]

Steve

I rent out DIY DJ systems (just add laptop or ipod, etc) for weddings almost every weekend during the busy season, May thru September. I have been doing this for 3 years and have never had a piece of equipment come back damaged due to anything that happened at the event.

Here is the key: myself (or a helper) always delivers, sets it up and then retrieves it after the event.   I charge a flat fee for the equipment and also mileage.

Takes about 45 minutes to set them up and less than 30 minutes to tear it down.  I average about $80/hr for my time including driving back and forth twice.  We often have two or more systems out a weekend. When I need a helper to take system out, he makes about $55/hr. The main system I use  for this paid for itself in the first 10 rentals.   You cannot be personally attached to the gear. It is a tool to make you money. 

If you are going to sell it any way, why not rent the piss out of it and wring every last dollars you can get out of it? You've already have the makings of two DJ rigs that can each rent out for what you were asking for one speaker sold.  If you were asking $2000 to sell, that's only about 7 rentals. And after 7 rentals you'd still have the gear to continue to rent out.

You definitely offer a great argument to the topic. I am not sure what I was looking for when I posted this topic, I think maybe someone to make my mind up for me? All the info that has been offered is valid and appreciated. I definitely have some thinking to do.

[Steve Eudaly]

Two different topics:  dry hire rentals and used gear sales.

Rentals:  Bah, humbug!  I know there are folks here at PSW who make good ROI from rentals but we never figured out how to do that with the clientele we seemed to attract.  Lots of technical hand-holding because the user wasn't as sophisticated as he/she claimed and too many demands for fee reductions when the renter couldn't make the equipment work in spite of a demonstration when the gear was picked up.  Toss in technical damage from improper operation and cosmetic wear-and-tear and it just wasn't worth it to us.

Sales:  put it on CL until somebody buys it.  Debbie is spot on about pricing - sometimes too low is just as bad as too high.  Realistically you can expect about 50% of what you paid for it unless it's still sealed in the original box, then you get 65%.  If you're not sure about a price do a "completed auctions" search on eBay.  Remember to factor in the commission & fees to eBay when determining the actual proceeds to the seller.

We've had very similar experiences to Tim. The dry rentals end up being more trouble than its worth and I've found our customers are usually happy to pay for one of our techs to deliver, setup and strike the gear to ensure everything is in good order.

Regarding CL sales, I've had items on there for weeks that finally sold after I raised the price 5-20%. Sometimes if it's "too cheap" people assume something must be wrong.

[Tim McCulloch]

We've had very similar experiences to Tim. The dry rentals end up being more trouble than its worth and I've found our customers are usually happy to pay for one of our techs to deliver, setup and strike the gear to ensure everything is in good order.

Regarding CL sales, I've had items on there for weeks that finally sold after I raised the price 5-20%. Sometimes if it's "too cheap" people assume something must be wrong.

Hey Steve, how was your REO gig?

[Debbie Dunkley]

Even when I am there and no-one else is supposed to be touching the equipment, things can go wrong.
Last year, I had been running sound for a local band and at the end of the night we had brought the gear outside ready for load. The van was the other side of the parking lot and someone decided to help out by pushing one of my subs across the lot to the van without releasing the brakes - can't have been easy....
One whole side of each wheel was worn away and I had to replace them. 

[Tim McCulloch]

Even when I am there and no-one else is supposed to be touching the equipment, things can go wrong.
Last year, I had been running sound for a local band and at the end of the night we had brought the gear outside ready for load. The van was the other side of the parking lot and someone decided to help out by pushing one of my subs across the lot to the van without releasing the brakes - can't have been easy....
One whole side of each wheel was worn away and I had to replace them.

Drunks.  You think they'd notice the extra effort.

Our local Kroger-owned grocery stores have a locking wheel on their shopping carts; if you don't exit through a check out lane the wheels lock at the store exit; ditto if you try to take a cart out of the parking lot.  I almost always get a cart that has a big flat spot on that wheel.  Ya think they'd notice it doesn't turn...

[Steve Eudaly]

Hey Steve, how was your REO gig?

Unfortunately I missed this go around as I was out of state tending to other shows. But from what my guys told me once the tour was shoehorned in the venue all was well in world. Easy day on the audio side.

I'm a little surprised you know of our involvement, but guess I probably shouldn't be. The longer I'm in this industry, the smaller it seems to get.

[Brian Jojade]

Expecting a 50% return on your investment after 5 years is fairly reasonable for most gear.  Some stuff may be worth more, some less. It all depends on what's changed in that timeframe.

Getting into the rental business is a different thing.  There are 4 kinds of rentals:

1. Full production. You set up, you operate, you strike. - This is what most are comfortable with.
2. Rental with setup and strike.  Similar to a full production, but you are not there to operate the gear.
3. Cross Rental.  Here, you rent to a company that you trust.  You can be fairly sure that the gear won't come back damaged.  Typically, this would be 1-3% of the value of the gear.
4. Dry rental. Here you rent out the gear to someone, they take it away and use it, and then return it.  For dry rentals, I charge 10-15% of retail cost of the gear.  Sometimes it's LESS expensive for the customer to pay for a full production than the gear rental alone would cost as a dry rental.

[ProSoundWeb Community]